While wage increase statistics are increasing steadily nationwide amid a candidate-friendly market, Greater Philadelphia still finds itself in the lower half of the list of wage increases nationally. Ty West and Ryan Mulligan tallied the implications for the Philadelphia Business Journal.

The Playbook reviewed Bureau of Labor Statistics data and found that average weekly earnings rose 5.7 percent in metro areas nationwide in the Feb. 2021–2022 time frame. The bump translates to an aggregated extra $48 in the pocket of metro-centric employees, taking them from $872.59 to $920.30.

This monetary increase placed Phila. at No. 24 in a list of best-performing cities. Local pay envelopes were fatter by a $1,083–$1,131 margin.

Still, with that 4.5 percent year-over-year increase in wages, the Phila. region ranked only in No. 60 among the top 100 metros. This puts Greater Philadelphia just behind comparable metros such as Chicago and Pittsburgh, which saw their wages rise by 4.8 percent and 5.6 percent, respectively.

Read more about the wage increases in the Philadelphia Business Journal.