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The CPI has gone up far faster than real wages.

https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CPIAUCSL

People are earning about 12% more and working about 5% less since 1980, but everything costs roughly 3x what it did in 1980 relative to wages, and that's where most people are pinched.

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Real wages are inflation adjusted. So if everything costs 336% of what it did in 1980, and the real ages are 112% of what they were, then that means nominal wages are 376% of what they were.

It doesn't make sense to compare CPI to real wages. Real wages are wages divided by CPI or another inflation index.

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