[andrewmutz]

The only way to answer this question is with data, not anecdote. And the people in this discussion thread are saying they don't trust the inflation data.

I trust the data, and the data shows their lives are better. If you don't trust the data, it's impossible to know.

[ponow]

A read of the data shows that, but it's not the only read nor the only data.

So we can say wages have increased to keep up with inflation, but left out is all the money lost during the time lag before wages caught up. And whose wages caught up? If you use average wages, then you can hide the details. You really need to look at different income levels, or at least the median wage and the inflation experienced for that median person, bare minimum.