Institute Director of Research Paige Ouimet spoke to Ned Barnett for The News & Observer’s Opinion section on how the pandemic has changed workers’ lives. The wages of lower-skilled workers have increased by a higher percentage than those of high-skilled workers, but inflation has effectively wiped out those gains. In terms of leverage, she said, “I don’t see a dramatic shift. I would expect wages would be going up rapidly if we were seeing a huge shift toward more worker power.”