US wages stagnated from roughly 1974 to 1994, after which they rose:

* https://www.noahpinion.blog/p/so-why-did-us-wages-stagnate-f...

* https://www.noahpinion.blog/p/at-least-five-interesting-thin...

The recent Iran-Hormuz oil shock notwithstanding, the major affordability issue in recent years has been housing, and that's more of a land-use policy issue.