A decline in the purchasing power of American paychecks helped put Donald Trump back in the Oval Office. To gauge the economic slice of the Trump victory over Vice President Kamala Harris, my trusty spreadsheet crafted a paycheck power index. It combined three key business yardsticks for the 50 states and the District of Columbia – eight years of average weekly wages paid by private industry bosses, unemployment rates , and nationwide inflation as measured by the Consumer Price Index . Pay hikes were measured against joblessness to approximate how many people got wage boosts.