Yeah but...
To reach their claim that "inflation-adjusted hourly compensation of middle Americans rose by almost 30 percent ", they probably used the 'Personal Consumption Expenditures' index instead of the CPI and added benefits packages like medical, dental, vision as well as 401K's.
You can't eat benefits- especially the ones you never use. It would be interesting to factor in the stock market down turn of '08/'09' to see how the drop in retirement account value effected average compensation.