Wages failed to keep up with inflation in the third quarter, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Median weekly earnings for America's 101 million full-time workers were $753 in the third quarter, up 1.8 percent from the same quarter a year earlier. The Consumer Price Index jumped 3.8 percent over that same period.

The BLS data showed continued pay disparities among sexes and races - Asian men had the highest median earnings, followed by white men. White women earned 83 percent as much as their white counterparts. Black and Hispanic women were much closer in parity to their male counterparts, but Asian women earned only 70 percent as much as Asian men.

The biggest disparities were based on education: Full-time workers age 25 and over who don't have a high school diploma earned only $459, compared with $656 for high school graduates and $1,152 for college graduates. Among college graduates with advanced degrees, the highest-earning 10 percent of male workers made at least $3,131, compared with $2,311 for their female counterparts.