Average and Median are two different things!
Average Wage is warped by the ultra high salaries of execs, CEO's etc,
Median wage is much more accurate, take the Average Wage figure with a grain of salt. I can't find a reference for last year but the current median wage is mid to high 30K's.
If you had 5 people, 4 on low incomes and one on an ultra high income, the four low earners could reduce their salary next year, but if the high earner increases salary the average still could go up! As I said take Average with a grain of salt, its meaningless.