April 5, 2024
Average hourly earnings rose 0.3% in March to $34.69 after rising 0.2% in February and 0.5% in January. Firms across-the-board continue to scramble to find additional bodies. Earnings growth has slowed slightly from 5.5% at the beginning of last year to 4.1% currently.
But these hourly earnings data may understate the growth in wages. The Atlanta Fed’s wage tracker has risen 5.0% in the past year compared to a 4.1% increase in the officially-published hourly earnings data.
But the problem is that while nominal earnings have risen 4.1% in the past year, inflation has risen almost as quickly and real or inflation-adjusted earnings have risen only 1.1% in that same period of time. Workers and unions have noticed that their real earnings have not risen much which is going to keep the pressure on employers for decent sized wage gains in the months ahead.
Average weekly earnings rose 0.6% in February to $1,193.34 after having risen 0.5% in February after having declined 0.1% in January. In the past year weekly earnings have risen 4.1%.
Stephen Slifer
NumberNomics
Charleston, SC
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