Wage Growth Remains Tame Despite Length Of Recovery
Recent economic reports have suggested that
labor shortages are driving up wage rates in some specific regions and business
sectors. NFIB’s Small Business Economic Trends survey done last month found that about 22% of small business
owners have positions they can’t fill right now because of a lack of qualified
applicants. However, a lack of potential employees remains the exception rather
than the rule. Overall, a surplus of available labor has kept wage growth
limited. According to the Department of Labor, the average hourly wage
collected by a private sector worker has advanced only about 2% per year since
the recession ended (though that accelerated during 1st quarter to a 2.7%
rate). And while the NFIB has found that a rising percentage of small
businesses are increasing wages, that’s up from a very low floor and wage
growth still lags its historical level for this point in a recovery.
Further Reading:
The Wall
Street Journal
runs an overview of the wage data, while MarketWatch looks at weekly wage data for last
week.
This news article is intended to keep small business owners apprised of current events that may affect them. It does not necessarily reflect NFIB’s policy position on such issues.
