Originally Published on Moneywatch
Good news, workers: Your paycheck is getting bigger. In the third quarter, employees’ weekly earnings rose 3.3 percent from a year ago, according to new federal labor data — a hefty jump from 2.6 percent in the same period in 2017.
Also heartening is that wage growth is outpacing inflation, which rose 2.6 percent between July and October. The main reason wages are climbing is that U.S. unemployment is at its lowest level since 1969. A low jobless rate means a tight labor market is forcing employers to boost pay to attract workers.
Faster wage growth has been the key missing ingredient during the recovery that followed the housing crash. For years after the Great Recession, economists predicted that earnings were set to pick up. It didn’t happen.
