Workers receive their salary – WSJ

But perhaps the biggest news is what the labor market tends to do for wages. Average hourly earnings increased 3.1% from the previous year, outpacing the 2.8% increase in September from September. This is the largest gain since the beginning of 2009. This is a marked acceleration in wages, while companies are fighting for available workers,

Amazon.com

For example, on Thursday, the minimum wage paid by American workers at $ 15 an hour was increased, putting pressure on lower-paying retailers such as

Walmart

and

Target

– both of which increased their minimum wage this year. In fact, among retail and non-supervisory employees, average hourly earnings increased 4.6% from the previous year, the largest gain since the end of 1998. Companies that employ these workers often have a lot of them and have tight margins, which significantly affects profit margins. Think of restaurants, hotels and retailers

The acceleration of wage gains marks a significant change. For years, the unemployment rate seemed low enough to push up wage inflation, but companies, though they regretted how hard it was to find skilled workers, were able to keep labor costs at a low level. But as the unemployment rate fell below 4% earlier this year, it seems to have changed. Workers are no longer so affected by job losses as a result of the financial crisis and they know that a change in work can be very lucrative, given the tightening of the labor market

. At the pace of employment and population growth over the past year, the unemployment rate, all things being equal, would fall to 3.1% by October. Even though hiring is slowing down, as most economists think, an unemployment rate close to 3% to 4% seems likely. If you think companies are now worried about labor costs, wait until you see what's next.