Arlington, Va. (Feb. 19, 2014) - Wage growth in private
industry is expected to accelerate later this year, according to the
preliminary first-quarter Wage Trend Indicator™ (WTI) released today by
Bloomberg BNA, a leading publisher of specialized news and information.
The index rose to 98.87 (second quarter 1976 = 100) from
98.77 in the fourth quarter of 2013, marking its second consecutive gain.
“We're still seeing steady but modest improvements in the
labor market, which removes some workers from the large pool of unemployed,”
economist Kathryn Kobe, a consultant who maintains and helped develop Bloomberg
BNA’s WTI database, said. Kobe said she expects year-over-year wage increases
in the private sector overall to rise slightly above 2.1 percent later this
year. That was the gain reported for 2013 by the Labor Department in its
employment cost index.
Reflecting recent economic conditions, four of the WTI’s
seven components made positive contributions to the preliminary first-quarter
reading, while one factor was negative, and two were neutral.
Source: BNA
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