There are many jobs in the United States, but wages fail to capture the interest of the unemployed.
Photo: Karolina Grabowska / Pexels
In the United States, there is still a shortage of employees Against the job opportunities that are emerging with the economic recovery, there are several theories about what is happening such as that Americans are taking advantage of the benefits granted by the government to stay at home until they are finished, the fear of contagions, the doubt in the effectiveness of vaccines and not having someone to take care of the children.
But columnist Rick Newman of Yahoo! Finance, adds another point that may be very relevant to the resolution of the labor shortage and refers to increasing wages.
The specialist mentions that there are signs calling for help throughout the country and that companies assure that they cannot get enough workers, but that the increase in wages could be the missing piece that solves the supposed labor shortage in the country.
For the Department of Labor, the average hourly wage has registered a wage increase of 3.6% during the last 12 months, while the salary tracker of the Federal Reserve of Atlanta indicates that wages increased only 3.2% in the same period, and in both cases they remain below inflation, which is 5.3%.
The journalist points out that the labor shortage normally leads to an increase in wages, because companies in their eagerness to be more attractive to attract new workers do so with the supply of higher incomes.
But for Newman although many companies say they are increasing the starting salary, no signs of unusual wage gains in Atlanta Fed data, since the average of 3.2%, is below the average of five years before the pandemic, which was 3.6%.
The data obtained by the Department of Labor comes from surveying a different group of workers each month, while the Atlanta Fed tracker consults the same workers over time, therefore it is not affected by abrupt changes in the composition of the workforce.
For the columnist with the job vacancies that exist and the unemployed people, it seems that there is work for everyone who wants it. But he sees moderate wage increases as evidence that the labor market is warm, not hot, and that there may be many jobs, but no one is getting rich from them.
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