WAGES UP….FED IS WORRIED….Good news! Wages for ordinary workers are finally going up after six years of stagnation:
With energy prices now sharply lower than a few months ago and the improving job market forcing employers to offer higher raises, the buying power of American workers is now rising at the fastest rate since the economic boom of the late 1990s.
The average hourly wage for workers below management level ? everyone from school bus drivers to stockbrokers ? rose 2.8 percent from October 2005 to October of this year, after being adjusted for inflation, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Only a year ago, it was falling by 1.5 percent.
Boy, I sure hope the Fed doesn’t do anything to put the kibosh on this. Workers could use a break. But I’m sure Ben Bernanke realizes….um, realizes that ? what? He said what? Oh, this:
Wages have risen so swiftly that some economists worry that they could push inflation up on their own, by forcing companies to raise prices. Last week, the Federal Reserve chairman, Ben S. Bernanke, warned that the central bank might have to raise interest rates again. ?One factor that we are watching carefully is labor costs,? he said.
Ah yes. “Labor costs.” We can’t have those rising, can we? Not only does it get the workers all uppity, but it drains corporate treasuries and puts a crimp in CEO pay increases. That would be a disaster.
