Parts of economy are better under Biden, but many voters aren’t seeing improvement
Despite rising wages, voters as a group lost spending power during 2021 and 2022 due to inflation and high interest rates, and are still facing an uphill battle.
Despite rising wages, voters as a group lost spending power during 2021 and 2022 due to inflation and high interest rates, and are still facing an uphill battle.
Private employees in all but one Indiana county make less than the national average wage, according to an analysis of employment data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Pay and benefits for America’s workers grew at a healthy but more gradual pace in the final three months of 2022, the third straight slowdown that could help reassure the Federal Reserve that wage gains won’t fuel higher inflation.
Government workers—teachers, firefighters, sanitation workers, bus drivers, city government employees—who make up more than 15% of the U.S. workforce, have seen their wages lag significantly behind those employed by private industry over the past year.
After handing out hefty salary increases over the past year, companies are now becoming more cautious with their cash over concern further big payouts will eat into profits, according to staffing companies, business owners and recent surveys.
The study used research from the Institute of Family Studies and examined the relationship between spousal income and division of housework from more than 6,000 dual-income, heterosexual married couples between 1999 and 2017.
When Target first announced in 2017 it would pay $15 an hour by 2020, it was one of the first major retailers to do so. But during the pandemic, a number of rivals like Best Buy followed suit, with some surpassing Target.
Wages also rose sharply, a sign that companies are competing fiercely to fill their open jobs. A record-high wave of quitting, as many workers seek better jobs, is also fueling pay raises.
Americans are in line for their biggest wage increase in more than a decade, according to a report released Wednesday, as companies struggle against a tight labor market and high inflation.
An Indianapolis City-County Council committee on Tuesday unanimously voted to advance a plan allowing public employees’ wages to rise with inflation, as work continues on the city’s first public pay scale change in more than a decade.
In terms of inflation, which is the bogeyman for investors right now, a big and sustained gain in wages would be even more dangerous than the price spikes already seen for oil and other commodities.
The figures suggest that as the economy rapidly reopens, businesses are already providing higher pay and benefits to pull workers back into the job market.
Indiana educators on Thursday called for a bigger school funding boost to help improve the state’s lagging teacher pay, as new projections showed state tax collections are expected to bounce back stronger than expected from the pandemic recession.
The bill would make it easier to sue employers over pay discrimination, curb the ability of companies to retaliate and include a requirement that businesses submit detailed pay data to the federal government for use in policing pay discrimination laws.
Darden Restaurants employs more than 167,000 hourly workers at 1,800 restaurants. In addition to the Olive Garden chain, it owns Longhorn Steakhouse, Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen, Yard House and The Capital Grille.
Democrats are searching for a way to revive their derailed drive to boost the minimum wage as part of the proposed $1.9 trillion package aimed at helping the country rebuild from the pandemic.
The starting wage scale puts Costco above competitors, including Amazon, Target and Best Buy, which have $15 minimum wages.
The president has seemingly undermined the push to raise the minimum wage by acknowledging its dim prospects in Congress, where it faces political opposition and procedural hurdles.
The Brookings Institution report, “Indiana GPS: Strategies for Resilience,” identifies job growth, wages and technology as areas for improvement in the state’s economy.
The report comes as senior Democrats debate whether to include raising the federal minimum wage in a budget resolution that is largely designed to help the sputtering economic recovery.