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Wages and Benefits are Rising at the Fastest Pace in a Decade

posted by martyb on Monday August 06 2018, @09:37AM   Printer-friendly
from the positive-news dept.

An Anonymous Coward writes:

Marketwatch brings good news for the USA: American workers are finally reaping the benefits of the lowest unemployment rate and best jobs market in decades: Wages and benefits are rising at the fastest pace in a decade. Firms have sought to fill openings by offering better benefits such as more vacation time or flexible hours. When push comes to shove, they are offering higher pay. While bigger paychecks are great for workers, the US Federal Reserve is watching closely to see if rising compensation is stoking inflation. The Federal Reserve could increase U.S. interest rates if it becomes a big worry, but so far inflation remains relatively mild.

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  • (Score: 4, Informative) by Runaway1956 on Monday August 06 2018, @11:26AM (9 children)

    by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Monday August 06 2018, @11:26AM (#717793) Journal

    I wanted to say much the same. You need not even go back all of thirty years. All through the '90's things were much better than they are now. The '80's were a little better yet. The dotcom bubble rocked the boat, then 9/11/01 hit us pretty hard, and then the housing bubble. Things are most definitely not "up".

    Shadow stats will say much the same thing. Maybe we've stopped bleeding as badly, but we are still bleeding. http://www.shadowstats.com/ [shadowstats.com] Unemployment is STILL above 20%, and as has often been pointed out, many of those working are doing so at two or more part time jobs. The economy sucks.

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  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday August 06 2018, @11:31AM (6 children)

    by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Monday August 06 2018, @11:31AM (#717795) Homepage Journal

    Yup, "getting better" != "better" but it is better than "getting worse".

    --
    My rights don't end where your fear begins.

    • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 06 2018, @05:27PM (3 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 06 2018, @05:27PM (#717914)

      I think you are looking for an expression commonly taught in Journalism schools: "'Better' doesn't mean 'Good,' it means 'Not getting worse'"

      • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday August 06 2018, @07:47PM (2 children)

        by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Monday August 06 2018, @07:47PM (#717963) Homepage Journal

        I write perl not English. Don't be discriminating on me from your position of privilege.

        --
        My rights don't end where your fear begins.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 07 2018, @04:14AM (1 child)

          by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 07 2018, @04:14AM (#718101)

          Liar! Your comments are far more legible than even text-book perl.

          • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday August 07 2018, @10:53AM

            by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Tuesday August 07 2018, @10:53AM (#718179) Homepage Journal

            Only to noobs. My English is far more fucked up than my perl.

            By design, if you really want to know. I decided a long time back that picking up a thick Oklahoma accent would make me sound more accessible to the proletariat than precise speech and talking over their heads all the time. Which is important if you want a wider range of chicks to pick up.

            --
            My rights don't end where your fear begins.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 06 2018, @06:51PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 06 2018, @06:51PM (#717952)

      Except that you're ignoring that this doesn't take into account inflation, which is indeed still beating any of the increases we're seeing. Meaning we're all still getting poorer, and thus still getting worse off overall. And as people point out the main jump being pointed out here is due to benefits, which is assuming a more expensive benefits package is a better benefits package. But that's not correct when benefits packages are just becoming more expensive for the same or less coverage than before.

  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by FatPhil on Monday August 06 2018, @12:34PM (1 child)

    by FatPhil (863) <{pc-soylent} {at} {asdf.fi}> on Monday August 06 2018, @12:34PM (#717802) Homepage
    It's easier to see the lie when you look at the *employment* rate, rather than the *unemployment* rate. You can hide the unemployed behind dodgy definitions or schemes, Thatcher was a master at that, but you can't magic employed people out of nowhere. This guy seems to think the US is presently in the worst state since Carter! https://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/2018/03/08/make-believe-america-why-the-us-unemployment-rate-doesnt-indicate-economic-recovery/
    --
    Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves

    • (Score: 2, Insightful) by khallow on Monday August 06 2018, @01:05PM

      by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Monday August 06 2018, @01:05PM (#717813) Journal
      Sorry, we would expect employment rate to go down just because of Boomers retiring. And current level of employment is still pretty high, within 4% (absolute) of peak employment ever.