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

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: 0, Offtopic) by khallow on Monday August 06 2018, @12:58PM (2 children)

    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Monday August 06 2018, @12:58PM (#717810) Journal
    It's almost like you'll have to think on this one. SN had such an article [soylentnews.org] a month back where wages not wages and benefits were "stagnant" for OECD countries. I noted at the time that distinction and well, it turns out I was right to do so. Now, we see that wages and benefits were indeed climbing for the US, a significant portion of that OECD sample. I wonder who else may be doing better than portrayed.
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  • (Score: 5, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 06 2018, @05:23PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 06 2018, @05:23PM (#717910)

    There is also a nuance you are missing. Benefits is the market value of the benefit, not the actual amount the employee gets or the company spends. Besides the fact that this means that benefit costs increase as the benefits themselves get more expensive, this means that they can cook the book on benefits based on said FMV. An example of the former is the health benefit, the cost increases approximately 2-5%. Therefore, the company can claim their benefit goes up by the same amount each year.

    For an example of the latter, my company added a soft drink fountain and free coffee to our office this year. They get to count each and every drink as a "benefit," which they do by taking the whole FMV and dividing by the number of employees. So, say they give out 10400 16 oz. fountain drinks to 40 people a year. That would cost $2,600 @ 25 cents per drink. However, at the FMV of $1.30 a drink, they get to claim $13,520 as the benefit or $338 a person. Suffice it to say, the same goes for the vending machine discounts, tuition reimbursement, fitness centers, cafeterias, insurance, 401(k) matches and everything else they provide employees.

    • (Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday August 07 2018, @12:54AM

      by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday August 07 2018, @12:54AM (#718052) Journal
      It really boils down to health insurance plus minor amounts of other benefits.

      An example of the former is the health benefit, the cost increases approximately 2-5%. Therefore, the company can claim their benefit goes up by the same amount each year.

      Given that individual health insurance would also go up by similar amounts, that's not saying much. The value to employees goes up as the FMV goes up.