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Yesterday, Walmart announced that, beginning in April of this year, the company will raise the pay of all its employees to at least $9 an hour. In 2016, the company’s minimum pay rate will again jump to $10. This move will affect approximately 500,000 Walmart employees and, along with several other changes such as increased training and scheduling options, is estimated to cost the company $1 billion. Walmart’s pay increase follows a number of businesses, including Aetna, Ikea and Gap Inc., that have announced an internal company minimum wage higher than the federal minimum of $7.25 an hour. While some...

resident Barack Obama, in his State of the Union speech, called for a minimum-wage hike and for government-mandated paid family and medical leave. "We are the only advanced country on Earth," said the President, "that doesn't guarantee paid sick leave or paid maternity leave to our workers." On the minimum wage, Obama issued this challenge: "And to everyone in this Congress who still refuses to raise the minimum wage, I say this: If you truly believe you could work full-time and support a family on less than $15,000 a year, try it. If not, vote to give millions of the...

W orking professionals across sectors might not have much to cheer this year as salary increases likely to see a “marginal” rise compared with last year’s pay hikes in India. According to a study released today by global management consultancy Hay Group, employees across job roles can expect an average of 11.3 percent wage hike in 2015 led by FMCG and chemical industry. Last year, the actual average salary increase was recorded at 10.9 percent across industries, the report noted. “The study that we have conducted predicts that the pay raise in 2015 will remain in double digits. At this...

Michigan’s prevailing wage law sets an arbitrary mandate for what public entities (like schools) have to pay for construction projects. Top Republicans in Lansing rightly want to eliminate these mandates, as the Mackinac Center has recommended for years. This is estimated to save taxpayers more than $200 million per year. Democrats disagree with the proposed changes. "It's extremely disappointing that the first priority of Republicans is to lower wages and have people work for less," said House Minority Leader Tim Greimel, D-Auburn Hills. "It's just another example of Republicans' relentless push for cheap labor." But if government can set an...

The elation over wage increases in private business reported in last month’s job report has been replaced by disappointment. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Jan. 16 that average hourly earnings fell five cents in December, eating up most of the six-cent increase in November. Between 2010 and 2014, the average real wage fell 1.1%, a poor showing after rising 3.4% between 2006 and 2010. What accounts for this performance? There are basically two ways that the average economywide wage can fall. There might be a shift in employment away from high-paying to lower-paying industries; in other words, the...

The great wage mystery deepens. In economic recoveries, there usually comes a time when strong job gains lead to strong wage gains. Businesses must pay more to recruit and retain the workers they need. Not this time - or at least not yet. The unemployment rate has dropped from a peak of 10 percent in October 2009 to 5.6 percent at the end of 2014. But hourly wage gains haven't accelerated. They've plodded along at about a 2 percent annual rate, roughly matching inflation. Economists are baffled. "This labor market recovery looks different from anything since World War II," says University...

Much of the discussion of last Tuesday's election results has addressed voters' ongoing dissatisfaction with what, by the numbers, is an improving economy. Commenters like Slate's William Saletan noted that Republicans won by using liberal-sounding economic rhetoric to play on income-stagnation angst. President Obama talked about the issue in a press conference, citing the dearth of high-wage jobs amidst the recovery. Today Josh Marshall of the progressive news and commentary site Talking Points Memo and Derek Thompson of the Atlantic poke deeper into the issue. They really poke the heck out of the issue, I tell you! Marshall's piece is...

While the headline jobs print was a modest kneejerk disappointment at least until it is appropriately spun in some sort of "goldilocks" frame, where the October jobs report was a true disappointment, was in the report of average hourly earnings: rising at just 0.1% for the month and 2.0% Y/Y, it missed expectations across both metrics. As a reminder, even Janet Yellen has observed that with the unemployment rate ridiculously low and thus meaningless to shape policy, the key thing the Fed head is watching is any changes in wages to determine where benign wage inflation is headed. Well,...

I recently wrote about sluggish and stagnant wages, which are said to weaken the economy's recovery. I argued that workers' fear of losing their jobs is an important - perhaps decisive - explanation. In a nutshell: Frightened of being fired and being unable to find a new job, workers are less inclined to quit and search for something better. Therefore, employers don't have to raise wages, or can raise them less, to retain their best workers. Wage gains have been running at about 2 percent annually, a bit above the rate of inflation. There are many competing theories. The most...

In discussing U.S. immigration policy on Monday’s “Laura Ingraham Show,” U.S. Senate Tom Cotton (R-AR) cited illegal immigration as a “major issue” in his race in Arkansas, while also pointing out that based upon non-partisan analysis, the so called Gang of Eight bill previously passed by the Senate "would both drive down wages in America and increase unemployment". "I think we need to get Americans back to work before we worry about increasing the number of guest workers, or temporary visa holders we have in the country," he added. “In so many ways, this bill is just like Obamacare --...

The Social Security Administration has just released wage statistics for 2013, and the numbers are startling.  Last year, 50 percent of all American workers made less than $28,031, and 39 percent of all American workers made less than $20,000.  If you worked a full-time job at $10 an hour all year long with two weeks off, you would make $20,000.  So the fact that 39 percent of all workers made less than that amount is rather telling.  This is more evidence of the declining quality of the jobs in this country.  In many homes in America today, both parents are...

With the September jobs report, perhaps one of the most irrelevant monthly updates from the BLS in a long time, due out in less than half an hour, BofA's Chart of the Day looks at what has become the most sticky issue in the monthly jobs report of late: where the inflation-adjusted income growth, or lack thereof, can be found. What it finds is that the average American can still hope for rising real wages: they just have to be massively underwater on unrepayable student debt. To wit:  As of 2013, the median income for college graduates was about $80,000...

NEW YORK (AP) — Police handcuffed dozens of protesters in cities around the country on Thursday as they blocked traffic in the latest attempt to escalate their efforts to get McDonald's, Burger King and other fast-food companies to pay their employees at least $15 an hour. The protests, which were planned by labor organizers for about 150 cities nationwide throughout Thursday, are part of a campaign called "Fight for $15."

On the surface, California's job market is booming. The state has now recovered all the jobs lost during the recession, and done so at a faster pace than all but five states. The growth, though, belies a troubling imbalance. The fastest job creation has come in low-wage sectors, in which pay has declined. At the high end of the salary scale, a different dynamic has taken hold: rising pay and improving employment after rounds of consolidation. Most distressing, middle-wage workers are losing out on both counts. "People talk about it like an hourglass," said Tracey Grose, vice president of the...

Would you like to own a small business someday? If so, sorry — the Service Employees International Union would rather you didn’t. The SEIU has convinced the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to eviscerate the franchising model that many small-business owners rely on.Under the current model, these small-business owners pay for the right to use a corporate brand. The franchising corporation researches appealing products. It also does marketing to promote the brand. In return, the local franchisees agree to produce those products to fit certain price and quality specifications. The local franchisee handles all the hiring and employment.

Tragically, the inability of our institutions to impart the skills required by the emerging economy hobble not just the unemployed but employers. A reader recently offered a compelling reason why total compensation costs (wages plus benefits/payroll taxes) could rise even in a stagnant economy with millions available for work: many of those who have been out of work for a long time (or have yet to hold a formal job) are unqualified by experience and professionalism to perform the work that is available. This is a complex topic, so let's separate the key issues. 1. Inability to perform the available work successfully on...

Ed Yardeni, Dr. Ed's BlogAugust 4, 2014 Yardeni chart Aug 4, Dr. Ed's Blog The US economy appears on my worry list only indirectly and only because it is performing well, showing no signs of a recession. That’s bearish only if the Fed’s response of starting to raise interest rates in baby steps triggers an unanticipated financial crisis simply because interest rates have been too close to zero for too long. A rush out of corporate bond funds could be one of the consequences with recessionary consequences, or maybe not. It’s something to watch. For now, let the good times...

Once again, one man has dictated a major change of federal law that can cost American families dearly. It may double the price of your Big Mac, Whopper, fried chicken, donuts or other purchases at your local fast-food restaurant. Where’s the beef coming from? Surprise! This time it’s neither President Obama nor Attorney General Eric Holder who is twisting the law like a pretzel from Auntie Anne’s. It’s Obama appointee Richard Griffin, the president’s hand-picked choice for the all-powerful position as general counsel of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Mr. Griffin has declared that millions of Americans who work...

Hey, do you remember when Michigan shocked the nation and became a right to work state in 2012? That was supposed to usher in the end of the world, at least in the view of union leaders and their Democrat water carriers. As Thomas Lifson reminds us at The American Thinker, the predictions were nigh on to apocalyptic. “There will be blood, there will be repercussions,” State Democratic Rep. Douglas Geiss, speaking on the House floor on Tuesday, warned ahead of the votes. And of course, there were predictions of disaster for the “little guy” as ruthless bosses would exploit...

Myles UdlandJuly 27, 2014 Wage growth is close to not being growth at all. On August 1, we'll get the latest jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Last month, the report showed that the economy added 288,000 jobs in June, with wages growing 2% year of year. Unfortunately, when taking into account the rate of inflation, "real" wage growth was flat. In Business Insider's latest Most Important Charts In The World feature, Ellen Zentner, senior U.S. economist at Morgan Stanley, highlighted the following chart, which shows how real wage growth has slowed to, well, no growth at all.(snip)(snip)