While the government's employment report showed that wages rose only 1.9 percent in the 12 months through April, corporations have been singing a different tune as they discuss their first-quarter earnings reports.
Executives at nearly 25 big companies say pay is rising for much of their operations,
The Wall Street Journal reports. The companies include ones in manufacturing and services.
Among the companies are money manager State Street, coatings manufacturer PPG Industries and restaurant companies Chipotle Mexican Grill and Darden Restaurants.
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At Dr Pepper Snapple Group, CFO Martin Ellen predicts that "people-related costs" will increase $30 million this year, "reflecting both general inflation in our field labor costs" and rising health and benefit costs, The Journal reports.
Economists often view wage growth as a negative sign, because it can lead to inflation. But with consumer prices advancing only 1.5 percent in the year through March, and the economy struggling to maintain growth above 2.5 percent, wage increases would be welcome now, according to The Journal.
Higher wages should spark greater consumer spending, which soared 0.9 percent in March, the most in almost five years.
But economists focusing on the April jobs report weren't so enthusiastic. "What happened [in that report] is entirely consistent with what we said would happen," David Blanchflower, an economics professor at Dartmouth College, tells
The New York Times.
He was referring to a report he wrote with Adam Posen, president of the Peterson Institute for International Economics.
"Hourly wages were up two pennies last month, and this month they're flat. That tells you there's too much slack in the labor market. All the other stuff is just noise," Blanchflower said.
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