What’s Holding Back Wages in America?

America’s labor market is a jigsaw puzzle whose pieces don’t quite fit together.

Unemployment has plummeted to 3.9 percent, the lowest level since the early 2000s. Earnings calls are replete with chief executive officers bemoaning employee shortages. Small businesses are also feeling the pinch. In a July survey by the National Federation of Independent Business, 37 percent of owners reported at least one vacancy, and more than half said there were few or no qualified candidates for the job. READ MORE

LIVING WAGES AND WAGE INCREASE LAWS: WHAT THEY MEAN AND WHAT YOU CAN DO

When a worker has a living wage, it means they are earning enough money to cover standard living expenses in their area. This doesn’t just mean living above the poverty level; nor does it mean an extravagant style of living. The living wage model employed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is described this way: READ MORE

IRS offers initial guidance on executive compensation rules

The Internal Revenue Service provided initial guidance Tuesday on how to deal with the rule changes surrounding the executive compensation deduction after passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act last year. READ MORE

Higher Minimum Wages Blamed for Closure of Iconic NYC Coffee Shop

Before she was the rising star of the progressive left, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez worked shifts at the iconic Coffee Shop in Union Square, Manhattan.

That espresso-sized biographical nugget tells you a lot about Ocasio-Cortez. It grounds her as a real woman of the people, for one. She's held a low-paying service sector job. She had to commute from the working class, minority community of the Bronx to fill the coffee cups of well-off New Yorkers living in Manhattan. Union Square might not be the Upper East Side, but the contrast with Ocasio-Cortez' neighborhood is still pretty stark. READ MORE

Fast-food chains to end ‘no-poach’ clauses that capped wages

Eight big US fast-food chains have agreed to end “no-poach” tactics that critics say have kept down wages and thwarted worker mobility for years. READ MORE

Some companies are bridging the gender pay gap

As the gender pay gap conversation grows louder, some companies are becoming more transparent with their pay practices, and making real change. READ MORE

Minimum Wage Facts And Fantasies

For years I've had fun at cocktail parties by asking this question: What percent of all the people who work in the U.S. are paid minimum wage or less? Of the hundreds of people I've asked, only one has come even close to the right answer. The great majority of the answers I've received (try it yourself!) range from 10% to as much as 50%. My conclusion: A huge number of Americans hold the fantasy belief that a significant percentage of those who work would benefit from raising the minimum wage. READ MORE

Wages rise in the nation’s hottest job market — but so do costs

Isabel Moctezuma was cooking again. Now, at least, she was doing it at home, making salmon for dinner in her small apartment. Her daughter, Mia, 8, sliced carrots next to her. Moctezuma was just off the clock and still wearing her Texas Roadhouse work shirt, which on the back read, “I (heart) my job.” The slogan made her laugh. READ MORE

Microsoft just gave big, surprise bonuses to keep engineers from going to Amazon

The bonuses were unexpected and unprecedented, according to sources who work at and with Microsoft who asked not to be named to protect their jobs and business relationships.

Microsoft typically awards annual bonuses on Sept. 15 and they vest at a flat rate over five years. READ MORE

New Minimum Wage Plan Still Flawed

Politicians and activists have been trying to raise the federal minimum wage for years now. The Fight for $15 crowd is probably the most well-known, but other groups have been pushing for similar increases. One new plan from Rep. Terri Sewell (D-Ala.) and the think tank, Third Way, would tie an area’s federal minimum wage to its cost of living. This plan reduces the negative effects of a nationwide $15 minimum wage but it still has problems. READ MORE

When will tech worker wages start growing again?

We’re all used to rolling our eyes when we see headlines about the obscene wealth in Silicon Valley: Jeff Bezos making $6.2 billion in 5 minutes, Sean Parker’s $9 million wedding in a redwood forest, tech CEOs building expensive underground bunkers in case of doomsday. READ MORE

Pay higher wages? Here’s what many successful companies are doing

As more middle-market business owners begin bumping compensation to offer their employees a true living wage, they are creating a more empowered workforce with more disposable income. While an unintended consequence might be inflation, in general these wage increases are further strengthening our economy and, by extension, our middle market. READ MORE

2017 was a great year for CEOs. Not so much for the average worker.

The American economy is booming — especially if you’re a CEO.

Earnings for the top executives at America’s largest companies skyrocketed in 2017, while wages for the average worker hardly budged. READ MORE

CEO pay jumps to $19 million annually, as fears mount over the wealthy pocketing gains

Top executives of America’s biggest companies saw their average annual pay surge to $18.9 million in 2017, according to a report released Thursday, fueling concerns about the gulf between the nation’s richest and everyone else. READ MORE

5 Decades Of Middle-Class Wages: July 2018 Update

We've updated this series to include Friday's release of the Consumer Price Index as the deflator and the July monthly employment update. The latest hypothetical real (inflation-adjusted) annual earnings are at $38,279, down 12.5% from 45-plus years ago. READ MORE

How the Push for Greater Compensation Reporting Requirements Could Put Global Companies at Risk

The recent string of headlines about pay gaps has many companies on edge as they adapt to a world of increased compensation reporting requirements. READ MORE

These Are the 25 Highest-Paying Jobs in the U.S. Right Now

For the fourth consecutive year, the technology sector boasted the highest-paying jobs in the U.S., according to an annual report from Glassdoor.

Thirteen of the 25 highest-paying jobs this year were in tech, up from 11 in 2017, according to the report, which was released on Wednesday. Within the industry, enterprise architects, software development managers, software engineering managers and software architects received the highest pay, with the lowest average base salary well over $100,000. READ MORE

Where in the U.S. does your pay go furthest? Try Duluth

The highest paychecks in the U.S. are in San Jose, California, the heart of Silicon Valley, according to a new analysis from job search site Indeed. But what if you don't want to live there, or in nearby San Francisco, where $117,000 a year is considered a low income? READ MORE

If unemployment is so low, why aren’t wages higher?

The Great Recession did a number on many Americans. Apparently, we’re so thankful just to have jobs that some of us didn’t blink an eye when President Trump tweeted that “this is the greatest economy in the HISTORY of America.” READ MORE

In U.S., wage growth is being wiped out entirely by inflation

Rising prices have erased U.S. workers’ meager wage gains, the latest sign strong economic growth has not translated into greater prosperity for the middle and working classes.

Cost of living was up 2.9 percent from July 2017 to July 2018, the Labor Department reported Friday, an inflation rate that outstripped a 2.7 percent increase in wages over the same period. The average U.S. “real wage,” a federal measure of pay that takes inflation into account, fell to $10.76 an hour last month, 2 cents down from where it was a year ago. READ MORE