As employers compete for scarce workers, some employees are winning big wage gains
Job creation has slowed a bit from the torrid pace it set earlier this year.
What hasn’t been slowing, however, is wage growth. Average hourly earnings were up 5.6 percent in March, compared to a year ago.
In this tight labor market, there’s intense pressure on employers to keep raising paychecks. READ MORE
Is a wage-price spiral driving inflation?
Price inflation is at a 40-year high — 8.5% year over year, according to the March consumer price index. Wages haven’t quite been keeping pace: Average hourly earnings were up 5.6% over the same period, per the Labor Department’s March jobs report.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has expressed concern about the wages part of that equation. He’s said the labor market is tight to an “unhealthy” level, and that accelerating wage gains “wouldn’t be sustainable over too long of a period.” READ MORE
U.S. Posts Robust Job Gains While Wage Growth Shows Moderation
U.S. employers hired at a robust pace in April, yet more tempered wage growth and a smaller labor force offered mixed signs for a Federal Reserve that’s aggressively raising interest rates to curb hot inflation.
The 428,000 gain in nonfarm payrolls matched the advance in March and was broad-based across industries, a Labor Department report showed Friday. The unemployment rate held at 3.6% and average hourly earnings rose, albeit at a more moderate pace from a month earlier. READ MORE
Wage inflation will remain as long as there is demand for workers
During an interview on "Mornings with Maria" TriNet CEO Burton Goldfield said that as long as there is demand for workers, there will be wage inflation, and companies will need to start increasing salaries to retain and attract employees. READ MORE
How many participants is too many for a top hat plan?
A client recently reviewed a census of participants in its deferred compensation plan and found that the covered group amounted to nearly 15% of its total workforce. Mindful of the need to limit the number of participants in a top hat plan, this compliance-oriented organization asked whether it should consider changing the eligibility criteria to hold down, or even reduce, the size of the covered group. That is a good question. READ MORE
Papa Johns announces ESG metric for incentive compensation
Papa John’s International, Inc. (NASDAQ: PZZA) (“Papa Johns”) today released its 2021 Corporate Responsibility Report, covering initiatives to advance the company’s environment, social, and governance (ESG) strategy and topics most important to the company and stakeholders. In tandem with this year’s report, Papa Johns announced its corporate incentive bonus plan now includes an ESG metric, making the company the first major U.S. pizza delivery chain to announce that its ESG priorities will be linked with incentive compensation. READ MORE
How The Wealthy Really Generate Passive Income
Think back to the last time you played Monopoly; what is the one thing the winner has? The most assets. They have a lot of the assets on the board from real estate with homes and hotels built on them to railroads and utility companies. To win at the game of Monopoly, assets are the key. It’s no different in life. READ MORE
Why some of the richest Americans pay no federal income taxes
Right before tax season ended last month, ProPublica published a list of the country’s highest earners and how much they pay in taxes, based on a trove of secret IRS files the newsroom obtained last year.
ProPublica reporter Paul Kiel joined Boston Public Radio to explain his findings, including why the ultra-rich — the top 400 earners in the entire country — pay lower income tax rates than affluent Americans, how Tesla founder Elon Musk is paying for Twitter, and his thoughts on proposals to change the country's tax system. READ MORE
Equity Compensation Highlight: Stock Options and Restricted Stock
Start-up and early stage companies commonly offer equity compensation to attract talent, encourage employee retention, and align company and employee interests on business objectives. There are several different types of equity and equity-based awards that a company may potentially utilize. This highlight discusses some of the differences between two common forms of equity awards – stock options and restricted stock. READ MORE
Wages Can’t Keep Up With Spike in Housing Prices
Across the globe, the 10 cities that experienced the largest drops in affordability in 2021 were all in the U.S., new research shows. READ MORE
Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Case Concerning Whether a Highly Paid Supervisor’s Daily Rate is a Salary Under the FLSA
The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear Helix Energy Solutions Group, Inc. v. Hewitt, a case addressing whether a supervisor who earned a day rate of $963, and more than $200,000 annually, was paid on a “salary basis” under the FLSA. This question affects the entire spectrum of highly paid white-collar workers whose compensation includes a guaranteed amount, plus additional payments based on an hourly, daily, or per-shift rate. READ MORE
College students expect to make $103,880 after graduation – almost twice the reality
Today's college students expect to make about $103,880 in their first post-graduation job, a survey suggests. But the reality is much lower – as the average starting salary is actually about half that at $55,260, statistics show.
The survey, conducted by Real Estate Witch, found that, across all majors and institutions, undergraduate students overestimate their starting salaries by 88%. And 1 in 3 worry that they won't make enough money to live comfortably after graduation. READ MORE
CEO pay almost makes GE investors mad
General Electric (GE.N) investors are pretending to be angry about executive pay. Only two-thirds of them voted to support the company’s executive compensation package at its annual meeting on May 4. That’s better than the 42% who voted in favor last year, but below the average of 87% at companies tracked by Proxy Monitor. READ MORE
Amazon announces benefit to pay for US employees who travel for abortions, other treatments
Online retail giant Amazon.com took a firm stance Monday pushing against a prevailing Republican-led push to restrict access to abortion, telling its staff that it would pay up to $4,000 in travel expenses for non-life threatening medical treatments that include abortion.
The move comes as a leaked Supreme Court opinion suggests the conservative-leaning court may op to overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark law that makes abortion legal. READ MORE
Work from home, but if you do we’ll cut your pay by 20%, law firm tells staff
Many companies are struggling to encourage their workforce back into the office as COVID restrictions are increasingly being eased in cities all over the world.
A recent survey found that 76% of Apple employees are unhappy with the tech giant’s return-to-office policy, which requires corporate workers to be in the office once a week. READ MORE
What Information Technology Professionals Earn
Is your salary as high as you think it should be? Are you making what your peers are making? Should you be looking for a new job in order to get that salary boost this year? If these are the questions you are looking to answer, we’ve got some insights for you.
InformationWeek checked in with IT professionals across the US to find out whether salaries were going up or down, how many were thinking about finding a new job, and what qualities mattered most to them about their work. The full results are in the InformationWeek 2022 US IT Salary Report (PDF available for free download with site registration to InformationWeek.) READ MORE
PSEG fails to release executive pay despite new disclosure law
PSEG Long Island, citing the potential for "unfair economic and competitive damage," has declined to publicly disclose executive salary figures required by a new state law, drawing rebukes from the statute's authors.
The New Jersey company's disclosure filing with the state Department of Public Service lists top executives of the company's Long Island division but blacks out all salary figures, including for categories such as deferred compensation, bonuses, stock options and life insurance premiums. READ MORE
Business owner breaks down why she pays all staff – including herself – the same salary
A TikTok influencer and business owner went viral after explaining how she runs a business without being “selfish.”
It’s simple according to Madeline Pendleton, the owner of L.A-based online boutique Tunnel Vision, who explains that all she does is pay her nine full-time employees the same salary as she pays herself.
The math is pretty easy. READ MORE
Starbucks will raise wages again — but not for unionized workers
Starbucks interim CEO Howard Schultz has a message for workers interested in unionizing: If you do, you could miss out on higher wages.
The coffee chain said it would raise wages back in October. Starbucks will honor those commitments to employees even if they have voted to unionize, Schultz said during an analyst call Tuesday. READ MORE