The Employment Cost Index—the Fed's key metric for wage growth that accounts for labor composition—slowed to the lowest level since June 2021, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Wednesday. The overall index eased to 0.9% in the fourth quarter on a seasonally adjusted basis, down from 1.1% ... READ MORE >
Employment Cost Index
Fed’s key wage inflation metric tops forecast
The employment cost index has been the Federal Reserve's top indicator for wage pressure on underlying inflation recently. That figure for the third quarter showed that labor costs rose 1.1% higher than the forecast of 1.0% and were higher than the pre-pandemic average of 0.6%. The hotter-than-expected ... READ MORE >
Fed’s key wage gauge falls to lowest level since June 2021
The Employment Cost Index—the Federal Reserve's closely watched metric on wage growth—increased by 1.0% in the second quarter, the slowest rate since June 2021, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Friday. That brought the 12-month increase of overall employment compensation down to ... READ MORE >
Labor costs slow, setting the stage for smaller Fed rate hike
Labor costs decelerated in the last quarter of 2022, adding to the justification for the Federal Reserve to slow its rate increases to 25 basis points after its meeting on Wednesday. The index showed that labor cost growth fell to 1.0% on a quarterly basis, and to 5.1% on a year-ago basis for all ... READ MORE >
U.S. retail sales and producer inflation fall as spending weakens
Retail sales and producer inflation data came in lower than expected in December, giving the Federal Reserve more reasons to begin to slow down its rate hikes. Sales at retail stores and online showed broad declines in the last month of the year, dropping by 1.1%. November's number was also ... READ MORE >
Acceleration of wage increases raises caution flag for policymakers
Friday’s report that the Employment Cost Index had increased at the fastest pace in decades confirmed that the Great Resignation is bolstering the bargaining power of workers. The wage component of the index has now accelerated from a 2.5% rate of increase in the third quarter of 2020 to 4.2% a ... READ MORE >
Chart of the day: Wages grew fastest in 20 years
The tight labor market sent worker compensation growth in the third quarter to its highest level in 20 years, posting a 1.3% gain, according to Employment Cost Index data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday. The Employment Cost Index is the Federal Reserve's top wage gauge, and is ... READ MORE >