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PayScale Index Reveals Q3 Wages Remain Flat While Other Indicators Show the U.S. Economy is BoomingSEATTLE, Wash., Oct. 09, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today, PayScale Inc, the leader in precise, on-demand cloud compensation data and software for businesses and individuals, released the Q3 2018 PayScale Index, which tracks quarterly and annual trends in compensation and provides a U.S. wage forecast for the coming quarter. The most recent Q3 Index showed wage growth across the U.S. was generally flat. Currently, the U.S. economy is experiencing record corporate profits, low unemployment rates and a booming stock market -- economic indicators which typically drive wages upward. In addition to stagnant nominal wage growth, real wages for Q3 were down 1.8 percent from Q3 2017 which means the average person can purchase even less than they could last year when wages are measured in relation to inflation. “While key economic measures point to a robust economy, there is no question that these economic improvements have not translated into robust wage growth for the average worker,” said Katie Bardaro, Chief Economist at PayScale. “While it’s encouraging to see that wages are not continuing to drop - as the Index reflected in Q2 - it is apparent the positive performance of many companies is not resulting in an increase in most employee’s pay checks.” Here are the key findings from the Q3 2018 PayScale Index: Wages were generally flat or down across the board:
Canadian wages fare slightly better than the U.S.
The PayScale Index is a different economic measure than the Employment Cost Index (ECI) reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). While the ECI tracks employment costs within organizations, the PayScale Index tracks workers’ wages across various organizations. This means the PayScale Index will capture changes in employees’ wages when they are move to a different company, while the ECI does not. There is value in using both the ECI and the PayScale Index to determine relative wage growth in the U.S. economy. To view the entire interactive Q3 2018 PayScale index which reflects wage trends across various industries, job categories, company sizes and major metros, including Canada, please visit: https://www.payscale.com/payscale-index For information about the methodology of the PayScale Index, please visit: https://www.payscale.com/payscale-index/compensation-trends-methodology About PayScale: Press Contact: |