The median estimate of all 17 FOMC officials’ quarterly projections for the benchmark federal funds rate implied two rate rises in 2015. The number of officials forecasting fewer than two moves mounted to seven from three in March.
Broader Demand
ManpowerGroup Inc. has started to see “some wage inflation” with broader demand for workers across industries.
“The hot skills are getting good wage increases and they have been for some time,” said Jeffrey Joerres, executive chairman of Milwaukee-based ManpowerGroup. “We’re starting to see some wage increases in general manufacturing jobs, service jobs, call center jobs, slowly across the board.”
Some of the wage gains have been prompted by government actions. The minimum wage was raised in 20 states from Hawaii to Connecticut on Jan. 1, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
The gains by the lowest paid represent a turnabout as employers have offered increasing pay incentives for college- educated workers.
“For three decades, there have been long-term increasing premiums for education,” said Enrico Moretti, University of California, Berkeley economist who has studied wages of workers by education. “I don’t think this is a reversal but they are making up a little bit of lost ground.”