Rank-and-File Workers Get Bigger Raises

By Eric Morath and Jeffrey Sparshott of The WSJ. Excerpts:

"Pay for the bottom 25% of wage earners rose 4.5% in November from a year earlier, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. Wages for the top 25% of earners rose 2.9%. Similarly, the Atlanta Fed found wages for low-skilled workers have accelerated since early 2018, and last month matched the pace of high-skill workers for the first time since 2010.

“A strong labor market makes the bargaining power of lower-paid workers more like the labor market higher-wage workers experience during good times and bad,” Nick Bunker, economist with job search site Indeed.com, said."

"Average hourly earnings for production and nonsupervisory workers in the private sector were up 3.7% in November from a year earlier—stronger than the 3.1% advance for all employees"

"The unemployment rate for high school dropouts fell to 5.3% last month from 7.8% three years earlier. The rate for college grads is down to 2% from 2.4% in November 2016, and is slightly elevated relative to the late 1990s and early 2000s."

"Pay is also increasing for low-skilled work in states such as Georgia, where the minimum wage remains at the federal level of $7.25 an hour."

"The going rate for a warehouse worker in Atlanta is close to $15 an hour, up from $12 two years ago, he said. Some clients raised pay twice in the past year."