NABE survey points to rising US wage pressures

The share of US companies raising wages more than doubled in the three months to July from a year ago, a survey showed on Monday, suggesting a faster pace of wage growth. The National Association for Business Economics' (NABE) latest business conditions survey found that 43 per cent of the 79 economists who participated said their firms had increased wages. That compared to only 19 per cent last year and marked an increase from 35 per cent in the three months to April. In the July quarter, the NABE showed 59 per cent of respondents in the finance, insurance and real estate sector reported raising wages. In the transportation, utilities, information and communications sector, half of the respondents said they had increased wages. In the services sector, 35 per cent reported wage increases, while in the goods producing sector the share was 11 per cent. Wage growth expectations for the third quarter's growth were a bit lower, with 35 per cent of respondents expecting increases. None, however, anticipated a decline in wages. The share of businesses increasing employment jumped to 36 per cent in the July quarter from 29 per cent a year ago. That was up from 28 per cent in the April quarter. While the share of businesses reporting they could not find qualified workers slipped three-tenths of a percentage point to 22 per cent, skills shortages remained the dominant theme, according to Reuters.