Friday, May 6, 2016

COMPANIES HAVE TO PAY MORE

“Part of the reason corporate profits are falling appears to be that companies are having to pay their employees more.
Hiring has been quite strong over three years, with millions of Americans getting jobs. That has pushed the unemployment rate steadily downward, to about 5 percent. Very gradually, a labor market that was very much tilted in favor of employers is tilting the other way.
“That means companies are having to work harder to attract good employees. They do that by paying higher wages and salaries (up 10 percent in 2015 compared with 2013) and more generous benefits package (up 6 percent over the two-year period).”


Neil Irwin, “Workers Are Getting a Bit More of the Economic Pie,” New York Times, May 3, 2016 [in print May 6, 2016, page B1].