Biggest US Wage Growth in Decade for Lowest-Paid Workers

The incomes of the bottom 25 percent of U.S. wage-earners are rising at the fastest rate of all groups of employees, according to data published by the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. The wages of the lower-most quartile grew by 4.5 percent in November from a year earlier, according to the Fed, while wages for the top 25 percent increased by 2.9 percent over the same period. The last time the wages of the bottom 25 percent of wage-earners grew at 4.5 percent was in August 2008, and before that, in October 2002. The Atlanta Fed also found that the highest wage growth in November was noted for workers in finance and business services (4.1 percent), followed closely by manufacturing (4.0 percent), and construction and mining (4.0 percent). Employees in the education and health industries experienced the lowest earnings gains in the same month, coming in at 3.0 percent. The month of November also saw a convergence of wage growth to 3.6 percent overall among the three groups of high-skill, mid-skill, and low-skill workers...MORE