Wage growth for private sector workers is expected to show little annual growth, based on Bloomberg BNA’s Wage Trend Indicator(WTI) for the first quarter of 2013.
The WTI is up from 98.52 in the fourth quarter of 2012 to 98.63 in 2013’s first quarter. WTI???s have ranged between 98.47 to 98.75 for the last seven quarters.
Based on these figures, Bloomberg BNA projects that wages will increase by 1.7 percent in 2013, at the same rate as 2012.
“Labor market conditions have been improving slowly, but the economy remains somewhat weak,” economist Kathryn Kobe, a consultant who maintains and helped develop Bloomberg BNA’s WTI database, said. “Although the fiscal cliff has been avoided, there’s still a lot of uncertainty about the economic impact of a possible federal budget sequester, and businesses appear hesitant to hire new employees.”
In March 2013, sequestration cuts in federal spending did not have a profound dampening effect on the U.S. economy. Unemployment fell to 7.7 percent in February 2013, commercial and retail sales sales were stronger than analysts predictions and the real estate market grew with an upswing in housing prices.
However, there are concerns that the increased taxes and spending cuts could take as much as 1.5 percent off of growth this year.