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Don’t Expect a Raise This Year « The Washington Independent

Jul 31, 202018.1K Shares1.2M Views
Despite the fact that the recession has spurred massive gains in productivity, as employees scrambled to keep their jobs and their companies afloat, those employees shouldn’t expect raises or big bonus packages this year — unless, of course, they are bank executives. The newest Wage Trend Indicator from the Bureau of National Affairsshows that wages probably still have further to fall. According to Michael Panzner at Daily Finance:
[The] Wage Trend Indicator fell to 97.14 during the first quarter of 2010, down from 97.42 in the last quarter of 2009. That’s the eighth straight decline and a record low for the WTI, which was inaugurated in the second quarter of 1976 with an initial value of 100.
The WTI is designed to predict accelerations and decelerations in the rate of wage increases based on inflation predictions, industrial production and the self-reported difficulty that employers have in filling jobs, among other factors. The lowest-ever score indicates that, by all indications, not only does growth continue to decelerate, but, since the predictions are looking at what wages will be in the fourth quarter of 2010, most Americans who are employed on Election Day won’t have seen and shouldn’t expect a raise for the third straight year.
Hajra Shannon

Hajra Shannon

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