Newswise — Linda Barrington, managing director of the New York City-based Institute for Compensation Studies at Cornell University’s ILR School, comments on the latest Employee Cost Index and Employment Situation numbers released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
She says:
“While the unemployment rate ticked up one-tenth of a percent just as analysts predicted, underlying employment fundamentals are moving in the right direction: The number of people working part-time but wanting full-time work declined, as did the number of discouraged workers, and the employment numbers for both August and September were revised upward. And, at the same time, this quarter's Employment Cost Index rose to 2 percent.
“The labor market works like any market – as demand picks up, in this case for employees, prices rise. The uptick in the employment cost index is consistent with gentle strengthening in employers’ demand for workers. ”
RSS