When was the last time you received a raise, or at least a cost of living adjustment? If it’s been some time since you’ve noticed an increase in your wages then you may have to wait a little bit longer.
A new study by the National Association of Business Entrepreneurs (NABE) found that United States companies are remaining optimistic about sales and hiring, though the level of sanguinity is slightly down from the previous quarter. Fifty-four percent of company and industry economists expect sales to rise in the next three months, down from 59 percent at the start of the previous quarter.
However, the biggest finding from the survey that is generating headlines was in regards to pay raises. Twenty-four percent of companies raised their salaries and wages in July to September, a decline from 43 percent in the April to June quarter. Despite the paucity of higher pay, firms were still continuing the trend of hiring workers.
The report discovered that private companies are adding employment at a modest pace – 32 percent have done hiring – that is relatively raising salaries because employers are competing to get the best workers in the labor market. Hiring sprees did fall in the third quarter, but job additions stayed close to three-year highs.
Overall, unemployment is still a prominent issue for many Americans, and corporations aren’t making the decision to hike pay – roughly one-third of companies hope to boost wages in the final quarter of the year but this was the same number in the last quarter.
Average monthly job growth has gained steam this year to 227,000 from 194,000 in 2013, though a lot of the jobs remain in the low-pay, part-time fields.
When it comes to the eurozone, 44 percent of economists said Europe’s economic slowdown as well as the European Central Bank’s (ECB) quantitative easing and record-low interest rates won’t have much of an effect on their business – it should be noted that the survey was conducted before the latest influx of economic data coming from the region and last week’s tank in the U.S. stock market.
A strong majority of economists expect the Federal Reserve to start hiking interest rates in the second quarter of next year, and 84 percent say any small increase wouldn’t hurt their business.
Points of view
Business experts aver that this study is a mixed bag and it could have both positive and negative effects.
“Business conditions continued to improve during the third quarter, albeit at a marginally subdued pace from that of the second quarter, and the majority of the NABE Business Conditions Survey panelists report strong expectations for continued economic growth,” said NABE President John Silvia in a statement.
Meanwhile, Retail Dive writes that this could put the retail industry in a “funk” moving forward.
“But wages, as reiterated in this report, are not so much part of that picture,” wrote the publication. “Employment is lagging enough to allow many businesses to play hardball with employees, including leaving wages lower. Add rising expenses and some increasing credit card debt, and stir, and you have the recipe for a good old-fashioned retail funk.”
