Page 25 - ARUBA TODAY

BUSINESS Saturday 8 September 2018
A25

Intent on getting a big raise? You may have to quit your job

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER and $11.50 in Washington
WASHINGTON (AP) — De- state.
spite one of the best job The ultra-low unemploy-
markets in decades, work- ment rate has also helped.
ers across the U.S. econ- Many businesses say they
omy are struggling with a are desperate to find work-
common frustration: What ers. And in some lower-
does it take to finally get a skilled industries, such as
decent raise? restaurants, they have to
It turns out you might have pay more to find staff.
to quit your job. "We're seeing about as
Americans who leave their strong a labor market for
employers to take a new less-skilled workers as we've
job are enjoying pay raises seen in a really long time,"
that are one-third larger said Jason Furman, the top
than raises for workers who White House economist
stay put — a gap that has under President Barack
reached the widest point Obama.
since the Great Recession. ___
At the same time, retail CEOs STILL RAKING IT IN
and restaurant workers are Even as poorer workers
receiving more generous have fared better, CEOs,
raises than manufacturing not surprisingly, have done
workers are. In this Feb. 15, 2017, file photo a hotel guest is dwarfed by the glass facade of the JW Marriott hotel best.
And America's CEOs are as he rides an escalator at the hotel in downtown Los Angeles. In 2017, the chief execu-
getting some of the biggest Associated Press tives of the 350 largest pub-
pay gains of all. licly traded U.S. companies
At a time when the aver- day, the White House's top Yet the figures also illus- tered high-tech and other reported, on average, an
age annual wage increase economist, Kevin Hassett, trate how pay is still lagging skill sets that allow them to increase in compensation
for U.S. workers as a whole asserted that pay is rising if compared with previous command higher wages as of nearly 18 percent, ac-
remains surprisingly modest you consider benefits such periods of brisk job growth. competition for such work- cording to a report by the
given the robust job mar- as health care, an alterna- Even the pay gains for ers heats up. Economic Policy Institute.
ket, those groups of work- tive gauge of inflation and job-switchers are relatively ___ That compares with a puny
ers are doing better than the impact of tax cuts. modest compared with LOWER-PAID WORKERS RE- raise of just 0.3 percent
average. Yet even by the White periods in the past. Before CEIVE SOLID GAINS for all other workers in the
Others aren't faring as well. House's own measure, the recession, job switchers For six years after the re- same industries. Both fig-
Pay raises for people who wage increases have received annual raises of cession, the lowest-paid ures are adjusted for infla-
have stayed in the same slowed over the past three nearly 5 percent. In the late workers received the thin- tion.
job for the past year, for years. 1990s, they topped 6 per- nest wage gains — and in Larry Mishel, senior econo-
example, remain relatively Here are some ways in cent. Even adjusting for in- several years their pay de- mist at EPI, said CEO pay
stagnant. That trend has which average pay growth flation, job switchers fared clined. Yet since 2015, they jumped largely because it
confounded some econo- varies depending on the better in the late 1990s than have clawed back some of is closely tied to the health
mists. Many had expected category of worker: they do now. those losses. of the stock market. The
that companies would ___ And for roughly three years For the lowest-paid one- S&P 500 stock index soared
have to pay more to retain FIND A NEW JOB, GET A BIG now, average raises for fifth of the workforce, wag- 22 percent in 2017. Most
employees at a time when RAISE workers who have stayed es rose 2.3 percent in 2017, CEO pay comes in the form
workers are harder to find It would seem fundamen- in their jobs have remained adjusted for inflation, ac- of stock options, which are
and the unemployment tal: If you want a decent stuck below 3 percent. cording to the Economic much more lucrative in a
rate, at 3.9 percent, is near raise, find a new job. But it "It's interesting that in a la- Policy Institute, a liberal rising market.
a 50-year low. doesn't always work that bor market that is this tight, think tank. That topped That means a plummeting
Nationally, average hourly way. For the first six years employers do not seem to the average for middle-in- stock market can lower
pay rose 2.7 percent in July after the 2008-2009 Great be raising wages for workers come workers, whose pay CEO pay, which fell nearly
from a year earlier, before Recession, people who who are staying," said Mar- gains inched up just 0.2 30 percent in 2008, during
adjusting for inflation. That switched jobs received tha Gimbel, an economist percent. the recession. Yet for per-
is modest by historical stan- raises that were scarcely at the job search website It's also ahead of the rich- spective, the pay of CEOs
dards. The last time unem- better than those for work- Indeed. "That could imply est one-tenth of workers, of the largest firms still aver-
ployment was this low, in ers who stayed in their jobs. they are not worried about whose pay rose 1.9 per- aged nearly $11 million that
the late 1990s, pay raises But since then, the switch- workers being poached, cent. Low-paid workers also year, according to the EPI's
for Americans as a whole ers have commanded which is surprising." saw a huge gain in 2016 figures. In 2017, large-com-
averaged roughly 4 per- steadily better raises than Gimbel suggested that at that ran far ahead of mid- pany CEOs made $18.9
cent. the stayers. In July, wages least some workers might dle-income and wealthy million, on average. That
And once you factor in for job switchers grew 3.8 be staying in their jobs be- employees. is 312 times the average
inflation, average hourly percent from a year ear- cause of a growing use What's driving the outsize pay of workers in the same
pay has actually declined lier, compared with 2.9 per- of "non-compete" agree- increases for lower-paid industries, which reached
slightly over the past 12 cent for those who stayed ments, which restrict work- workers? $62,431 last year.
months. behind, according to data ers from jumping to com- More than 20 states have ___
With midterm elections from the Federal Reserve petitors. Such agreements raised their minimum wag- SOLID GAINS FOR WHITES
looming, the Trump admin- Bank of Atlanta. In Febru- have been used increas- es above the federal mini- AND LATINOS
istration is pushing back ary and March this year, ingly even in low-wage jobs mum of $7.25, some of White Americans, on aver-
against the notion that pay- that gap reached 1.7 per- such as fast-food work. them substantially higher. age, earn much more than
checks aren't growing. In a centage points, the widest In addition, many job- The minimum is now $11 African-Americans or Lati-
report released Wednes- disparity since August 2001. switchers may have mas- in California, for example, nos. q