Wage growth tracker shows first slowdown in over a year

Wage growth in November slowed across economies in Europe, the UK and the US, according to the Indeed Wage Tracker published by the online jobs site Indeed.com.

Its reading for Ireland shows annual wage growth slowing from a peak of 5.2% in July and August to 4.6% in November.

The tracker, developed by economists from Indeed and the Central Bank was launched last month. It is based on advertised wage rates in thousands of online job notices.

It shows that wages rates across the six euro area countries tracked – which includes Ireland – fell marginally from an annual rate of 5.2% in October to 5.1% in November.

This is the first decline recorded in the tracker data in just over a year and a half.

The report notes that the slowdown was most apparent in Ireland, Italy and the Netherlands while wage growth in France, Germany and Spain “held fairly steady”.

In the UK, wage growth slowed to 6.1%. According to the report, this was driven “by slowing wage growth in low-paid jobs”.

The steepest fall was in the US where the annual rate declined to 6.5% last month compared to an annual rate of 9% in March.

The report’s authors say it is “too early to say with certainty whether we are at a turning point” when it comes to wage growth.

However, they also note that the slowing rate of wage rises means the risk of a “wage-price spiral” where wages chase inflation causing inflation to go ever higher is limited.

Article Source – Wage growth tracker shows first slowdown in over a year – RTE

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