Workers’ wages are seeing their greatest overall increases since the late 1990s, according to a variety of reports.
The Bank of America has just announced a plan to increase salaries from their current $20 an hour to $25 in the next four years.
The McDonald’s Corporation is raising its average $11 an hour rate to $15 an hour; while Amazon says employee salaries will increase by $3 over the average $12 an hour it currently pays.
Mark Zandi, chief economist with Moody’s Analytics, in speaking to the network CNBC, said not only is the wage increase trend real, but added: “All the anecdotes we were getting in the last few months would suggest it’s continuing.”
In announcing the Amazon wage increase, Darcie Henry, the company’s vice president of global human resources, said the hike will impact more than half a million workers, representing “an investment of over $1 billion in incremental pay for these employees.”
The Bank of America wage increase, said chief executive officer Brian Moynihan, is all about maintaining a “great standard of living for our teammates.”
In a CNN interview, Moynihan added: “The key is for big companies like ours to set a standard. We think it’s part of sharing our success with our communities.”
Wage increases have proven particularly steady in the construction industry, according to an analysis recently released by the Associated General Contractors of America.
The average hourly wage for middle managers and professionals is up by 3.2% over last year, according to the study, with overall wages, salaries, and benefits in the first quarter of 2021 up by 0.9%, compared with 0.6% in the last quarter of 2020.
In a separate report, the Bureau of Labor Statistics notes that construction industry compensation in the last year has increased by 2.7%.
By Garry Boulard
