U.S. Hourly Wage Growth Moderates In November

Average hourly wages paid to American workers rose 0.2% in November, a bit slower compared to the prior month. The typical worker earned $25.25 an hour, up 4 cents from October. From November 2014 to November 2015, hourly wages rose 2.3%, falling from a 2.5% pace in October that raised hopes of rising wages in the months ahead. Annualized increases in pay had stuck to 2.2% or less through most of the recovery until the bump in October. Still, economists expect the creation of millions of new jobs and a falling unemployment rate to put more upward pressure on wages in the near future. The amount of time people worked each week fell a notch to 34.5 hours.