Employees' average hourly earnings climbed to US$16.41 last month, up 0.4 percent from December. That increase was slightly larger than the 0.3 percent rise that economists were expecting.
While wage growth is good for workers, a big pickup if sustained -- would be troubling to investors and economists who fret about inflation. To fend off inflation, the US Federal Reserve on Tuesday boosted a key interest rate to its highest point in nearly five years. New Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will decide the next rate move at the Fed's next meeting, March 28. Many economists believe another rate increase is likely to come then.
Mayland said he believes the pickup in workers' wages should help support consumer spending, a key shaper of overall economic activity. Mayland predicts that the US economy, which grew by an anemic 1.1 percent rate in the final quarter of last year, is rebounding smartly in the January-to-March quarter.
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