Blue-collar hiring and pay gains stay hot in a cooling job market
; Wages for America’s blue-collar workers are still climbing despite the overall job market cooling.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, wages for production and non-supervisory workers are up 3.5% year over year while overall job growth in the U.S. has slowed. The growth in blue-collar wages is driven by a tightening labor market and growing competition for workers in industries such as construction, transportation and warehousing.
Companies are increasingly finding it difficult to find available blue-collar workers and are raising wages to attract and retain employees. The average hourly wage increase for blue-collar workers in January was the highest it’s been since the start of the recovery in 2009.
At the same time, employers are still hiring blue-collar workers despite slower job market growth. The number of blue-collar jobs created since May 2018 is up 3.0% year-over-year, compared to a 0.9% rise in overall employment over the same time period.
The healthy growth in blue-collar hiring and wage gains is positive news for U.S. workers, as the job market continues to cool.