The Bureau of Labor Statistics releases data on job openings and labor turnover on Tuesday, a measure of whether people are leaving their jobs.
Here’s what we know even before the data come out: Wages are rising, but inflation is also rising — by about 6.6% in March from a year earlier. So what does this mean for some of the lowest-paid workers and whether they stay in their jobs?
Few sectors have been hit harder by the COVID-19 pandemic than leisure and hospitality.
“It’s more dangerous. People don’t want to work there as much,” said Betsey Stevenson, a professor of public policy and economics at the University of Michigan. “And when a job gets worse, wages have gotta go up.”
BLS data shows in the first quarter of this year, compensation for jobs like cooks, waiters and hotel clerks rose more than 8% from a year ago, nearly double the average increase for workers across the board. Many in the hospitality industry have switched jobs, Stevenson said.
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“Those job changers, people entering new jobs, they’re the ones getting the big wage increases.”
And in many sectors, low-wage workers are less likely to have long-term contracts, said Thomas Hogan, a senior research faculty member at the American Institute for Economic Research.
“It’s an advantage in a tight labor market because it’s easier for them to switch to a higher paying job,” he said.
And higher wages, of course, can help defray the effects of inflation.