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Real wages fall at fastest rate in 14 years
By Christopher Swann in Washington
Published: May 10 2005 17:59 Last updated: May 10 2005 17:59

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/f269a8f4-c173-11d9-943f-00000e2511c8,ft_acl=,s01=2.html

Real wages in the US are falling at their fastest rate in 14 years, according to data surveyed by the Financial Times.
Inflation rose 3.1 per cent in the year to March but salaries climbed just 2.4 per cent, according to the Employment Cost Index. In the final three months of 2004, real wages fell by 0.9 per cent. The last time salaries fell this steeply was at the start of 1991, when real wages declined by 1.1 per cent.
Even after last month's bumper gain in employment, there are 22,000 fewer private sector jobs than when the recession began in March 2001, a 0.02 per cent fall. At the same point in the recovery from the recession of the early 1990s, private sector employment was up 4.7 per cent.