WAGE GROWTH BEST IN 7 YRS (OCTOBER)

In spite of all the dismal talk about the economy and the anger among many voters, everything I can find is that things are looking up:

Wages rose more in October  [2.8%] than any time since the economic recovery began, a sign that the labor market is tightening and the Fed should be on course to raise interest rates in December.*

GDP. Inventories, Housing, and Unemployment also looking good.**

As I have written elsewhere, How Good Do Things Have To Get Before People Realize It.***

* http://www.cnbc.com/2016/11/04/best-wage-growth-in-7-years-pushes-the-fed-toward-a-december-rate-hike.html
** http://stopcontinentaldrift.blogspot.com/2016/10/gdp-inventories-housing-unemployment.html
*** http://stopcontinentaldrift.blogspot.com/2016/09/how-good-do-things-have-to-get-before.html

WAGES: BEST AND WORST COUNTIES 3RD QUARTER 2015

An article in the WSJ,  shows that weekly wages grew 4% or better in 44 of the 342 U.S. counties with at least 75,000 jobs [or 12.5%], according to Labor Department data released Wednesday. Meanwhile, wages fell from a year earlier in 21 counties, including Midland, Texas, and Union, N.J.*  The best and the worst counties are given in the tables below.  You are encouraged to look at the original article in which you can search for your or other counties with at least 75,000 jobs.

Rockland County, N.Y., had by far the largest wage gain, up 24.9% in the third quarter of 2015 from a year earlier. Those gains were led by a leap in manufacturing pay for the county northwest of New York City. Employment in the county grew 2.6%.
Lake County, Ill., north of Chicago, was second, with wages growing 11.7%. Those were the only two counties with double-digit percentage gains.*

Weekly wages declined 6.7% in the energy hub of Midland, the most of anywhere in the county. That corresponds with a 7.3% fall in employment. Union, N.J., wages fell 5% over the year.
Ector, Texas, had the largest employment decline, down 8.3%. Wages fell 4.9%.

(Click on table to enlarge)

The average for all the counties was a 2.6% increase which the article says is not very good.  In my own case, however, a 2.6% wage increase in a year was very good with about once every 10 yrs having an increase of maybe 10%.

* http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2016/03/09/wages-grew-4-or-faster-in-one-in-eight-large-u-s-counties/?mod=djemRTE_h