The US economy is recovering and so far it has imposed positive impressions on the pay hikes. Experts say pay would be rising in most sectors.
The five years after the 2008 Great Recession officially ended, the salary hikes remain sharply uneven across industries. It is noteworthy, the overall pay has been rising about two percent a year.
The market trend shows the best pay hike have gone to workers with specialized skills in a few booming industries including transportation, health care, technology and energy. The retail and government workers fail to regain that fortunes.
Katie Bardaro, an economist at pay-tracking firm PayScale, says, “If you’re in an in-demand field, with the right skill set, the chance of getting a raise is much higher.”
Here is a list of sectors and their trends of raise:
OIL AND GAS
The oil and gas sector, which has been opposed by the environmentalists over its harmful effects on the atmosphere, has seen a boom in jobs and wages this year.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, “The workers in this sector earned an average 11 percent more an hour in April than they did a year ago.”
HIGH-TECH
The pay of workers in this category hadn’t risen in the three prior years. Those who were non-managers at computer-system design firms earned an average 4.1 percent more in April than a year ago. However, the pay is strong for those who were specialists in ‘Big Data’ — digital information that includes data culled from mobile devices to spot trends or build digital dossiers on people.
BLUE COLLAR BOUNCE
With the improvement in the manufacturing sector, the demand for drivers has surged by the trucking companies. It would be interesting to learn that truckers are earning more.
Hourly pay for transportation and warehouse workers was 4.4 percent higher than a year earlier in each of the past three months — a streak unmatched in over three decades.
HOUSING
This sector was badly hit after the great depression as many of the skilled workers who are needed to build homes fled to other careers after the housing bust. Unfortunately, there aren’t enough of them left. Home construction workers have received an average 3.3 percent raise a year,
RETAILERS
The Consumers are spending more in this sector but this has failed to create significant difference for the workers at some stores who earn the minimum wage or little more.
GOVERNMENT
According to Haver Analytics, wages rose less than 1 percent in 2013. Analysts say the government budget cuts leads to meager wage gains for local, state and federal workers.
ARTS
The theaters, orchestras and other arts groups have witnessed a downfall in the recent times due to fall in donations. But, fortunately, they appear to be retrenched.
The mainstream workers in the broad category earned 1.1 percent less in the first quarter than a year ago.
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