U.S. wages and salaries rose a robust 2.8 percent over the past year, the Labor Department reports

Wages rose last year — (Image credit: iStock)

The Labor Department said Tuesday that its employment-cost index rose 2.8 percent between June 2017 and June 2018, as did wages and salaries. That's the strongest increase for both measures of worker pay since right before the brutal recession of 2008, The Wall Street Journal reports, in another sign that "employers have raised pay to attract and retain workers" in response to the tightening labor market. At the same time, the Journal notes, inflation "is eating at some of the gains for workers." The Commerce Department said Tuesday that over the same 12-month period, prices for personal-consumption expenditures were up 2.2 percent, and core inflation rose 1.9 percent.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.