Wage growth holds steady

For years after the 2008 financial crisis, growth in average hourly earnings stayed low, hovering at around 2% year-over-year.

This was most likely not high enough to support the Fed's stated inflation target of 2% year-over-year.

However, 2016 saw wages climb at a somewhat faster rate, with average hourly earnings among all private employees growing in a range of 2.2% to 2.6% year-over-year, hitting a post-recession high of 2.9% in December.

According to the May jobs report, wages grew 2.5% from the previous year, falling below economists' expectations of 2.6% and matching the 2.5% rate in April.

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