Trump Boom: Manufacturing Wages See Biggest Gain in Over a Decade

The first three months of the year saw wages for manufacturing workers rise at the most in over a decade.

The employment cost index, a measure of wages and benefits paid by businesses, for manufacturing workers rose by 0.9 percent in the first quarter, Labor Department data released Tuesday showed. The salary and wage component rose even more–by a full percentage point.

The last time manufacturing saw quarterly wage gains that high was in 2008, when wages also rose 1.0 percent in the January through March period.

Compared with a year ago, manufacturing wages were up 2.9 percent in March. That’s the biggest 12-month gain since March of 2003, when wages rose 3.2 percent.

More