More Signs of Labor Market Improvements

1. Salaries, Job Offers Up for Class of 2011 (Bloomberg) -- "Undergraduates in general, and undergraduate business students in particular, have reason to rejoice.  New surveys by the National Association of Colleges and Employers show that employers are planning to increase their college hiring by double digits this year, and that salaries are up for the first time since 2008.

Employers reported plans to increase hiring from the Class of 2011 by 13.5% over the prior year. The latest poll, in January, showed that 51.5% of respondents planned to increase hiring, the first time in 18 months that a majority reported such plans.  In the latest salary survey, the average salary offer to a Class of 2011 graduate was $50,034, up 3.5% year over year, with increases reported for two thirds of academic disciplines." 

2. Higher Pay Gains Seen for 2011 (WSJ) -- "U.S. workers have reason to hope for slightly better pay raises this year, a shift that could add momentum to the economic recovery. With corporate America sitting on large piles of cash and manufacturers seeing a surge in exports to fast-growing emerging markets, signs are mounting that some of the benefits will start trickling down to employees.

This could mean average wage gains of as much as 3% in 2011, compared with 1.7% in 2010—enough to boost consumer spending, which accounts for more than two-thirds of the economy, but not so much that it would stoke concerns of an inflationary spiral."