US workers are gloomier about compensation and job prospects, says New York Fed By Reuters

By Michael S. Derby

NEW YORK (Reuters) – American workers are increasingly bitter about their employment compensation, according to a survey released on Monday by the New York Federal Reserve.

In the Consumer Expectations Survey from the July Labor Market Survey, the regional Fed bank said that since last month, “satisfaction with wage compensation as well as non-wage benefits and promotion opportunities at respondents’ current jobs has deteriorated”.

In July, 56.7% of respondents said they were satisfied with their pay, compared to 59.9% who had a similar opinion in July 2023. Satisfaction with benefits fell to 56.3% from 64.9% in the same time period, while satisfaction with future career improvement fell to 44.2% of those surveyed, from 53.5% in July 2023.

The survey noted that the drop in satisfaction was concentrated among women, those without college degrees and those earning less than $60,000 a year.

The survey found a small increase in those planning to move to new jobs, with 11.6 percent of respondents saying in January they planned to find a new employer, compared to 10.6 percent who felt way in July 2023.

A whopping 4.4 percent of respondents said they expected to lose their jobs, up from 3.9 percent in the survey a year ago, even as a growing number of respondents who expect to receive the little a job offer in the next four months has increased.

The report also looked at the state of workers’ so-called reserve pay, which is what potential new hires say they should consider for a job. That wage has skyrocketed in recent years amid tight labor markets and high levels of inflation.

The reservation wage was $81,147 in July, down slightly from the previous quarter’s record high of $81,822, but up considerably from the $78,645 reported in July 2023. Contrary to what workers say they have to accept a job, the expected salary offers for a new job decreased. to $65,272 in July from $67,416 a year ago.

The New York Fed said in a separate blog post that the increase in reservation pay in recent years appears large but is more modest when the rise in inflation is taken into account. While wages rose by 31.4% between March 2020 and July this year, they are up 8.2% adjusted for inflation after falling in real terms in the four years before the COVID pandemic -19.

“This shows that while some of the increase in respondents’ reserve wages is due to inflation, there was still an increase in the minimum compensation required by respondents to accept new job offers in real terms,” ​​New York Fed economists wrote . They also noted that in real terms the reserve wage has settled and remained virtually flat since early 2021.

Growing worker dissatisfaction with compensation and employment opportunities coincides with declining inflationary pressures and a rising unemployment rate.