Wages and benefits rise in 2009 by smallest amount on records going back 27 years

[DJ13]

Wages and benefits rise weak 1.5 percent in 2009

Friday January 29, 2010

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Wages and benefits paid to U.S. workers posted a modest gain in the fourth quarter, ending a year in which recession-battered workers saw their compensation rise by the smallest amount on records going back more than a quarter-century.

The anemic gains have raised concerns about the durability of the economic recovery. The fear is that consumer spending, which accounts for 70 percent of economic activity, could falter if households don't have the income growth to support their spending.

The Labor Department said Friday that wages and benefits rose by 0.5 percent in the three months ending in December. For the entire year, wages and benefits were up 1.5 percent, the weakest showing on records that go back to 1982.

The 1.5 percent increase in total compensation in 2009 was about half the 2.6 percent increase in 2008 and both years represented the smallest gains for the government's Employment Compensation Index.

Last year, wages were up by just 1.5 percent and benefits rose by the same 1.5 percent, both record lows. In 2008, wages and salaries had been up 2.7 percent and benefits, which cover such things as health insurance and pension contributions, had risen by 2.2 percent.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Wages-and-benefits-rise-weak-apf-4052349307.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=2&asset=&ccode=

[Newsjock]

1. Mission accomplished

Corporate America to America: Up yours.

[rucky]

2. How much of that increase is from the bankster bonuses?

If Bill Gates walks into a bar...