Employers added 528,000 jobs in July, as the hot labor market powers on

[BumRushDaShow]

53. Let me throw this out there

Unfortunately, that report showed a drop of constant dollar (meaning inflation-adjusted) ECI in June (the latest) of minus 3.6% compared to 12 months ago. (compensation: -3.6%, wages: -3.5%, benefits: -3.9%)

Let me posit this - 12 months ago (or just a little over that going back to May 2021), that was when the "Throw off your masks, go hug your grandkids" exhortation came, with the vaccines being distributed, and people footloose and fancy free with the "economy open for business".

But meanwhile Delta was building to a crescendo at that point hitting a peak in the fall, only to be dwarfed by Omicron.

So given that 2021 was the first "lockdown free" year (but now had some vaccine mandates), you may have had that desperation thing going on to get people hired RIGHT AWAY with some much higher starting salaries being waved about (for certain sectors).

Now a year later, the market has shifted and settled a bit and I also think you had a lot of retirees too (who would have been making higher salaries than the younger set), their exit dropping the overall wagess/benefits down, year over year.

Just some speculation adding some underlying issues into the picture.