In more news of how much Americans are better off now, new data indicates that paychecks for American workers are rising at their fastest pace since the 2008 recession.

According to new figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, over the past year, wages grew by 2.8 percent – faster than the 2.5 percent increase in 2017.

Last quarter, wages and salaries for U.S. workers rose nearly 1 percent (0.9 percent) from July to September and benefits rose nearly half-percentage point (0.4 percent).

Workers in the private sector scored with an increase in salaries of 3.1 percent from a year earlier, representing the strongest year-over-year gain than since 2008 prior to the recession.

The driver of rising wages is the strong labor market. The unemployment rate reached a 49-year-low low of 3.7 percent in September. With fewer workers to fill the abundant positions, job seekers are able to command higher pay and better benefits.

Following strong economic growth at 3.5 percent last quarter, wages are starting to catch up and that bodes well for workers who have more opportunity but haven’t seen wages rise as rapidly since the end of the recession until now.

We look forward to the monthly jobs report tomorrow for an indication of the pace of jobs growth and unemployment.

This adds to the mounting evidence of how much better off Americans are today and that is thanks to policies

  • The female unemployment rate is at a 65-year low of 3.6%.

  • The youth unemployment rate is 8.5%, which has gone down by nearly half since 2017.

  • There are an estimated 11.6 million women-owned businesses, an increase of 2.8%.

  • Job openings hit 7.14 million in August.

For more good news, check out betteroffnow.com.