Labor costs rise to two decade high

January 28, 2022

U.S. employers spent four percent more on wages and benefits in the fourth quarter of 2021, the single biggest annual increase since 2011, according to the Labor Department. The Federal Reserve’s core personal-consumption expenditures price index rose 4.9 percent in December. “Inflation has fundamentally picked up and I think it’s fair to say that price gains are feeding back into wage gains as well,” said Ben Herzon, executive director at IHS Markit. “There’s a lot of pressure on the supply side on both commodities and labor.”

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Waffle House Workers Strike for Fair Pay and Better Working Conditions

Waffle House workers in Conyers, Georgia, are now on their third day of striking over what they call the company’s unfair policies. Led by the Union of Southern Service Workers (USSW), Waffle House employees are demanding an end to the mandatory “meal credit” deductions from their paychecks, along with better wages and improved working conditions.