NEW YORK - The headline of today's employment report is the drop in the unemployment rate to 3.7 percent, the lowest rate since December 1969. For close to two-thirds of the US population, this is the lowest unemployment rate in their lifetime.
The tightening of the labor market is leading to a more visible acceleration in wages. In the past four quarters, average hourly earnings increased by 2.8 percent and accelerated to 3.1 percent in the past two quarters. The acceleration in wages is especially visible among blue collar occupations, where it is essentially back to pre-recession rates.