Worker pay rising at fastest level since ’09

Bank of America is raising its starting pay to $20 an hour over a two-year period, starting with a hike next month.

The company, which operates four offices in Chattanooga, said Tuesday it is raising its minimum hourly wage to $17 on May 1 and will continue to increase pay until it hits $20 an hour in 2021.

”If you get a job at Bank of America, you’ll make $41,000 per year,” said Brian Moynihan, CEO of Bank of America which employs 205,000 workers.

The raise reflects the increases in minimum pay being granted by many major employers as the unemployment rate has hovered at or near a 50-year low.

Unum, First Tennessee Bank and BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee each raised their minimum pay to $15 an hour a year ago and both Unum and BlueCross expanded their parental leave policy after the companies reported strong earnings.

At Covenant Transport, trucker wages have jumped by an average of 8% across its corporate fleet in the past year and company president David Parker said he expects wages to continue to outpace inflation.

“It’s a matter of supply and demand. We need more drivers and that’s definitely the No. 1 issue for our industry,” Parker said. “Right now, truck driving is a $60,000-a-year job and we’re trying to get more deeply involved in our high schools to make sure that the young person who doesn’t have a desire to go get a fouryear college degree realizes that he or she can make some good money being a professional truck driver.”

Wage growth in the past year has grown at its fastest pace in more than a decade as the economy and job market has improved.

Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings have increased by 3.2%, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. While that slightly missed the forecast and was down from the 3.4% annual growth pace recorded in February, wage are still growing at nearly twice the rate of inflation.

“American workers are increasing their productivity, and paychecks are rising,” U.S. Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta said this week. “With healthy job growth, rising wages, and low unemployment, we continue to work to increase labor force participation to fill high levels of open jobs.”

Last year, the 7.6 million job openings recorded by the Labor Department was more than the number of unemployed people for the first time on record.