Weather skews wages

Workers’ wages jumped last month, but that figure, recorded in the business survey, may have been affected by the storms as well. Average hourly earnings rose 12 cents, or 0.45 percent, from a month earlier. Wages were 2.9 percent higher from a year earlier.

One likely factor: Many lowwage workers in restaurants or hotels were temporarily unem- ployed because of the storms, pushing up the overall average for a time. The Labor Department estimates that one in 13 workers had a job in counties affected by the storms in September.

“The hurricanes introduced a lot of noise,” Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Raphael Bostic said.