Hourly wages for U.S. workers flat in June

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - The average hourly wage of American workers was flat in June, reducing the year-over-year increase to a lackluster 2% from 2.3% in the prior month. Annualized gains in wages have clung near 2% since 2012 even though the labor market has tightened considerably in the past few years. Economists expect wages to rise faster and several other measures of labor costs have done exactly that, but the pace of hourly wage gains remain a bit disappointing. The amount of time people worked each week was unchanged at 34.5 hours.

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