¡°Americans are starting to finally catch up with respect to wages and prices.¡±

The latest data from the 5Labor Department shows 6workers¡¯ 7paychecks grew in April by sixteen cents to an average of $33.36 an hour. That's the biggest monthly increase since March 2022.

¡°Increasing jobs, increasing pay mean an improvement in the 8cost-of-living crisis that too many households have had to work through over the past 24 months.¡±

Industries that are struggling to hire are handing out fatter paychecks. A recent survey from the National Federation of Independent Business found 53% of s9mall businesses reported few or no 10qualified applicants for the positions they were trying to fill. According to that report, 11construction, 12transportation and 13wholesale jobs are the hardest to fill right now. Meanwhile, employees in the 14leisure and hospitality sector, including bars, restaurants and hotels, are also seeing strong wage gains.

¡°When the US. lost 20 million jobs in March and April of 2020, much of that(it) was in the 15service sector. It was the hardest hit component of our economy.¡±

Economists say many service workers had been reluctant to return to the industry as it works to bounce back from 16pandemic losses and faces 17recession fears.

Now, as we are on the other side of that, that hiring has really been strong, leisure and hospitality has been the stalwart of the 18jobs recovery.