The survey’s overall wage and salary index increased from October to its highest in over a decade. Almost half of respondents said wages and salaries at their companies increased in the fourth quarter, compared to 33% in the previous survey. Looking ahead, expectations for wage growth in the first three months of this year jumped, with 58% expecting higher wages, compared to 44% in October.
Mortgage rates may also continue to remain depressed as many expect the Federal Reserve to push off on additional interest rate hikes. Former Dallas Fed advisor Danielle DiMartino Booth even argues that the Fed may have pulled the trigger on its first rate hike prematurely.
“I think the Fed has put themselves in a very tight spot because they need to have to find a way to communicate. I think beginning today, that they made a huge policy error,” DiMartino Booth told CNBC.
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Max Chen contributed to this article.