In 2005, the typical hourly wage rate earned by U.S. workers was 10 percent higher (adjusted for inflation) than in 1979, according to a recent CBO study. The study charts changes in the distribution of hourly wages, and finds that employers may be paying a premium for skills and attributes beyond education and experience such as motivation or problem-solving skills.

Energy prices have increased inflation faster than take home pay, resulting in declines in real wages, NAM says in its annual Labor Day report. NAM is calling for a national debate on a comprehensive U.S. energy strategy to reduce dependence on foreign oil.

The federal minimum wage is set to catch up to Hawaii’s minimum wage of $7.25 per hour on July 1, 2009. In the interim, those few Hawaii employers who are not subject to the state minimum wage law must pay the increased federal minimum of $6.55 per hour (from $5.85) on July 24, 2008. (Employers of workers who are subject to both state and federal minimum hourly wage rates must pay them the higher of the two rates.)

Some information technology jobs such as senior level programmer/analyst and computer operations supervisor saw annual base pay increases from 8-10 percent, while others had increases of less than 2 percent compared to 2006, according the HEC’s 2007 Information Technology Pay Rate Survey. The survey was conducted during April and May 2007, and 114 private and public organizations participated.

According to the results, the 40-hour workweek is the most prevalent practice for most IT departments, with about 10 percent reporting regularly working over 40 hours and slightly less than 10 percent working less than 40 hours. The survey data also indicate that one-third of the companies utilize referral bonuses, and only 13 percent provide sign-on bonuses. Although a majority of the companies do not pay overtime or grant compensatory time-off to exempt IT positions, 42% pay or recognize extra work in these positions as part of a formal or informal policy.

The overall average first-year wage increases for contracts was 3.9 percent in 2006, with health care contracts averaging 5.2 percent and non-health care averaging 3.3 percent, according to HEC’s collective bargaining contract database. Nationally, the average first-year wage increase negotiated in 2006 was 3.3 percent, reports the Bureau of National Affairs.

Combined food preparation and serving workers were among the lowest paying occupations in 2007, but were among the occupations with the highest U.S. employment in 2007, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports. Retail salespersons, cashiers, general office clerks, and registered nurses were the other occupations with high employment last year.

The highest paying occupations included physician specialists, dentist specialists, and chief executives, according to BLS.

Mean hourly wages for office and administrative support group occupations ranged from $18.83 in the utilities sector to $11.60 in accommodation and food services. Hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks ($9.66 per hour); stock clerks and order fillers ($10.93); and tellers ($11.36) were among the lowest paid occupations in the group.

In an additional report, BLS says that real average weekly earnings fell by 0.5 percent from March 2008 to April after seasonal adjustment. A 0.1 percent increase in average hourly earnings for the period was offset by a 0.3 percent decrease in average weekly hours and a 0.2 percent increase in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers.

Real average weekly wages rose by 0.5 percent from May to June after seasonal adjustment, while consumer prices as measured by the Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers index (CPI-W) increased 0.1 percent in June prior to seasonal adjustment, reports the Bureau of Labor Statistics. According to the wage report, average weekly earnings rose by a seasonally adjusted 3.9 percent from June 2006 to June 2007. The CPI-W was 2.7 percent higher than June of last year, according to the Consumer Price Index report for June.

The average weekly wage in Honolulu was $744, compared to $784 nationally in the third quarter of 2006, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports. Honolulu ranked 165 in average weekly wages among the 325 largest counties in the U.S. as of Sept. 2006. Honolulu’s growth in employment was 2.3 percent compared to the previous year, above the national average of 1.5 percent, which ranked 89 among the counties. See County Employment and Wages: Third Quarter 2006 for the full report.