The US employment cost index jumped 4 percent in the fourth quarter compared to a year earlier. The employment costs index jumped 1.3% in the third quarter, the strongest increase in comparable data back to 2001. Compensation gains last quarter were broad-based across industries. The Fed Chair Jerome Powell cited the measure in December as a key reason for the central bank’s pivot to a more aggressive stance on inflation. A separate report out Friday showed inflation-adjusted personal spending fell 1% last month, the most since February, as a closely watched gauge of core prices rose a larger-than-forecast 4.9% last year. A host of factors including transportation bottlenecks, capacity constraints and stimulus-fueled demand for goods has driven up inflation to a near 40-year high . . .
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