P.M. BRIEFING : Average Pay Contracts Up 3.1%
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WASHINGTON — Private-sector contracts negotiated through collective bargaining from January through September provided average annual wage increases of 3.1%, with first-year pay hikes averaging 3.7%, the government said today.
The contracts, affecting 1.3 million employees, were an improvement from the workers’ standpoint. The last time these parties negotiated agreements, the average annual wage gains were 2.4%, the Labor Department said.
The data covers the first nine months of the year. If the trend continues for the final three months, 1989 would be the first year since 1981 in which new contracts provide workers with better pay raises, on average, than their prior contract.
The rebound in wage gains was attributed to the restoration of prior concessions in several industries that were slumping earlier in the decade.
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