August 24, 2023: Desired wage for latest jobs currently approximately $79,000.

According to the most delinquent New York Federal Reserve employment survey removed, the average “reservation earnings.”

That’s an increase of regarding 8% from just a year ago and is the highest level ever in an information sequence that goes back to the beginning of 2014. Over the past three years, which entails the Covid-19 pandemic era, the group has increased by over 22%.

The number is significant because wages have increasingly been recognized as a driving force in inflation. While goods prices have decreased since pushing overall inflation to its highest level in over 40 years in mid-2022, other factors support it well above the Fed’s targeted rate of 2%.

The New York Fed data is consistent with an Atlanta Fed tracker, which shows wages overall growing at a 6% annual rate but job switchers seeing 7% gains.

Employers have been attempting to keep speed with the wage demands, pushing the average full-time offer up to $69,475, a 14% surge in the past year. The expected annual pay increase to $67,416, a gain of more than $7,000 from a year ago and a new high.

Though there was a gap between the wage workers wanted and what was offered, satisfaction with wages and upward mobility increased.

With markets on edge over the Fed’s next policy step, more signs of a tight labor market raise the likelihood that policymakers will keep interest rates higher for longer. At their July meeting, officials noted that wages “were still increasing at rates above levels assessed to be consistent with the sustained accomplishment” of the 2% inflation goal, according to minutes from the conference.

Monday’s survey results also showed a few other mixed patterns in the labor market.

Job seekers, or those who have looked for work in the previous four weeks, declined to 19.4% from 24.7% a year ago. That came as job openings dipped from 738,000 to 9.58 million, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The likelihood of switching positions decreased to 10.6% from 11% a year ago, while expectations of being offered a recent job plunged to 18.7% from 21.1%.