The Upjohn Institute New Hires Quality Index stayed even at $21.26 between July and August. Hiring volume rose 1.2 percent over the month but remains 3.3 percent below last year’s level. Hiring rates, which adjust for population growth, are down even more, off 5.0 percent over the year.
In this month’s news release, index creator Brad Hershbein follows the diverging paths of newly hired workers by gender. About a year ago, the wage indices for men and women split drastically, rising 0.5 percent for women while falling 2.5 percent for men, the fastest drop on record.
As hiring volume has fallen for both men and women, the wage gains for women suggest that women are being hired into jobs that tend to pay more. They also mark a change in hiring dynamics, as women are approaching an equal share of the earnings power of all new hires.
Read the full analysis or explore the index.