Dive Brief:
- A Federal Reserve official told businesspeople at a Sioux Falls, S.D., Rotary Club meeting that if they want to close the talent gap, they'll have to raise their pay rates, reports the Washington Examiner.
- Neel Kashkaria, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, expressed little sympathy for those complaining about a lack of job candidates: "If you're not raising wages, then it just sounds like whining," he said, according to the Examiner. "Are any of you planning to raise wages in the next year or two? Or are you just complaining about you can't find workers?"
- The Examiner says that when asked about the minimum wage, Kashkari said he hopes that declining unemployment will force businesses to raise pay to be competitive.
Dive Insight:
Employers are constantly evaluating what attracts job seekers — from benefits to culture and training — and because the market currently belongs to job seekers, it makes sense that compensation would be on the wishlist.
With some pay variables, such as minimum-wage increases in various states and municipalities and increases resulting from the overtime rule before its demise, employers don't have much of a choice. They're also the reason some employers plan to give only modest pay increases in 2018.
Business groups and Republican state lawmakers across the country are challenging some of those mandatory increases, with some success. In the meantime, employers can review minimum-wage rates and market rates in their regions and fields and determine whether they're comfortable with the company's position in the market.