As the job market continues to soften, slower ༒hiring spurred sluggish wage growth in the second quarter.

Employers paid 0.9% more for labor in the second quarter, according to the employment cost index (ECI) data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics Wednesday. That’s lower than the prior quarter’ܫs increase of 1.2% and the 1% increase that economists were expecting toꦏ see. 

It's another sign that the labor market coming back into balance and workers are losing the upper hand. Since 2021, workers' wages grew as employers competed to fi🅠ll open position🤪s. At one point, there were as many as 2 open positions for every unemployed worker.

However, 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:hiring has slowed since the start of this year and wage growth has slowed 💟along with it. An🔥d the softening in the job market hasn't gone unnoticed.

Federal Reserve officials have said they are paying more attention to changes in hiring as part of their monetary policy deliberations. Wednesday's report gives the Fed even more reason to 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:cut interest rates in September, economists said.

"With the ECI the Fed's preferred barometer of labor costs growth, today's data mark an important step toward the FOMC gaining 'greater confidence' that inflation is cooling sufficiently to begin reducing the fed funds rate," wrote Wells Fargo Economists Sarah House and Michael Pugliese.