WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) – The long-awaited increase in worker pay might finally be here. The average hourly wage paid to American workers rose 0.4% in October and posted the strongest 12-month gain since mid-2009. The typical worker earned $25.20 an hour in October, up 9 cents from the prior month. From October 2014 to October 2015, hourly wages rose 2.5%, the best year-over-year gain since the U.S. exited recession in June 2009. Annualized increases in pay had stuck to a tight range of 2.2% or less for the past five years, but economists have been expecting a faster increase amid a deep drop in unemployment and the creation of millions of new jobs. The amount of time people worked each week, meanwhile, was flat at 34.5 hours last month.
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