November 2017 Individuals’ Labor Market Experiences Improve

from the New York Fed

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s Center for Microeconomic Data today released the November 2017 SCE Labor Market Survey which shows an increase in the rate at which workers transition to a different employer and an increase in average full-time wage offers.

Satisfaction with promotion opportunities at one’s current job also edged up. Turning to expectations, job transition expectations of those currently employed were unchanged. Expectations about receiving job offers and the average expected wage offer (conditional on receiving one) remained essentially flat. The average reservation wage—the lowest wage at which respondents would be willing to accept a new job—is still at its lowest level since March 2015.

Experiences

Among those who were employed four months ago, 89.5% were still with the same employer, similar to the proportion of 89.8% in the July survey. The rate of transitioning to a different employer jumped up from 3.8% in July to 5.2% in November, the highest level since November 2016.

The proportion of individuals who reported searching for a job in the past four weeks declined from 22.7% in July to 21.8%, still above the average proportion in 2016. The decline was primarily driven by younger (those age 45 or less), college-educated, and male household heads.

19.4% of the individuals reported receiving at least one job offer in the past four months, up from 17.2% in July. The distribution of the number of offers became slightly more dispersed, with the proportion of individuals receiving one job offer increasing from 8.9% in July to 11.1% and the proportion of individuals receiving three or more job offer increasing from 3.1% in July to 3.8%. The average full-time offer wage received in the past four months increased from $49,250 in July to $59,110 in November.

Satisfaction reported by respondents with nonwage benefits at their current jobs remained flat: 67.1% of the employed respondents reported being satisfied with the nonwage benefits at their jobs. Satisfaction reported by respondents with wage compensation at their current jobs declined slightly from 60.0% in July to 59.9%.

On the other hand, satisfaction reported by respondents with promotion opportunities at their current jobs edged up from 44.3% in July to 47.2%. The increase was most notable for lower-educated workers (those without a college degree).