Wage Gains Prove Elusive Even as U.S. Job Market Rebounds

Employers will probably boost payrolls and the jobless rate is projected to keep sliding in 2014 as the U.S. economy strengthens. The one element missing will be bigger wage gains.

Earnings per hour for private-sector workers have climbed 2 percent a year on average since 2011 compared with a 3.2 percent gain in 2007, the last year of the previous expansion. Adjusted for inflation, they’ve barely grown at all.