The Great Resignation and Striketober

Employees are flexing their new-found bargaining power, with the unprecedented rate of job turnover, labelled “The “Great Resignation”, triggering a surge in wage growth for job switchers. Wage growth for job stayers is, for now, more muted. But, as the popularity of “Striketober” demonstrates, faced with rapid growth in the cost of living, unions are agitating to ensure that wages keep pace. With the Fed’s latest Beige Book warning that, amid strong demand, firms have significant power to raise selling prices, all the elements are in place for the development of a sustained wage-price spiral.