While U.S. unemployment has continued its downward trend, wage growth has remained elusive.
In fact, Labor Department figures show U.S. wages increased in the second quarter at the slowest pace
on record. But if you happen to have one of the
20 jobs identified in a new report, you've probably been bucking this trend.
According to careers website Glassdoor, these are the
20 jobs that have seen the highest pay increases over the past year. (The methodology used here is pretty simple, with a few qualifications such as a minimum of 500 salary submissions per job title on its website. The method includes base salary plus bonuses.)
Unsurprisingly perhaps, a lot of technology and finance-related jobs make the list, but there's also a mix of roles outside those areas. Here's what Glassdoor Chief Economist Andrew Chamberlain had to say:
We see a wide range of job titles among the top 20, but what stands out is the large number of tech jobs that are in demand, not only by tech companies but employers in finance, healthcare, government, retail and other sectors. Growing demand for tech-related skills in traditionally non-tech industries is putting upward pressure on wages for these jobs. For lower-skilled positions, there have been several high-profile minimum wage increases in the past year, and this is likely to have contributed to some of the wage growth we see for positions like baristas. Even if workers aren't directly affected by the minimum wage, employers often feel institutional pressure to raise wages for workers further up the ladder when wages rise for the lowest skilled positions.
There's also a huge range in compensation.
(Chart: Click here for a look at what the median salary was for 2015)
Engineers and analysts were among the top earners, while cooks and cashiers still had relatively low wages despite the recent increase in pay. As Mr. Chamberlain said, part of the reason lower-skilled jobs have seen wage growth could be because of increases in the minimum wage
at the company level and on a larger scale with states, such as
New York, increasing wages for fast-food employees.
