R.L. DePanfilis & Company, LLC logo

Certified Public Accountants and Management

Consultants

 

13 Byington Place, Norwalk, CT 06850

Phone: 203-853-1040

Fax:     203-853-070

 

Email: info@depanfilis.com

Website: www.depanfilis.com

May 2018

May 2018 Short Bits

Short Bits

Compensation grew by 2.6% for calendar year 2017.

That’s up from 2.2% in 2016, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The last two years of wage increases are good news for workers, who saw years of wage stagnation following the Great Recession.

More workers receive financial advice as an employee benefit.

Again from the Department of Labor’s BLS, about one-fifth of private industry workers were offered free or subsidized financial planning services from their employers in 2017. As might be expected, about three times the number of employers with at least 100 employees offered the benefit compared to smaller employers. Information, finance and insurance, and utilities were the three industries most likely to offer it; administrative and waste services, leisure and hospitality, and construction were the least likely.

Consumer debt at record high.

One potentially troubling economic sign is that consumer debt hit an all-time high.
According to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit, total household debt reached a new peak in the third quarter of 2017 at $12.96 trillion. That’s $280 billion above the previous high in the third quarter of 2008. Balances increased by 0.6 percent on mortgages, 1.9 percent on auto loans and 3.1 percent on credit cards.

Inflation rose 2.1% in 2017.
The reporting, via the BLS’s Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), showed an the increase during the 12 months ending December 2017. In 2016, the same index also increased 2.1%, while 2015 showed only a 0.7% rise in inflation.


SUBSCRIBE

Enter your Name and Email address to get
the newsletter delivered to your inbox.

Please include name of person that directed you to my online newsletter so I can thank them personally.


CONTACT US

Enter your Name, Email Address and a short message. We'll respond to you as soon as possible.

The information and opinions contained in this web site are obtained from sources believed to be reliable, but their accuracy cannot be guaranteed. The publishers assume no responsibility for errors and omissions or for any damages resulting from the use of the published information. This web site is published with the understanding that it does not render legal, accounting, financial, or other professional advice. Whole or partial reproduction of this web site is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.