FRIDAY, MARCH 17, 2000
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USA
Everything's booming, except pay
Neck rubs and free lunches for workers are stand-ins for big raises, as employers cope with a drum-tight job market.
Laurent Belsie (belsiel@csps.com)
Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
In one of the tightest labor markets in US history - a time when companies are so desperate for workers that they're forgoing drug tests, doling out company cars, and giving mammoth signing bonuses - many American businesses have so far refused to do one obvious thing: grant big pay raises.
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This reluctance to boost wages, despite enormous market pressure to do so, may be one of the reasons inflation has stayed at low levels, at least until now. But there are signs that salaries are creeping up - a development that is stirring heated debate over whether it will add to inflationary pressures and, perhaps, end the economic boom.
From America's cubicles and plant floors, it's difficult to tell how hard people are pushing for fatter paychecks. After all, many workers are getting a smorgasbord of perks, if not big pay raises.
Take Matt Coffin, president of a Los Angeles startup called LowerMyBills.com. He offers stock options. He reimburses every worker's lunch and dinner. He's just installed a ping-pong table. And once a week, the company's 20 staffers kick back with a professional massage in their offices - all on Mr. Coffin's tab. "I'm going out of my way (cont)
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