Slowdown in labour growth a boon for US workers

Washington

AMERICAN workers may be on the cusp of grabbing a bigger bite of the economic pie after decades of getting fewer and fewer crumbs.

A significant slowdown in labour-force growth in the US, China and elsewhere will put a premium on finding workers in the years ahead. Companies will have to pay up to get the people they want with the skills they need to keep expanding their businesses.

"We're going from a world of generally too much labour to a world of labour shortages," said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics Inc in West Chester, Pennsylvania. "When we look back 10 years from now, the labour share of income will have hit bottom now."

Workers' gain will be employers' pain, as company profits are pinched by rising salaries. Stock-market investors also may lose out as they're forced to adjust to a weaker earnings outlook, said Gad Levanon, a managing director at the Conference Board in New York. Income inequality might even be curbed, as the rich reap less in the way of capital gains while e…