By CHRISTOPHER S. RUGABER
AP Economics Writer
WASHINGTON – Employers are finally ramping up hiring, but they’re not paying their existing workers much more.
Hourly pay barely rose last month, according to the Labor Department’s April jobs report, as employees have little bargaining power to demand higher wages. That’s partly because there are still 15.3 million unemployed workers who would happily switch places, economists say.
Average hourly earnings rose by a penny to $22.47 in April. That’s after falling two cents in March and is only two pennies higher than January’s $22.45 figure.