Today, payroll-processing firm ADP released its quarterly Workforce Vitality Index (WVI), which reflects wage growth for the fourth quarter of 2015. The index rose to 106.8 during the quarter, up from 105.2 in the previous quarter and 104.2 in the second quarter. The WVI grew by 4 percent from the year-earlier period.
Developed by the ADP Research Institute with partner Moody's Analytics, the WVI offers quarterly data on U.S. private-sector workforce dynamics and trends and measures industries by key labor-market indicators, such as employment growth, job turnover, wage gains, and hours worked. Though the report focuses on the third quarter of 2015, it uses historical data from the fourth quarter of 2013 to contextualize its conclusions. The starting value is set at 100, so numbers above that figure are positive, indicating growth, and those below are negative, indicating a contraction. It is not seasonally adjusted.
The construction industry thrived for the third straight month, receiving the highest point value of the eight sectors tracked in the WVI. The industry's index value of 116.5 is up from the third quarter's 113.7 and represents an 8.4-percent gain over the fourth quarter of 2014.
The manufacturing industry received a score of 105.4, which indicates a 1.2 point jump from the previous quarter and a 2.8 percent increase over the same period a year ago.
Professional and business services, a category that includes architecture and engineering firms, posted a value of 103.9, which is a 2.7 percent increase from the fourth quarter of 2014.
Check out ADP's latest monthly employment figures here.
