Wages for US workers increased 3.0% over the last year, raising the average wage level by 80 cents to $27.46 an hour, according to the ADP Workforce Vitality Report, released today. This marks an uptick from the 2.3% growth a year ago and is consistent with a tightening labor market, according to the report. 

“We’re seeing interesting shifts in labor-market dynamics this quarter,” said Ahu Yildirmaz, co-head of the ADP Research Institute. 

Employment growth for new entrants edged down by 0.1%, while it has increased by 4.5% for those age 55 and older. In addition, job switchers who are 55 and older are seeing wage growth of 6.3%, which is 1.5% higher than the prime workforce group who are ages 35 to 54. 

“This shift suggests employers are searching far-and-wide for skilled talent and workers who were once sitting on the sidelines have begun to return to the labor market in response,” Yildirmaz said.

The information industry continued to lead increases for both wage level and wage growth; in the sector overall, wages increased 5.5% to $41.77. New entrants into the information field had 6.8% wage growth, while workers who successfully switched positions to the information industry had wage growth of 9.4%.

On the flip side, wages in the resources and mining industry fell 3.7% to $33.84.