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Infographic: How to Build a Year-End Pay Ask Before the Q3 2026 Employment Cost Index Lands

Original article: How to Build a Year-End Pay Ask Before the Q3 2026 Employment Cost Index Lands

A five-signal infographic showing the year-end pay gap: 3.0% nominal private wage growth, 3.7% CPI, 3.3% private ECI total compensation, 3.8% benefit cost growth, and a -0.4% inflation-adjusted ECI wage change, with a side panel noting 1.9% quits, 7.1 million openings, and a 1.3-point switcher premium over job stayers.
Your raise is smaller than inflation. Your employer’s cost of labor is larger than your raise. The gap is the exception.