In the year that the U.S. economy was supposed to take off, an odd thing has happened: Americans are finding new jobs, but they aren\u2019t finding employers willing to dole out meaningful pay increases.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s the tension at the center of an economy that is only growing more perplexing as it enters a perilous autumn.<\/p>\n
Fresh data released Friday \u201d\u201d showing unemployment at a seven-year low and a cooling pace of jobs growth \u201d\u201d provided conflicting signals about the nation\u2019s economic momentum as the Federal Reserve considers raising interest rates for the first time in nearly a decade. The U.S. added 173,000 jobs, slightly below expectations, while the unemployment rate fell to 5.1 percent. Never before has the nation\u2019s unemployment rate plunged so low \u201d\u201d a point when companies should be competing aggressively for workers \u201d\u201d while wages have stayed so flat.<\/p>\n