Annual wage increases for workers in the private sector should move modestly higher in early 2012, according to the preliminary fourth quarterWage Trend Indicator (WTI)released today byBNA, a leading publisher of specialized news and information.

The WTI rose to 98.41 (second quarter 1976 = 100) from 98.36 in the third quarter. If confirmed by the revised and final fourth quarter readings, the increase would be the sixth in as many quarters.

"The latest WTI is signaling that improvements in the labor markets will put upward pressure on wages in the coming months," economist Kathryn Kobe, a consultant who maintains and helped develop BNA's WTI database, said. "Right now, we've still got mixed economic news and an extra layer of uncertainty because of the European debt turmoil,"Kobeadded.

Despite the anticipated pickup in wage growth, annual gains for private sector workers as a whole are not expected to exceed 2.0 percent. In the third quarter, the most recent data available show wages and salaries grew 1.7 percent year-over-year, as measured by the Department of Labor's employment cost index (ECI).

Reflecting recent labor market conditions, three of the WTI's seven components made positive contributions to the preliminary fourth quarter reading, while three factors were negative and one was neutral.

Over its history, the WTI has predicted a turning point in wage trends six to nine months before the trends are apparent in the ECI. A sustained decline in the WTI is predictive of a deceleration in the rate of private sector wage increases, while a sustained increase forecasts greater pressure to raise wages.