Private sector workers likely will see somewhat stronger wage increases overall in the coming months, according to the final second quarter Wage Trend Indicator (WTI) released today by Bloomberg BNA, a leading publisher of specialized news and information.

The index rose to 98.67 (second quarter 1976 = 100) from 98.42 in the first quarter.

"The latest WTI indicates the pace of wage growth will strengthen but probably not dramatically so," economist Kathryn Kobe, a consultant who maintains and helped develop Bloomberg BNA's WTI database, said. "We're still seeing mixed signals in the labor market, with small, steady job gains," Kobe said.

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

Kobe said she expects annual wage gains overall in the private sector to reach 2.0 percent or more, compared with a 1.9 percent year-over-year increase in the first quarter, as measured by the ECI. The WTI does not forecast the magnitude of wage growth, only the direction.

Reflecting recent economic conditions, five of the WTI's seven components made positive contributions to the final second quarter reading, while two factors were negative.