US businesses raise pay at fastest pace in 11 years

U.S. private-sector workers received the biggest pay raise in 11 years in the first three months of the year, a sign that the tight job market is slowly lifting wages.

The Labor Department said Friday that its employment cost index shows wages and salaries in the private sector rose 1 percent between January and March compared with the previous quarter. That's the biggest gain since the first quarter of 2007, before the Great Recession began. READ MORE