The highlights of the Federal Reserve's Beige Book released Sept 6, 2017:

  • Majority reported limited wage growth and modest to moderate wage growth despite tight labor market
  • Consumer spending increased in most districts, with retail sales and tourism strong but autos weak
  • Businesses in many districts reported difficulty filling job openings at all skill levels
  • Manufacturing expanded modestly on balance; many districts expressed concerns about prolonged auto industry slowdown
  • Chicago Fed prepared the Beige Book
  • Construction activity increased slightly
  • Too soon to gauge impact of Harvey
  • Employment growth slowed some on balance, ranging from a slight to a modest rate in most Districts
  • Full report

The Dallas and San Francisco Fed reported labor shortages that were pushing up wages but overall there isn't much for the dollar bulls or the Fed hawks to get excited about here.

Here is the paragraph on Employment and Wages:

Despite labor supply falling short of demand in many cases, wage pressures continued to be modest. Retailers' hiring plans were said to be in line with planned store expansions and they cited "not much" wage pressure. All nine manufacturing contacts this round indicated that employment was flat or increasing. All but one of the manufacturers who commented on the ability to recruit said that they were not having any trouble hiring and replacing workers. Two manufacturing respondents said they were forgoing cost-of-living increases this year. Among staffing firms, all contacts reported high demand for labor and tight labor supply. Demand for skilled labor has been strong, but contacts said many job applicants fall short on requested training; some suggested that clients needed to moderate their expectations. Likewise, low-skill labor supply has not met demand, with two firms citing public assistance as a challenge to recruitment, given the low wages in these positions. All responding staffing firms reported rising pay rates.

This is without a doubt my favorite Fed line this year. It's from Kashkari at a Rotary Club meeting after complaints it was hard to find workers, then finding out businesses didn't want to raise wages to attract workers.