Great Graphic: US and UK Wage Growth

This Great Graphic was created on Bloomberg.  It shows US (yellow) and UK (white) wage growth indexed to the end of 2008.  The two time series used here are not identical, but similar enough to give a sense of the lack of nominal wage pressure.  

Since the end of 2008, UK headline CPI has averaged 2.9%.  Consumer prices have risen an average of 1.6% in the US over the same period.   More recently, UK headline inflation has dipped below the US rates.  

The hawks on the MPC say the lower inflation is the pass through of sterling's strength and will not be sustained.  In the US, the hawks press with the argument that wages of not a good measure of slack in the labor market.  Wages are sticky in both directions.  Pent-up pressure could lead to a quick move.   That said, going into today's FOMC meeting, none of the hawkish dissents have been in favor of an immediate rate hike.  In contrast, August was the second month that two MPC members dissented in favor of hikes.