Is this the start of a trend? It’s impossible to say for sure, and it’s always important not to read too much into any one month’s numbers. But based on a broad range of labor-market indicators, my expectation is that wage growth will accelerate in 2018.

My view is related to the second question: Are we at full employment?

No, not quite yet. The rate at which individuals in their prime working years — ages 25 to 54 — participate in the labor market has not fully recovered from the recession. The same is true for this group’s rate of employment. The number of workers employed in part-time jobs who want full-time work is still elevated. (And, importantly, we haven’t yet seen sustained acceleration in wage growth.)