*By Michael Teich*
Wage growth in the U.S. hit a nine-year high in August, and that may be partly thanks to innovations in tech, said a founder and CEO of blue-collar employment platform Merlin.
"Technology is by nature inflationary," Güimar Vaca Sittic said in an interview with Cheddar Friday.
Average hourly pay in August jumped 10 cents to $27.16, up 2.9 percent from last year, according to the latest employment report. August also marked the 95th straight month of job growth in the U.S. The availability of online social networking tools, combined with new opportunities created by emerging technologies, allows workers to demand higher salaries, Vaca Sittic said.
"High-tech companies are building new services and are contributing to the rise in wages. But you also have companies like ours that focus on matching hourly workers with employers," he said.
While industry giant LinkedIn focuses on white-collar jobs (banking and marketing, for example) Merlin caters to those in careers like construction and restaurant servers. The company operates with the belief that this class of workers is under-served by job sites. Construction companies added 23,000 jobs in August, and employment in the industry has grown by 297,000 over the past year, according to the [Bureau of Labor Statistics](https://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/real-estate/article/Construction-struggles-to-find-workers-23-000-13212366.php).
"Two-thirds of the U.S. workforce are working in our categories, and we don't see that going anywhere," fellow co-founder and co-CEO Borja Moreno de los Rios told Cheddar Friday.
Merlin launched in the New York City area last month.
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/technologys-impact-on-wage-growth).
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A Michigan judge is putting sponges in the hands of shoplifters and ordering them to wash cars in a Walmart parking lot when spring weather arrives. Genesee County Judge Jeffrey Clothier hopes the unusual form of community service discourages people from stealing from Walmart. The judge also wants to reward shoppers with free car washes. Clothier says he began ordering “Walmart wash” sentences this week for shoplifting at the store in Grand Blanc Township. He believes 75 to 100 people eventually will be ordered to wash cars this spring. Clothier says he will be washing cars alongside them when the time comes.
