To Work We Go

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Then there's money. In January, HSN raised starting pay from $6 an hour to $7, and later this year it will offer health insurance to all its workers, including the 40% who are part-time. That is an unusual but no longer unheard-of deal. There are reports of some fast-food restaurants also extending benefits to workers, including part-timers, who did not get them before. And wage hikes are cropping up in other places. Tony Vallone, owner of six upscale restaurants in Houston, was paying only minimum wage to his dishwashers and kitchen-prep workers 18 months ago. Now the dishwashers get an extra $2 an hour and the prep people $3 extra--and they all share in a 401(k) investment plan that was formerly limited to higher-paid workers.

So far, such reports are too sketchy to prove that the long-dreaded bidding war on wages has begun. But they do indicate that employers will have to push harder than ever to raise productivity to offset the wage and benefit increases they will be forced to grant. The vastly underrated American work ethic that prompts the most oddly assorted people to snap up jobs when offered a chance has kept the boom boiling longer than anyone expected. But from now on, putting them on the payroll is less likely to be as cheap.