Wages and salaries had been growing at a 4 percent pacein mid-March and this slowdown is similar to the late spring slowdowns in each of the past few years.
The rebound in home prices is picking up steam, with the Case Shiller home price indexes growing at their fastest pace since mid-2006 in a year-over-year basis.
The Commerce Department said U.S. builders began building new homes at the fastest pace since mid-2008 in March, a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 1.04 million homes.