Workers are receiving the fattest wage increases since the Great Recession as employers struggle to find enough people to fill their ranks and employees have more leverage to demand higher pay and jump to better jobs.

Workers are receiving the fattest wage increases since the Great Recession as employers struggle to find enough people to fill their ranks and employees have more leverage to demand higher pay and jump to better jobs.

Wages grew 3.4 percent in the past year, the government reported Friday, the fastest pace in nearly a decade and well above inflation, suggesting employers are hustling to lure and retain workers. Many are slashing requirements for jobs and hiring workers quickly to prevent them from being scooped up by a competitor, a far cry from the days when job seekers felt lucky to even get a callback.

The unemployment rate fell to 3.8 percent in February, marking a year of sitting at or below 4 percent, a level many economists regard as "full employment" when there are few people left who want jobs and can't get them.

Hiring also cooled in February, falling to a paltry 20,000 jobs gains. Economists have long predicted that the job growth would slow as the nation approached full employment and the pool of available workers shrunk dramatically, giving current employees even more ability to ask for more money, flexibility and promotions.

It's proven difficult to know if full employment is finally here. As "we're hiring" signs abound, people who weren't actively looking for jobs have started jumping back into the labor force, suggesting there could be more untapped potential. Young women and Hispanics have driven much of the labor force growth recently.

Last month's disappointing job gains could also be a statistical blip from the weather — or the lingering effects of the partial government shutdown, many experts said.

But whether or not the nation is at the magical full employment mark, there are clearer signs that the balance of power in labor market is shifting more toward employees.

"We've seen a spike in job postings that say 'no experience necessary' or 'no prior experience required,'" said Julia Pollak, an economist at ZipRecruiter, a popular job site. She said she has seen companies increasingly delete requirements like a college or high degree from job descriptions.

Ron Nelsen, who runs a garage door business in Las Vegas called Pioneer Overhead Door, said a man in his late 20s showed up at the office door at 7:30 a.m. recently in work pants and white T-shirt saying, "I need a job. I'm ready to go to work."

Nelsen liked him immediately since he had experience installing garage doors and told him to come back for a longer interview at 2 p.m. But as the man turned to go, Nelsen changed his mind and hired him on the spot. He was too afraid he'd lose him to another construction company down the road before the afternoon.

"As an employer, 3.8 percent unemployment is not a good thing," said Nelsen, who starts technicians at $15 an hour, but said he's been bumping most of workers up to about $20 within months in order not to have them stolen away.

"Employers really do seem hungry for workers and prepared to do more than they did in the past to develop talent when they can't find talent," Pollak said.

It's not clear how long the good news will continue for workers. Many forecasters anticipate a U.S. recession in the next two years, and the rest of the world is already slowing sharply.

And while things have picked up lately, millions of Americans are still shaking off years of stagnant wages and volatile personal finances.

"We are seeing real, fundamental improvements since 2015. But it's against a very low threshold for many workers," said Diane Swonk, chief economist at Grant Thornton.

Only the top 10 percent have recovered the wealth they lost in the downturn, according to research from the Federal Reserve that's adjusted for inflation.

For now, employers are getting so desperate for people to hire that many are taking a chance on potential workers in ways they rarely did in the past.

IBM will often hire top MBA students and recent PhDs in science or math fields even if there is no immediate job for them, the company's chief economist Martin Fleming said, because executives know they are competing for talent against Google, Facebook and other tech giants.

Tech companies have struggled to find highly skilled employees for a while, but competition has picked up for lower-skilled workers lately, too.

The unemployment rate for workers who don't have a high school degree fell to 5.3 percent in February, a record low since the Labor Department began tracking that statistic in 1992.

Wages for workers who aren't in management positions are actually growing faster — 3.5 percent — than the overall trend, another indication of increased competition for people at the lower part of the income scale.

Costco announced that it will raise pay for its entry-level workers to $15 an hour — up a dollar from its past increase 10 months ago.

Nineteen states also raised their minimum wages in January, helping boost pay for many workers in retail and hospitality sectors.

"People are coming from the sidelines straight into employment," said Marianne Wanamaker, associate professor of economics at the University of Tennessee and a member of President Trump's American Workforce Policy Advisory Board.

Wanamaker points out that 71.2 percent of new hires came from outside the labor force, meaning an unusually high share weren't even hunting much for a job in the past month when employers lured them in.

The United States has had more job openings than unemployed people since June, forcing employers to get more creative in their searches.

Trump has been under pressure from business owners and some Republicans in Congress to expand programs for temporary workers from abroad.

Despite his hardline immigration position, Trump has spoken, on occasion, about recognizing the need for foreign labor in a tight job market.

But so far, Trump has shown little action on that front. In addition to cracking down on illegal immigration, the Trump administration has tightened restrictions on legal immigration channels, including the H-1B visa program that allows temporary employment to high-skilled workers.

Inflation has been a modest 1.6 percent in the past year, according to the Commerce Department, meaning wages for most workers are growing well above the cost of living.

Federal Reserve leaders have indicated they believe that, even with the unemployment rate so low, there may still be room for more hiring. The central bank is holding off on raising interest rates any higher in the hope that even more people can get back to work.

If several more months of hiring is as weak as February, that would signal a more serious slowdown.

The U.S. economy has been relatively healthy compared to the rest of the world, though fears have recently spiked about the toll from Trump's trade conflict.

The Washington Post's David Nakamura contributed to this report.