All eyes are on wages. For workers who have faced six years of stagnant pay, Federal Reserve officials trying to decide when they can safely raise interest rates, or anyone who wants the United States economy to experience a truly robust recovery, the single biggest question about the economy in 2015 is whether pay raises will become more commonplace.

Three pieces of news on Tuesday point to yes.

There are new signs that American workers, especially at the middle and low end of the pay scale, may finally start having enough negotiating leverage to demand wage increases in excess of inflation.

First, the Labor Department’s monthly report on job openings, hiring and firing was released, and it showed a continuation of a trend that has been underway for more than a year: In November, employers said they had about 4.97 million openings, up 142,000 from October. They also hired 4.99 million people.

That ratio of openings to people hired matches some of the highest levels on record (though the data goes back only to 2002). In other words, employers are saying they have a lot more openings, but seem to be having trouble filling those jobs as quickly as historical patterns would suggest. As we have argued before, that suggests they will have to make those jobs more attractive to fill those openings more rapidly, either with higher pay, improved benefits, better working conditions or a combination of these.