The idea that wages are about to accelerate is far from unanimous among economists. Among those who believe the evidence is still lacking is Janet L. Yellen, the newly installed chairwoman of the Federal Reserve, who said at her first news conference after taking the helm that most measures of income growth had shown little movement. She said 3 to 4 percent nominal wage growth would be normal if inflation, now running barely over 1 percent on the Fed’s crucial measure, rose to the central bank’s target of 2 percent.

Moreover, even as the economic cycle continues to advance, powerful underlying forces — including a relatively strong dollar that contributes to an outsourcing of jobs abroad — are helping to hold down pay increases.

“The upward pressure on wages will be there, but I’m not sure it will be fulfilled in a competitive worldwide market,” said Bob Funk, chief executive of Express Employment Professionals in Oklahoma City, one of the nation’s largest staffing firms. At Express, which places mostly light-industrial workers, the average hourly wage of its job finders rose only 7 cents in 2013, or less than 1 percent, to $11.41, he said.

The March unemployment rate showed average hourly wages dropping a penny, to $24.30, after a 9 cent gain in February, but with hours worked increasing, total pay continued to gain ground.

And there are signs of region-by-region, industry-by-industry wage moves percolating under the surface. In early March, the Fed’s Beige Book, a survey of conditions in various regions around the nation, reported that a third of the businesses in the St. Louis Federal Reserve district reported that pay picked up in the last three months.

It also cited multiple reports of labor shortages in construction, even though the building industry is still down 1.8 million jobs from 2007. Wages in home construction are up 5 percent in the last year. And some companies in the hottest regions of the economy are having to pay even more to attract capable workers.