Wages are up! Finally.

Of course, it's relative, right? Things still cost a lot. Some things, too much.

However, as of today (or, yesterday, if you read the jobs report, this morning), things are good.

After four years in which pay failed to keep pace with price increases, wages for most American workers have begun rising significantly faster than inflation.

The average hourly wage for workers below management level — everyone from school bus drivers to stockbrokers — rose 2.8 percent from October 2005 to October of this year, after being adjusted for inflation, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Only a year ago, it was falling by 1.5 percent.

Good news, all around.

Of course, we're still making up for years of stagnating incomes, and, the increases aren't about to make anyone rich (or, richer).

But, if inflation stays in check and interest rates stay the same, we could find things a little easier, for all of us, next year.

More: Long a Laggard, Wages Start to Outpace Prices - By Jeremy W Peters and David Leonhardt, The New York Times