Tell these Americans that the economy is humming, that median wage growth has nudged ahead of the core inflation rate, and that everything’s grand, and you’re likely to see a roll of the eyes.
Tell these Americans that the economy is humming, that median wage growth has nudged ahead of the core inflation rate, and that everything’s grand, and you’re likely to see a roll of the eyes.
It’s mostly because these numbers are averages and the majority of wage growth is seen by those switching jobs. We’re also talking about really small numbers here, wage growth isn’t beating inflation by much, it about a single point difference, that’s 10s of dollars per month difference. It also doesn’t account for the massive inflation in previous years, so even if you got a good raise this year it likely brought you to the same level as pre-2020.
If you haven’t changed jobs in over three years and have been getting sub 5% raises, you are well over 10% worse off than 3 years ago.
To add to that, yes people get paid more switching jobs, but it’s incredibly stressful. Also seems to be the only way to get that raise.
Management has seen to be at odds with white collar workers, fighting against work from home. It has not been a stress free ride since the pandemic. Companies keep thinking there will be a recession, and getting the raise is difficult and stressful.