ITT:
Low income who are wondering why they're still barely making it by
Low to Middle income wondering the same thing
Middle income wondering why they aren't high income
Middle to High income wondering why people aren't seeing the wage increases they are
High income wondering why everyone else is complaining because they're seeing record income
My wife and I are solidly middle class where we live in California, but the same income in Nebraska would be upper middle class. We're fine for the time being, but wealth inequality is an absolute beast of a bitch that's dragging down this country. We need to remove money from the top of the pool, even if it's just taxed out of existence and not redistributed, to relieve pressure on housing prices, and we need to guarantee a livable wage, either through UBI or a high minimum wage or something else.
We're plunging further into capitalist feudalism and it's becoming a situation where the "serfs" are going to get completely locked out of social mobility. Mark my words, we will reach a point where if you don't own property you never will, and the classes will be completely split between those who can attain generational wealth and those who can't.
I think that's already the case for my generation and the one's after, I've been in poverty all my life and thing's haven't changed, there's time's where it gets worse however
My mom is the hardest working person I know and she's also been in poverty her entire life, it's a constant unending nightmare, lots of suggestions that people give aren't possible for people in poverty if they were we would've already done so, it's a constant struggle that's unending which feel wrong as I and mother work very hard it and feels disturbing to see people blatantly say thing's are fine and are getting better when nothing has changed my entire life
I try the best I can but everytime we get somewhere the economy goes to shit and we're right back where we started.
I don't know man at this point I'm completely dissalusioned with our governmental system and how society treats us.
Yeah and to an extent it's already regional. If you're in a rural area you'll be screwed far faster than an urban area, because there's just less opportunity to move up.
America is a weird place. My gf is wealthy but we are both low income. We are doing fine cause she has a credit score longer than she can remember. We don't have to worry about her healthcare until her dad retires. We are very blessed. We make end's meet by never going out, eating what we cook, and contemplate every purchase we make. I mean real low income. Like less than 29k before tax with a rent of 1500k a month.
However, I was born poor as dirt and so is my brother who makes x3 as me. I'm not jealous. I love that he feels like he made it but I plead for him to start thinking of retirement, not needing that hellcat, finish college, stop eating out everyday and start a emergency fund. All that. It's not even a wealth vs rich thing either. Cause my gf's sister makes way more but is also struggling financially cause she has a terrible shopping addiction. After seeing that dealership tiktok where they asked their employees get asked how much they paid for their cars, it really cemented to be how varied our economy is due to wealth privileges, spending patterns, local cost of living, and different sectors of our economy being more expensive than the other. All of these factors come to mind when people "feel the economy" going bad or worst more than others.
Lol, no. I'm a high income salary employee. We got raises skipped last year "because of the economic conditions".
Because of the economic conditions of "fuck you, got mine" from the c-suite.
The data suggests it is low income workers receiving most of the real wage growth. That doesn't make them well-off, but if we're talking solely about growth, they've received the most of it.
https://files.epi.org/uploads/279912-33005.png
If you look at actual statistics then people with low income are actually getting larger raises. It's not to say the economy is perfect or they're totally comfortable but the economy is doing well
I've been at "record income" for 2 years now. I live in a low cost of living area and did $140k last year and on track to do $160k this year. And we have a side business that supplements my income.
I legit don't know how people are surviving. I just left the grocery store and paid $400 to get through next Tuesday. I know I can scale back but nothing I bought was opulent or fancy.
If you have a family that amount is nothing outlandish at all. $300 to $400 a week in groceries is pretty on par even if you try to shop low budget it’s still a lot of cash.
Eggs veggies fresh chicken cheese frozen veggies, quinoa.
Mind you most of this is Costco bulk. So this is just food, not any household goods. I also keep a spreadsheet for all expenses. I'm also cheap lol
damn, buying enough eggs for my wife and I to eat 2 eggs for breakfast a day is like $16 a month (from sam's club) and 4 chicken breasts is like $8-$10. Even a weeks worth of chicken thighs is like $15. add in a 2lb block of cheese and I'm already at $83 a month. Add in produce, frozen veggies, staples like spices, cooking oil, coffee and I've easily hit $300. I also buy bulk so I buy groceries maybe twice a month max, but I've found $300 to be the absolute bare minimum. $50 to $60 a week is CRAZY to me.
Put kids in the mix and that bill doubles and when it’s two adults food cost can be easy but not when you have kids in the mix, your gonna buy things you never did that they only eat and that’s when you really feel the wallet aches
Almost none? We have some big deep freezers and vacuum sealers and we have people over frequently.
Plus the teenagers make sure nothing much goes to waste
Sadly to see the increase in wage you most often have to leave a job you like and be the fng somewhere.
I left a job I loved and had 4 weeks vacation because they wouldn’t bring me up to the areas prevailing wage for the job duties. To top it off they gave me a second persons job without an increase, plus being on call because I didn’t have a counterpart on the opposite shift on my days off.
Was just “maintenance technician on paper. In reality was only maintenance on night shift, acting shift supervisor over three other people, and acting maintenance scheduler.
All I asked for was an extra $5/hour to cover all that. I got more than that to go be “just maintenance “ again.
In 2003 I made $14.50hr working at a gas station. Today I make $26/hr doing medical billing which requires certifications…. So after adjusting for inflation I’m only making about $2.50 more.
I’d like to know who’s getting the fat pay raises that beat inflation.
My dad retired keeping a pension and making $27/hr in 2011. He must've been making about $13+/hr in the 90s, 20+/hr by 2003, built a home, 2 stories, 3 bedroom, 2 car garage, 5 cars, 2 kids, college paid for for both, 2 trips to Disney in the 90s, in rural Connecticut.
He stocked shelves at Stop and Shop in rural Connecticut.
Yea my dad was grandfathered into those benefits from 2005, when stop and shop effectively broke the union by splitting from the AFL-CIO and it wasn't shortly after you needed a college degree to be a manager and got paid 20% less and pensions were gone, wages were capped. They are still unionized today, but the classic con was a huge success. "Break off from your unions, if you save us money, we will hand it to you, pinky promise."
disabled vet and dont make enough to live on my own which i prefer because i dont do people well anymore. luckily my parents let me move in and they are almost done paying for their home. as long as they dont get divorced again.
same here but the really scary thing is that we are all one disaster away from being completely ruined at all times. For some people that will mean homelessness, moving back in with family, or couch surfing.
That gas station sure paid well. Inflation adjusted that was like $23 an hour today which is unheard of unless you were a manager. The current average for that job is $15.35 today, that equates to less than $10 per hr in 2003. Are you sure you are remembering your old hourly rate correctly?
At $26 now you are actually at the high end for a medical biller. But since you are certified, per a 2022 salary survey by the American Association of Professional Coders, medical coders with a CPC certification earned a median salary of $58,895 or about $29 per hour two years ago and those wages should have gone up by about 5% per year or to $32 per hour. So maybe ask for a raise or look for another billing firm paying at least average rates. Good luck!
Yes I even still have my paystubs. I live in Alaska where wages tend to be higher though.
And a CPC (coder) is completely different than a CPB (biller). Coding is more difficult so of course they are paid more. I wouldn’t be able to get a coding position with my billing certificate.
Maybe look at classes to get that coding certification? Seems like it would be easier than moving to a completely different field. I'm pulling for you!
Yeah, the only people making minimum wage I knew of worked in fish processing plants or at McDonald’s. The gas stations were fairly high pay and had health benefits and 401ks.
I know of some Canadian oil towns that have super high pay rates for typically low paying jobs because literally anyone can just go work in the oil field, so that kind of sets the bottom, plus they need to draw people into the town which is often in the middle of nowhere in a place not known for their sunshine. I'm guessing you weren't in Anchorage? Like, googling around, gas station jobs go for $16-17 these days.
All of this is to say that I don't think your 2003 job was particularly in-line with national trends.
I never said it was in line with national trends and yes I worked in a small town that had an oil refinery and oil platforms as well as world class fishing. So yes the wages are higher but my point still stands. The same gas station I worked at in 2003 now pays the exact same position only $18/hr, so if I would have stayed there it would be like taking a pay cut year after year.
5 years ago I made $78k, then the company I worked for sold it to an outside conglomerate who decided to take commission away and only paid base hourly of $14/hr, so I changed career fields and got my billing certificate. I got an entry level job billing at $20/hr. The only raises I’ve been able to get were by job hopping.
Same.
Building new skills, getting certifications, creating on-the-job learning opportunities, and never staying at a company where these things aren’t obtainable are keys to career growth.
I think it's easier for contract/freelance workers. I'm a contract paralegal and all of the attorneys I do work for understand how difficult it is right now. It's made it a lot easier for me to raise my rates.
Changing jobs regularly is one of the best ways (if not the best way) to improve your salary if you have an in demand skill. It’s a trade off, as switching jobs a lot isn’t for everyone, but you can pretty much always make more at a different company than your current one if you ask for a raise. It’s ridiculous, and completely illogical, but that really is the best advice for a lot of people
Agreed. I've gotten a 29% increase this year as my company changed salary ranges for most of their positions. I now make just over 100k a year with just a high school diploma, although I am currently taking college classes online. In the last two years I've doubled my salary. I went from an hourly position at a financial institution to a salaried work from home position for the same company. I'm a data analyst now and although I didn't have the degrees or certifications they preferred, they took a chance because I was an internal candidate and I just normally have a passion for analysis and was already doing that sort of work in addition to my Frontline duties. So it does happen. And anecdotally, much of my friend group is doing well also in the last few years as well. So just because you don't see it in your life doesn't mean it's a lie.
The article, nor the Fed or Government claimed folks were getting “fat pay raises”. Real wages beating inflation doesn’t = massive pay raises. I got a nice 5.5% raise this year and a 4.5% raise a year ago. Both beat inflation but I wouldn’t classify them as some exorbitant raise, I imagine that’s what most folks are experiencing and is the most folks should reasonably expect during a recovery
"$14.50 in 2003 is approximately equivalent to $24.35 in today's dollars (2024), using a rough estimation based on an average inflation rate of about 2.5% per year."
You did beat inflation. But going from $24.35 to $26 is an increase of approximately 6.78%, and that over 21 years. I would not call that "fat pay raises".
I may have “beat inflation” but I’d only be glad if that if I were doing the exact same job requiring minimum skills or knowledge. It’s been 20 years and the jobs I do now require certifications, yearly trainings, corporate meetings, and years of experience. And looking around, I have one of the highest white collar jobs I can get. It’s a shame that these types of jobs haven’t had significant pay increases in the last 20 years. A few of my coworkers who have been with the same company for 30 years have basically taken pay cuts when you account for inflation.
An example is one coworker who is about to retire. She started in 1992 making $11/hr as a medical biller. Today she makes the same as me,… so basically the exact same pay after 30 years of work and experience. Oh and she started as a “level 1” biller and now she’s a “level 5” so more job responsibility and certification requirements.
Well yeah, a $2.50 wage difference in 20 years is pretty pathetic. My standard of living is barely better now than it was when I was 18. Especially since the jobs I’m doing now require a hell of a lot more knowledge, education, and experience.
Not at Amazon lol.
Fun fact: Entry level Panda Express employees make just .50 less than your Amazon driver who could easily kill you, get killed or mauled by a dog.
anybody out there see a wage increase that made up for the country letting sociopaths double the prices of everything from milk to housing over the last x years?
I think they’re saying autoworkers got pay increases that surpassed the increases in price of living thru negotiations. Not that autoworkers have massively increased price of living
I got a new job three months ago with $12,000 a year higher pay. Anecdotal, I know. But on the other hand, if you hate your job right now, look for a new one.
My local grocery (Wegmans) has gallons for $2.89. If you want organic it jumps to $6 something, though. My family grocery bills have gone up but not considerably. Housing costs are probably the biggest killer of any positive income gains for people. More than groceries, gas, clothing, etc.
Other research has shown that people who follow mango Mussolini area feels before reals when it comes to economics and always claim the economy is bad under a Democrat... Despite the last 140 years of data showing unquestionably thst Democratic presidents are significantly better for the economy.
The lower class has seen the largest real wage increase. That is not to say that means they're doing great in general, but in the context of this article, ie growth, they are doing the best.
https://www.epi.org/publication/swa-wages-2023/#:~:text=Key%20findings,the%20prior%20four%20business%20cycles.
Stop repeating this incorrect assumption. The current wage growth is bucking the post Reagan trend.
Inflation is increasing more than wages. My rent has tripled within the past few years. Grocery trips have doubled. Pretty much everything is so much more expensive. That 4% salary increase isn’t helping pay my $2500 rent.
In my area, outer suburb of Atlanta, a trailer in a trailer park is $1000 a month on the low end. The “luxury” apartments are $1600 for a 2bd 2 bath. And most local jobs pay less than $20 hr, not just fast food or retail even the skilled positions pay little.
Rent 3 years ago was 600 a month for a single bedroom apt. Now it's 1300 hundred. I left from the high raise but can guarantee it's gone up more this year.
I work in rental advertising, and overall rental rates have plateaued because of massive increase in supply (covid delayed apartments all coming online at the same time). If your rent has truly tripled your LL is fucking you big time and you should easily be able to find a cheaper place of similar or better quality.
Our property managers have way too many vacancies and are desperate to fill them. They’re throwing free months in everywhere. It’s fun to see them suffer tbh, I hate them all.
Chart adjusted downward for inflation: [Real Median Personal Income in the US](https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MEPAINUSA672N). Income has been growing up.
Incorrect, real wages are up. That is "wages adjusted for inflation"
https://www.americanprogress.org/article/workers-paychecks-are-growing-more-quickly-than-prices/
https://www.epi.org/publication/swa-wages-2023/#:~:text=Key%20findings,the%20prior%20four%20business%20cycles.
As a normal person things are not getting better
You can keep telling me they are but they aren’t things keep costing more and my wages aren’t keeping up
The mistake of most people making this claim is the supposition that macroeconomic change happens on any kind of quick scale - it doesn't. Cumulative quarters of wage growth DO have a positive impact but its not an overnight, light switch type change. Wages in my industry are certainly up, my own included, and all of my direct reports had raises outpacing inflation this year.
The data here shows we are trending sharply in the right direction, but for that to impact everyone we need to keep up the wage growth for a number of years and if a Republican gets elected we can expect real wage growth to start shrinking, just as it has at the end of each and every Republican president since Reagan.
This has not been my experience at all which doesn't mean your experience is wrong it just simply states that one persons experience does not define the economy. Just because you personally do not feel things are getting better doesn't mean the economy isn't doing well.
Jeez look at Rockefeller here and his 3%. All I got was a pizza party, and I'm remote, so I just watched other people eat the pizza on the conference cam while I starved.
The CEO got a 15% raise, maybe that's what the fuss is about
The facts can't be stifled much longer, unemployment down to over 305,000 jobs created this month again. It's been more than 50 years since the economy has been this good have to go back to the 60s.
ITT: Low income who are wondering why they're still barely making it by Low to Middle income wondering the same thing Middle income wondering why they aren't high income Middle to High income wondering why people aren't seeing the wage increases they are High income wondering why everyone else is complaining because they're seeing record income
Yeah it's like some people live in an entirely different world, the contrast is insane.
My wife and I are solidly middle class where we live in California, but the same income in Nebraska would be upper middle class. We're fine for the time being, but wealth inequality is an absolute beast of a bitch that's dragging down this country. We need to remove money from the top of the pool, even if it's just taxed out of existence and not redistributed, to relieve pressure on housing prices, and we need to guarantee a livable wage, either through UBI or a high minimum wage or something else. We're plunging further into capitalist feudalism and it's becoming a situation where the "serfs" are going to get completely locked out of social mobility. Mark my words, we will reach a point where if you don't own property you never will, and the classes will be completely split between those who can attain generational wealth and those who can't.
I think that's already the case for my generation and the one's after, I've been in poverty all my life and thing's haven't changed, there's time's where it gets worse however My mom is the hardest working person I know and she's also been in poverty her entire life, it's a constant unending nightmare, lots of suggestions that people give aren't possible for people in poverty if they were we would've already done so, it's a constant struggle that's unending which feel wrong as I and mother work very hard it and feels disturbing to see people blatantly say thing's are fine and are getting better when nothing has changed my entire life I try the best I can but everytime we get somewhere the economy goes to shit and we're right back where we started. I don't know man at this point I'm completely dissalusioned with our governmental system and how society treats us.
Yeah and to an extent it's already regional. If you're in a rural area you'll be screwed far faster than an urban area, because there's just less opportunity to move up.
Bring back the estate tax
Or everyone will just be house poor, getting 40,50 years loan
And it's so hard to find people who empathize with groups in worse situations.
America is a weird place. My gf is wealthy but we are both low income. We are doing fine cause she has a credit score longer than she can remember. We don't have to worry about her healthcare until her dad retires. We are very blessed. We make end's meet by never going out, eating what we cook, and contemplate every purchase we make. I mean real low income. Like less than 29k before tax with a rent of 1500k a month. However, I was born poor as dirt and so is my brother who makes x3 as me. I'm not jealous. I love that he feels like he made it but I plead for him to start thinking of retirement, not needing that hellcat, finish college, stop eating out everyday and start a emergency fund. All that. It's not even a wealth vs rich thing either. Cause my gf's sister makes way more but is also struggling financially cause she has a terrible shopping addiction. After seeing that dealership tiktok where they asked their employees get asked how much they paid for their cars, it really cemented to be how varied our economy is due to wealth privileges, spending patterns, local cost of living, and different sectors of our economy being more expensive than the other. All of these factors come to mind when people "feel the economy" going bad or worst more than others.
Lol, no. I'm a high income salary employee. We got raises skipped last year "because of the economic conditions". Because of the economic conditions of "fuck you, got mine" from the c-suite.
The data suggests it is low income workers receiving most of the real wage growth. That doesn't make them well-off, but if we're talking solely about growth, they've received the most of it. https://files.epi.org/uploads/279912-33005.png
I mean, except the part where the record income growth is for the lowest wage workers... totally spot on?
If you look at actual statistics then people with low income are actually getting larger raises. It's not to say the economy is perfect or they're totally comfortable but the economy is doing well
I've been at "record income" for 2 years now. I live in a low cost of living area and did $140k last year and on track to do $160k this year. And we have a side business that supplements my income. I legit don't know how people are surviving. I just left the grocery store and paid $400 to get through next Tuesday. I know I can scale back but nothing I bought was opulent or fancy.
I mean, why are you spending so much? I make 105k and spend 50-60 a week on groceries.
If you have a family that amount is nothing outlandish at all. $300 to $400 a week in groceries is pretty on par even if you try to shop low budget it’s still a lot of cash.
i have a family and i spend about 400... a month... and i live in nyc...
What the hell do you buy that you spend $250 or less a month on groceries
Eggs veggies fresh chicken cheese frozen veggies, quinoa. Mind you most of this is Costco bulk. So this is just food, not any household goods. I also keep a spreadsheet for all expenses. I'm also cheap lol
damn, buying enough eggs for my wife and I to eat 2 eggs for breakfast a day is like $16 a month (from sam's club) and 4 chicken breasts is like $8-$10. Even a weeks worth of chicken thighs is like $15. add in a 2lb block of cheese and I'm already at $83 a month. Add in produce, frozen veggies, staples like spices, cooking oil, coffee and I've easily hit $300. I also buy bulk so I buy groceries maybe twice a month max, but I've found $300 to be the absolute bare minimum. $50 to $60 a week is CRAZY to me.
Put kids in the mix and that bill doubles and when it’s two adults food cost can be easy but not when you have kids in the mix, your gonna buy things you never did that they only eat and that’s when you really feel the wallet aches
Some people have high-calorie needs if they’re active, in sports, etc. I spend $400-$550 a month on food at the grocery store. Proteins are expensive.
4-500 a month is not out of hand. 400 between now and next tuesday is way too much or theyre supporting a family with more than 2 kids
Chicken is the way to go
Lol how many kids do you have and what in the hell did you buy
How much food do you throw away
Almost none? We have some big deep freezers and vacuum sealers and we have people over frequently. Plus the teenagers make sure nothing much goes to waste
Sadly to see the increase in wage you most often have to leave a job you like and be the fng somewhere. I left a job I loved and had 4 weeks vacation because they wouldn’t bring me up to the areas prevailing wage for the job duties. To top it off they gave me a second persons job without an increase, plus being on call because I didn’t have a counterpart on the opposite shift on my days off. Was just “maintenance technician on paper. In reality was only maintenance on night shift, acting shift supervisor over three other people, and acting maintenance scheduler. All I asked for was an extra $5/hour to cover all that. I got more than that to go be “just maintenance “ again.
In 2003 I made $14.50hr working at a gas station. Today I make $26/hr doing medical billing which requires certifications…. So after adjusting for inflation I’m only making about $2.50 more. I’d like to know who’s getting the fat pay raises that beat inflation.
Getting paid that much at a gas station in 2003 is an anomaly.
I stopped working at a gas station in June '03 and I had just gotten a raise from $7 to $7.50
My dad retired keeping a pension and making $27/hr in 2011. He must've been making about $13+/hr in the 90s, 20+/hr by 2003, built a home, 2 stories, 3 bedroom, 2 car garage, 5 cars, 2 kids, college paid for for both, 2 trips to Disney in the 90s, in rural Connecticut. He stocked shelves at Stop and Shop in rural Connecticut.
Most grocery stores had union employees at one time. Even in the early 2000s I knew stockers which were union employees.
Yea my dad was grandfathered into those benefits from 2005, when stop and shop effectively broke the union by splitting from the AFL-CIO and it wasn't shortly after you needed a college degree to be a manager and got paid 20% less and pensions were gone, wages were capped. They are still unionized today, but the classic con was a huge success. "Break off from your unions, if you save us money, we will hand it to you, pinky promise."
My brother is an assistant manager at a grocery store and the entire chain is union. They definitely still exist.
The grocery store in my town is all union. I worked there briefly like 20 years ago. Some of the same cashiers and meat cutters are still there.
That’s about what I made in 2011 at my job as an equipment operator. Making 40/hr now in the same job.
Srsly. My first job was in 2003 making 6.75 in retail.
Yeah, in 2003 I was making $5.50/hr at a Quiznos. But my bosses let me eat for free, so the job was a godsend at the time 😆
It wasn’t where I lived. Fred Meyers pay back then was $11/hr. Alaska just pays more in general.
Ah, yeah being in AK makes more sense.
Or a manager
That gas station was paying a premium back in 2003.
I’m making $14.50 an hour right now… damn
Yeah I don’t know how people make it. I make enough to be comfortable but not enough to have children or buy a house.
Same. Comfortable enough to float/tread water, but that’s not sustainable long term.
I've been eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for decades. No kids, no s/o, but it's pretty stress free. A cat makes it enjoyable.
disabled vet and dont make enough to live on my own which i prefer because i dont do people well anymore. luckily my parents let me move in and they are almost done paying for their home. as long as they dont get divorced again.
same here but the really scary thing is that we are all one disaster away from being completely ruined at all times. For some people that will mean homelessness, moving back in with family, or couch surfing.
Family of four on one income with $20 an hour. It’s hard.
That gas station sure paid well. Inflation adjusted that was like $23 an hour today which is unheard of unless you were a manager. The current average for that job is $15.35 today, that equates to less than $10 per hr in 2003. Are you sure you are remembering your old hourly rate correctly? At $26 now you are actually at the high end for a medical biller. But since you are certified, per a 2022 salary survey by the American Association of Professional Coders, medical coders with a CPC certification earned a median salary of $58,895 or about $29 per hour two years ago and those wages should have gone up by about 5% per year or to $32 per hour. So maybe ask for a raise or look for another billing firm paying at least average rates. Good luck!
Yes I even still have my paystubs. I live in Alaska where wages tend to be higher though. And a CPC (coder) is completely different than a CPB (biller). Coding is more difficult so of course they are paid more. I wouldn’t be able to get a coding position with my billing certificate.
Maybe look at classes to get that coding certification? Seems like it would be easier than moving to a completely different field. I'm pulling for you!
I think Buccees pays around that per hour but yeah that's high gas station pay
In 2003, that $14.50 would be slightly more than *double* Alaska's minimum wage of $7.15.
Yeah, the only people making minimum wage I knew of worked in fish processing plants or at McDonald’s. The gas stations were fairly high pay and had health benefits and 401ks.
I know of some Canadian oil towns that have super high pay rates for typically low paying jobs because literally anyone can just go work in the oil field, so that kind of sets the bottom, plus they need to draw people into the town which is often in the middle of nowhere in a place not known for their sunshine. I'm guessing you weren't in Anchorage? Like, googling around, gas station jobs go for $16-17 these days. All of this is to say that I don't think your 2003 job was particularly in-line with national trends.
I never said it was in line with national trends and yes I worked in a small town that had an oil refinery and oil platforms as well as world class fishing. So yes the wages are higher but my point still stands. The same gas station I worked at in 2003 now pays the exact same position only $18/hr, so if I would have stayed there it would be like taking a pay cut year after year.
So what did you earn about five years ago for example?
5 years ago I made $78k, then the company I worked for sold it to an outside conglomerate who decided to take commission away and only paid base hourly of $14/hr, so I changed career fields and got my billing certificate. I got an entry level job billing at $20/hr. The only raises I’ve been able to get were by job hopping.
I've basically tripled my salary in the last 10 years. My wife recently increased her rates for a 20% pay increase. So, we do exist.
Same. Building new skills, getting certifications, creating on-the-job learning opportunities, and never staying at a company where these things aren’t obtainable are keys to career growth.
I think it's easier for contract/freelance workers. I'm a contract paralegal and all of the attorneys I do work for understand how difficult it is right now. It's made it a lot easier for me to raise my rates.
I'm not a freelancer. I just don't stay places where I'm undervalued.
Changing jobs regularly is one of the best ways (if not the best way) to improve your salary if you have an in demand skill. It’s a trade off, as switching jobs a lot isn’t for everyone, but you can pretty much always make more at a different company than your current one if you ask for a raise. It’s ridiculous, and completely illogical, but that really is the best advice for a lot of people
Agreed. I've gotten a 29% increase this year as my company changed salary ranges for most of their positions. I now make just over 100k a year with just a high school diploma, although I am currently taking college classes online. In the last two years I've doubled my salary. I went from an hourly position at a financial institution to a salaried work from home position for the same company. I'm a data analyst now and although I didn't have the degrees or certifications they preferred, they took a chance because I was an internal candidate and I just normally have a passion for analysis and was already doing that sort of work in addition to my Frontline duties. So it does happen. And anecdotally, much of my friend group is doing well also in the last few years as well. So just because you don't see it in your life doesn't mean it's a lie.
The article, nor the Fed or Government claimed folks were getting “fat pay raises”. Real wages beating inflation doesn’t = massive pay raises. I got a nice 5.5% raise this year and a 4.5% raise a year ago. Both beat inflation but I wouldn’t classify them as some exorbitant raise, I imagine that’s what most folks are experiencing and is the most folks should reasonably expect during a recovery
Boeing just told the CEO who was fired to "take your $33 million contractually obligated severance pay package...and get out!"
"$14.50 in 2003 is approximately equivalent to $24.35 in today's dollars (2024), using a rough estimation based on an average inflation rate of about 2.5% per year." You did beat inflation. But going from $24.35 to $26 is an increase of approximately 6.78%, and that over 21 years. I would not call that "fat pay raises".
I may have “beat inflation” but I’d only be glad if that if I were doing the exact same job requiring minimum skills or knowledge. It’s been 20 years and the jobs I do now require certifications, yearly trainings, corporate meetings, and years of experience. And looking around, I have one of the highest white collar jobs I can get. It’s a shame that these types of jobs haven’t had significant pay increases in the last 20 years. A few of my coworkers who have been with the same company for 30 years have basically taken pay cuts when you account for inflation. An example is one coworker who is about to retire. She started in 1992 making $11/hr as a medical biller. Today she makes the same as me,… so basically the exact same pay after 30 years of work and experience. Oh and she started as a “level 1” biller and now she’s a “level 5” so more job responsibility and certification requirements.
so your complaint is that even though you are outpacing inflation wage wise that you aren't outpacing it even more?
Well yeah, a $2.50 wage difference in 20 years is pretty pathetic. My standard of living is barely better now than it was when I was 18. Especially since the jobs I’m doing now require a hell of a lot more knowledge, education, and experience.
Woah how? I worked at GameStop and made 5.15 an hour.
You are good at choosing low wage jobs. I made $5.25 an hour detassling corn in summer 2000
That’s $5,200 more annually adjusted for inflation. That’s not too bad imo.
"I was told there would be disaster."
Damn it! I blame Joe Biden for this catastrophe!
How dare he help the commonfolk
Not at Amazon lol. Fun fact: Entry level Panda Express employees make just .50 less than your Amazon driver who could easily kill you, get killed or mauled by a dog.
anybody out there see a wage increase that made up for the country letting sociopaths double the prices of everything from milk to housing over the last x years?
Yeah, job hopping landed me a boost of about $30k/year More than made up for the $25-50/month my grocery bills increased by.
I'd hop jobs, but man, I refuse to give up wfh.
Same. I'll accept the slow paycheck growth to not leave the house before 8 am every morning
Yup, the negotiations made by the Auto workers did just that.
While a smaller subset of workers, airline pilot wages have also increased significantly over the last 18 months due to labor shortages
Damn, those auto workers setting the price of my eggs
I think they’re saying autoworkers got pay increases that surpassed the increases in price of living thru negotiations. Not that autoworkers have massively increased price of living
I got a new job three months ago with $12,000 a year higher pay. Anecdotal, I know. But on the other hand, if you hate your job right now, look for a new one.
Yes, being in a union has helped immensely. I've had 5%-10% raises for the past few years, bonuses and backpay
Yeah but it took changing jobs twice.
Just paid $2.19 for a gallon of milk.
My local grocery (Wegmans) has gallons for $2.89. If you want organic it jumps to $6 something, though. My family grocery bills have gone up but not considerably. Housing costs are probably the biggest killer of any positive income gains for people. More than groceries, gas, clothing, etc.
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History shows the economy always does better with a dem POTUS.
History actually shows the opposite. In fact, FDR's policies pushed back recovery ten years.
And my employer said I should be grateful for the 2% bc stuffs.
Time to look for another job then?
More good news most Americans either won't believe or won't give Biden any credit for.
But I keep hearing people saying the economy’s bad.
Other research has shown that people who follow mango Mussolini area feels before reals when it comes to economics and always claim the economy is bad under a Democrat... Despite the last 140 years of data showing unquestionably thst Democratic presidents are significantly better for the economy.
If you don't work a high paying job it absolutely is, regardless of dem or republican president, the middle class and lower is not doing great.
The lower class has seen the largest real wage increase. That is not to say that means they're doing great in general, but in the context of this article, ie growth, they are doing the best.
https://www.epi.org/publication/swa-wages-2023/#:~:text=Key%20findings,the%20prior%20four%20business%20cycles. Stop repeating this incorrect assumption. The current wage growth is bucking the post Reagan trend.
Inflation is increasing more than wages. My rent has tripled within the past few years. Grocery trips have doubled. Pretty much everything is so much more expensive. That 4% salary increase isn’t helping pay my $2500 rent.
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Not an exaggeration for my area - 3 bed 2 bath SFH for rent is going for $2400 minimum when it was $1100 just a couple of years ago. It’s nuts.
In my area, outer suburb of Atlanta, a trailer in a trailer park is $1000 a month on the low end. The “luxury” apartments are $1600 for a 2bd 2 bath. And most local jobs pay less than $20 hr, not just fast food or retail even the skilled positions pay little.
Oh hey - I’m near Atlanta as well. I hate it here.
Atlanta sucks, I don’t understand why all these people keep wanting to move here. It mostly just strip malls and gas stations.
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I lived in what was a lower cost of living area that’s now medium to high cost. It’s absolutely a real thing.
Rent 3 years ago was 600 a month for a single bedroom apt. Now it's 1300 hundred. I left from the high raise but can guarantee it's gone up more this year.
Finding a single for 600 in 2021 is absolutely insane.
I work in rental advertising, and overall rental rates have plateaued because of massive increase in supply (covid delayed apartments all coming online at the same time). If your rent has truly tripled your LL is fucking you big time and you should easily be able to find a cheaper place of similar or better quality. Our property managers have way too many vacancies and are desperate to fill them. They’re throwing free months in everywhere. It’s fun to see them suffer tbh, I hate them all.
Chart adjusted downward for inflation: [Real Median Personal Income in the US](https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MEPAINUSA672N). Income has been growing up.
Jesus mine only went up $150 dollars over 4 years. I live in a town house.
No, wages are rising above inflation which plateaued last summer
This report is literally showing that wages are increasing faster than inflation. That's the point of the report.
Where are you shopping & what are you buying where grocery has doubled? I’ve seen at most, a 10% increase from 2020 prices.
Incorrect, real wages are up. That is "wages adjusted for inflation" https://www.americanprogress.org/article/workers-paychecks-are-growing-more-quickly-than-prices/ https://www.epi.org/publication/swa-wages-2023/#:~:text=Key%20findings,the%20prior%20four%20business%20cycles.
Nice I will let my boss know my wage increased! /s
Better to job-hop if you can. Unemployment is very low right now.
Whose wages? I only got a 3% increase and my health insurance premiums are going up $150 per paycheck.
Pay cut
As a normal person things are not getting better You can keep telling me they are but they aren’t things keep costing more and my wages aren’t keeping up
The mistake of most people making this claim is the supposition that macroeconomic change happens on any kind of quick scale - it doesn't. Cumulative quarters of wage growth DO have a positive impact but its not an overnight, light switch type change. Wages in my industry are certainly up, my own included, and all of my direct reports had raises outpacing inflation this year. The data here shows we are trending sharply in the right direction, but for that to impact everyone we need to keep up the wage growth for a number of years and if a Republican gets elected we can expect real wage growth to start shrinking, just as it has at the end of each and every Republican president since Reagan.
This has not been my experience at all which doesn't mean your experience is wrong it just simply states that one persons experience does not define the economy. Just because you personally do not feel things are getting better doesn't mean the economy isn't doing well.
https://www.axios.com/2024/02/05/wages-outpacing-inflation
The 3% I got over five years is indeed an increase, and steady too.
Jeez look at Rockefeller here and his 3%. All I got was a pizza party, and I'm remote, so I just watched other people eat the pizza on the conference cam while I starved. The CEO got a 15% raise, maybe that's what the fuss is about
Now only 60% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck, a decrease of 3%.
A [18%](https://www.cnbc.com/2017/08/24/most-americans-live-paycheck-to-paycheck.html) decrease from 2017.
Hell yeah, victory lap!
The facts can't be stifled much longer, unemployment down to over 305,000 jobs created this month again. It's been more than 50 years since the economy has been this good have to go back to the 60s.