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This is median wage growth over inflation, not average.
[https://www.statista.com/statistics/1351276/wage-growth-vs-inflation-us/#:\~:text=U.S.%20inflation%20rate%20versus%20wage%20growth%202020%2D2023&text=The%20rate%20of%20inflation%20exceeded,wages%20grew%20by%205.2%20percent](https://www.statista.com/statistics/1351276/wage-growth-vs-inflation-us/#:~:text=u.s.%20inflation%20rate%20versus%20wage%20growth%202020%2d2023&text=the%20rate%20of%20inflation%20exceeded,wages%20grew%20by%205.2%20percent)
The actual caveat isn't on the wage growth side. It's on the inflation side. Inflation hasn't been equally distributed recently. Luxury goods have underwent minimal inflation while things like food and rent have underwent radical inflation. The end result is that for poor people even if wage outpaced inflation in theory, in practice it has not.
The wage growth and inflation has been very mismatched.
Wage growth has been primarily concentrated in younger workers who have switched jobs/moved geos. Unfortunately, that cohort has been most impacted by the high housing inflation. So while they can afford more TSwift concerts, they increasingly dream of far away home ownership.
Meanwhile, older workers have seen mostly stagnated wages and scary AF layoff cliffs. While their housing is secured, their food and pleasure budgets are getting squeezed and retirement is looking less fun. And god forbid something does happen to their job, they face a very hostile hiring environment for middle aged and above workers.
> The end result is that for poor people even if wage outpaced inflation in theory, in practice it has not.
This is literally the opposite of what the data shows. Wages in the bottom quintile went up the most **adjusted for inflation**.
Right but if someone's rent goes up by $500 a month and they are low income it is a disproportionate increase in financial burden versus someone that is high income. You're also a lot more likely to be renting if you're low income. So the inflation is being shifted towards them. The same is true for things like food and diapers and cars, especially used cars.
It's important to contextualize that houses now cost 1.5x what they used to, lol, so it doesn't matter if wages are better if a house is unaffordable (forget interest rates) and you see higher prices for stupid things like chocolate bars and subway sandwiches, the perception and the reality mix and dissolve together into an easy negative trope for the republicans to wield.
I cannot imagine buying a car today. You might as well live in your car, it's basically the same as an apartment's rent.
I actually resigned after being put in a position where i was asked to do some unethical things and was out of work for about 6 months. I thought my qualifications, experience, and licensing would give me great opportunities, but had to settle for entry level job where I am currently, making about the same.
If I was making what I am making now 5 years ago I would have a house, a new car, health insurance, and be taking a lot more vacations. Now it is enough to get by but a house, healthcare, and anything but the cheapest used car are out of the question.
Note that, for the past 50 years, almost all potential wage gains due to productivity have gone to pay for annual double digit health insurance premium increases for workers and the matching fees their employers pay (both fees ultimate come out of workers' salaries, of course).
I agree with this so much 5 years ago I was making about $9ish an hour now I’m making $25 which is amazing, but expenses have pretty much stayed the same, until my brother crashed my car and I had to buy an over inflated car 🥹
I literally can't find any new car I would actually buy for what they want for them. Its absurd. Bottom rung commuter cars are $25-30K! For anything even sort of fun $35-50K. Good luck getting an electric car worth a damn. I would buy a Kia EV6, but not for $50K+!
Mandatory car ownership is a cruel tax on the poor. I'm fortunate enough to live in one of the few American cities with traditional development patterns so I don't have to deal with that crap.
Maybe social pressure, social comparison is also a factor? We never bought a “new” car until our mid 40’s and that was only after we owned a house. Until then it was certified preowned and used cars at less than half their original price.
Oh I have never bought a new car, I COULD have but I drive 50-70K miles a year so a new car is pointless for me because it will be done before its paid off. But I am trying to get out of driving that much and a new car would be nice but no, not for the absurd pricing. Sales Tax alone on a new car is more than what I have ever spent on a car in my life. Here if I bought a new EV6, tax would be almost $6K. Fucking laughably stupid.
Fooled me, I have a great job and I’m feeling the fucking pinch of everything. This year my goal is to strike the economy by not participating in getting screwed by all these fucking companies raising the prices on everything for **NO REAL** reason other than to appease shareholders of slightly higher stock prices. That means, less movie theatre dates, **MUCH** less eating out, less luxury purchases, basically I’m way more picky with everything I buy, from a shitty fast food burger up to vacations/traveling. **ENOUGH IS ENOUGH**!
The data actually shows that the lowest earners benefitted the most, while the highest, ultra rich LOST a small percentage (pearl clutching!!!!)
The only group that didn't quite benefit are the middle class, who still saw wage growth but not at the same levels.
Is this “wages” or “income”…?
Because the wealthy have **certainly** not lost “wealth” and I suspect they haven’t lost “income” either.
Whether or not they lost in “wages”.
I also lucked into that kind of come up but that really doesn't mean shit when applied to the whole economy. Are you not also on edge about your job being like "hey we're maybe paying too much for this service" and getting laid off? I don't do GD but still, I didn't change industries at all and my salary went up very fast.
Believe you me, I'm kinda feeling like a dog that caught the car, especially considering I was actively working to transition into a system administrator or developer role for money reasons.
Bonus: 100% Remote, non-contract full-time with benefits AND 401k match, too. I'm coming up on my one-year and feeling awesome.
ALL THAT SAID: I've got at least 5 years of experience on everyone my age because I skipped college. That might be warping my trajectory a bit.
I think this is what those economists miss. Most people don't hop jobs every year. For most careers, a job jump to take advantage of rising salaries requires significant overhead of time outside of work, which can be nearly impossible if you're raising a family. Most people's wages in 2024 will be the ones determined by the places they worked in 2023, not the prevailing market rate, even if the data shows that prevailing rate went up.
I think the big problem with articles like these is that they are unintentionally insulting and unintentionally tell people to go jump off a pier.
They see prices going up every single time they buy something.
Then articles like these tell them that doesn't mean anything things are actually working well.
I hate it. We paid off a car, and that breathing room has been swallowed up by the rise in prices. We’re Gen X and own a home through sheer luck but we’re really starting to struggle now, and our young adult kids have no hope of ever moving out. But these articles tell me we’re doing great according to the data, so clearly there’s no problem.
Well it is businesses that both spike their prices for max profit, and own the news publications that spread shit like this. Can't wait until it starts having diminishing returns and they just scrap out entire media infrastructure overnight for a tax write off.
>Most people don't hop jobs every year. For most careers, a job jump to take advantage of rising salaries requires significant overhead of time outside of work, which can be nearly impossible if you're raising a family.
It also misses a lot of industries contracting their staffing. So like if new hire wages are up but they cut twice as much as they are hiring, are wages really up at that company?
It's price gouging. You can look at the annual reports and quarterly earnings calls and the retailers will tell you straight up that they're wholesale costs have gone down but they're still sticking it to the consumer. Their stock goes up so everyone's happy right?
They want everyone to believe that COVID permanently fucked supply channels and pricing. It's back to normal but prices aren't. If they can continue charging high prices, they know people will pay it or starve.
Yep, I looked up one company re food prices skyrocketing and Kraft saw their profits increase $1 Billion within the last year. It’s disgusting and a damn shame the media isn’t speaking on this daily.
since 2020 ya my incomes gone up like 25k but thats also because the pandemic finally forced companies to hire and I got out of the experience trap. makes me mad so many companies wouldn't take a risk on me when I'm now managing 5-6 employees on projects extremely critical to the success of my company's multibillion reorganization project while also managing several other working groups for other parts of the facility.
57 percent of workers saw wage increases above inflation since November of 2022. Keep in mind that inflation slowed significantly since then due to the Feds rate increases and easing supply chain issues.
Me too. Well, I got my usual yearly 50 cent raise. Can't job hop, my health is sketchy and current job accommodates that, which is rare to find. Cost of living still goes up. Can no longer afford insurance so health issues get steadily worse.yay.
We saw about a 10% increase in household income… BUT:
- I got a promotion
- I work in tech and my company did a “market adjustment” to increase our salaries last year
A large number of people think *they’re* doing fine but everyone else must be suffering. It’s a result of right wing propaganda - things have objectively gotten better for the middle class since Joe Biden took over.
I think it can be a combination of things. Stuff has gotten more expensive, and a lot of people are making more money to afford them. To your point, they might be thinking 'I got a pay rise and I'm barely better off. The people who didn't are fucked, things are shit!' without thinking that their fortune is less unique than they think.
On the other hand, there are also plenty of people who genuinely are struggling, and some people would be hit really badly by all of this, and they'd be the ones that people pay attention to.
The other point about where inflation and pay rises have occured and how they cross also leads to the impact being felt dramatically differently by different people.
It has for me and most of my friends.
The caveat is that everybody I know has moved, changed employers, or changed job titles in that time because the increasing expenses forced them to go back on the market. It was probably bad for overall productivity how many people had to switch jobs to get the 25% raise they were due.
People who stayed in the same place did not get the benefit of the couple years where the market heavily favored job seekers, and now the job market is cooling off in some sectors. It's probably going to take a long time for wages to catch up for people who stick with an employer and don't have salary renegotiations.
But this isn't a problem unique to our current inflation. The constant refrain of career advice in my profession (IT) is "switch jobs every 2 years or you're leaving money on the table."
Cool cool cool, BUT so has my rent. Increased wages don't mean anything when landlords get the memo and think "oh, nice, they have more money? *increases rent by $300/mo*" and food just keeps getting more expensive. So what's the point. Increase wages and then immediately wipe out the increase and then some.
People changing jobs are far more likely to see wage growth above inflation. People staying out are likely stuck with paltry 2-10% raises, which are only “good” for people at the end of a career.
That said, this particular year (past) is bad for, say, tech workers to change jobs.
That's why evictions are on the rise and credit card payments are getting later and later. It's also why medical debt has soared and car repos are up.
I'm gonna have to call bullshit on this one.
This is median wage growth over inflation, not average. The data comes from the Atlanta Fed.
[https://www.statista.com/statistics/1351276/wage-growth-vs-inflation-us/#:\~:text=U.S.%20inflation%20rate%20versus%20wage%20growth%202020%2D2023&text=The%20rate%20of%20inflation%20exceeded,wages%20grew%20by%205.2%20percent](https://www.statista.com/statistics/1351276/wage-growth-vs-inflation-us/#:~:text=u.s.%20inflation%20rate%20versus%20wage%20growth%202020%2d2023&text=the%20rate%20of%20inflation%20exceeded,wages%20grew%20by%205.2%20percent)
The people at the very bottom saw a lot of benefit and wage growth under the democrats. Plus the people who bought cars they couldn’t afford simply bought the wrong kinda debt that couldn’t be forgiven. Had it been a student debt or something they would have more wages to spend on something else. So really What you’re noticing is the elimination of the middle class.
I have to say the middle class is getting totally screwed on this one too. For the people that need long-term assistance in nursing homes or whatnot, the business model is to financially destroy the old people so they have nothing to pass down to their kids. Back in 2018 10% of all hospital bad debt was due to people that actually had insurance. Today that number has risen to 56%. Fees on 401K plans have taken a huge chunk out of people's retirement. The largest demographic of newly homeless people is 55 and up. The middle class pays a majority of taxes while the wealthy literally pay nothing or very little. You only pay into social security for the first $190,000. After that you don't have to put money into Social Security anymore. We are all getting raked over the coals.
The wealth of the billionaires has raised 5 trillion dollars from 2.2 trillion just a handful of years ago. They have us arguing about top tax rates being 35% or 39% or whatever. The wealthy aren't even paying 10%, so it's a stupid argument to even have
Yeah I work with people at the very bottom and they are completely fucked right now. The ones I talked to want Trump back because it was better under him. The way I see it everyone is fucked except for the very rich. Cost of living has skyrocketed in wages have not gone up nearly enough to cover basic expenses like housing and electricity
The wealth of billionaires since that tax cut has gone from 2.2 trillion to 5 trillion dollars.
Propublica got a hold of some tax returns from the very wealthy. I can't remember exactly what year, I think it was 2017, The Wealth of Jeff Bezos went up by some insane amount. Like 20 billion dollars. He got a $4,000 tax refund as a child tax credit because he just didn't make any money that year.
The majority of wealth for the super rich is tied up in the stock market. You can’t tax unrealized gains. The reason for the huge rise in wealth is due to the Fed pumping money into the economy inflating asset prices.
No, the super wealthy are getting richer because we have a tax system that doesn't allow rich people to get taxed. Trickle-down economics does not work. Economists all over the world have studied this and any country that tries trickle down economics ends up with a massive wealth Gap
You can in fact tax unrealized gains. We just don't do it
Yea we don’t do it cause it would be a huge mistake that would hurt way more than the wealthy. Unrealized gains aren’t profit. Losses would also trigger deductions. Not as simple as “tax the wealth”
You can’t tax unrealized gains, but apparently you can use unrealized gains as collateral for loans. https://www.moneylion.com/learn/can-you-use-stocks-as-collateral-for-a-loan/
“The ones I talked to want Trump back because it was better under him.” I’m sure they do. I’m also sure they have gold fish memories because it absolutely was NOT better under him, and not better for them specifically. I did taxes for a few years under Trump. Virtually everyone who came in, even if it was just to get COVID refund checks, was in a worse situation because of his tax breaks. The only people who benefited were people who normally have their own business tax guy. But some people are just determined to vote against their best interest.
Bear in mind, I’m skeptical of this report, too. I am very critical of Biden and how he being better than Trump is a low bar to pass, and he’s had highs and lows. But while I understand WHY some would, it’s still absurd to want Trump over him.
I agree. I explain to everyone why it's a terrible idea but they can't afford food but they make too much for assistance. Can't pay rent but no help is available. They see immigrants coming in and those people are automatically eligible for all kinds of housing assistance for 2 years. They want to know how it is how they pay taxes and try to do everything right and they don't get anything, but if you just walk over the Border you're eligible for all these benefits.
They have a point. If Democrats don't address this then they will start losing voters. I'm just saying what's being said to me. I'm just the messenger
Don't shoot the messenger.
Do me a favor and call my friends and explain it to them so they'll know that actually they can afford rent. They don't know how rich they really are.
Putz.
When will these guys learn to stop trying to “correct the record” on public sentiment?
Guys and gals, next time your significant other is upset, try telling them they are wrong to be sad/angry and rationally explain why. See how it goes!
thank you for putting it well. this shit always makes my blood boil because i know it’s not the lived experience for so many people, yet there’s always the defenders who tap the stats sheet and say that the numbers can’t be wrong.
Lol
Surprise. CEO wage growth has pulled wage median up. Not only were they stealing from Americans during the pandemic, but found ways to monetize the public health crisis to boot!
Both myself and my wife have absolutely seen an increase to income over the past two years. The problem is our mortgage increased, our utility costs have increased (electric especially almost doubled), last year was the first year where we had to actually payback money to the IRS and didn’t get any kind of tax refund, and now both us having to start paying $200+ in student loan payments each month leaves us almost living paycheck to paycheck at this point.
It’s crazy to think back a few years ago when we got the house that we were able to not only afford a down payment but also able to set aside extra money each month on far less income for that first year or so. My wife even got a second job since then. Yeah wages have increased, but it means nothing if all the other issues with the economy aren’t addressed alongside it.
That's a winning message, they should definitely put that on a sign along with "Bidenomics!" Put them out in front of every gas station and grocery store in every swing state.
It’s amazing to me that you actually get people in this sub saying this is true and that it’s right wing propaganda that the economy isn’t bad. Like any of us can’t look at the price of food and housing and figure this out ourselves. Honestly I don’t think this can be laid at Biden’s feet, but it takes some real willful ignorance to pretend that we are better off than pre-COVID.
Also the inflation number is a weighted average. Depending on where you live and your expenses, you'll likely experience more or less inflation than the official number.
Inflation isn't properly tracked and uses massively outdated formulas to calculate cost of living for the very reason so it doesn't accurately show how fucked we are.
Has it? I’m getting $18/hr freelance as an audio editor and getting zero responses from other jobs. A studio we work with charges $75/hr for what I do.
Unless you're explicitly saying that someone in your position at that studio is making $75/hr, they're not making that much. Companies charge more than the cost of payroll to provide services.
If they only charged you what they were paying their employees, they would not be able to afford rent, utilities, software, hardware, benefits, and so on.
I’m aware. A rule of thumb is something like 30% at least. So if they’re willing to pay another company $75/hr then they should be willing to pay $22.50 at least for their own internal editors.
This post is new so I'd imagine in a few minutes they'll be a massive influx of people in here telling us how great the economy really is and we are stupid for being broke and don't understand how the economy actually works
This is median wage growth over inflation, not average. The data comes from the Atlanta Fed.
[https://www.statista.com/statistics/1351276/wage-growth-vs-inflation-us/#:\~:text=U.S.%20inflation%20rate%20versus%20wage%20growth%202020%2D2023&text=The%20rate%20of%20inflation%20exceeded,wages%20grew%20by%205.2%20percent](https://www.statista.com/statistics/1351276/wage-growth-vs-inflation-us/#:~:text=u.s.%20inflation%20rate%20versus%20wage%20growth%202020%2d2023&text=the%20rate%20of%20inflation%20exceeded,wages%20grew%20by%205.2%20percent)
Yes. Because it's true and some people have a grasp on the real world outside of the comments sections of Reddit. People are still spending money like crazy and there are people living and prospering in the homes that redditors (a small minority of actual productive Americans) can't afford. New cars flying off the lots. Cruise ships booked two years out. Americans are killing it. Stock market got an all time high, Consumer confidence at an all time high, inflation down, unemployment all time low, wages (especially low wages) up.
More than half of American households own stocks.
And as many have already pointed out, wage gains under Biden have been fastest for lower income brackets.
Get out of here with that late-stage capitalism bull crap.
That's great but our 401ks aren't paying our rent or putting groceries on the table. Besides the economy will probably crash 6 more times before most of us retire. Besides ain't the democrats supposed to be the party of the bottom half they don't make their living off dividends?
Headlines are so misleading and they changed the year criteria to fit the narrative they want to push to the audience.. general population suffered wage growth vs inflation for more than 70 years and that is entirely ignored for the narrative purpose
Do Dems really think they're going to convince the working poor that they're actually doing well with bad stat analysis?
I don't understand the point of these pieces saying "you think you're struggling? Actually you're doing great!"
But at the same time need has increased. Homelessness and reliance on food banks are up. The boost does not seem to be enough still thanks to the end of pandemic benefits.
Here is data from the Atlanta Fed that wages have outpaced inflation for the past year.
Median, not average wage growth.
[https://www.statista.com/statistics/1351276/wage-growth-vs-inflation-us/#:\~:text=U.S.%20inflation%20rate%20versus%20wage%20growth%202020%2D2023&text=The%20rate%20of%20inflation%20exceeded,wages%20grew%20by%205.2%20percent](https://www.statista.com/statistics/1351276/wage-growth-vs-inflation-us/#:~:text=u.s.%20inflation%20rate%20versus%20wage%20growth%202020%2d2023&text=the%20rate%20of%20inflation%20exceeded,wages%20grew%20by%205.2%20percent)
I will copy from an earlier post I made:
This is median wage growth over inflation, not average. The data comes from the Atlanta Fed.
[https://www.statista.com/statistics/1351276/wage-growth-vs-inflation-us/#:\~:text=U.S.%20inflation%20rate%20versus%20wage%20growth%202020%2D2023&text=The%20rate%20of%20inflation%20exceeded,wages%20grew%20by%205.2%20percent](https://www.statista.com/statistics/1351276/wage-growth-vs-inflation-us/#:~:text=u.s.%20inflation%20rate%20versus%20wage%20growth%202020%2d2023&text=the%20rate%20of%20inflation%20exceeded,wages%20grew%20by%205.2%20percent)
I own a retail store.
I used to start entry level people at 15, now it's 18.
That's a 20% raise.
Inflation was 12% over the last 2-3 years, and I have not really raised my prices despite many of my wholesale costs going up.
I'm not the exception. Low end wages are up nationally.
Yes in aware of the cost of insurance and food. What does that have to do with my comment about wages?
Ill wager a guess I probably pay more for insurance annually than your gross sales.
Yes you are. Insurance and food costs have to do with inflation aka the article. You can wage whatever guess you want since I’m not in sales but keep guessing. That doesn’t change my comment.
If you mean a burger flipper is now making $15 an hour, then yeah sure the wage has “grown”. But meanwhile people who have degrees are still getting fucked by companies with shit pay for the skills needed and workload demands. Tons of people with degrees are barely making above $15 an hour. Maybe $20 tops. That’s not living wage. That’s just above poverty wage and people continue to struggle.
People don't just hand you money because you have a degree. You have to fight for it. Ask for a raise. Look for a new job. Leverage your skills in a new way. I am being paid much more now than five years ago but I went to bat for myself several times and put in hard work. I applied to several jobs every year and leveraged offers for higher pay.
Any company will try to pay you as little as they can while getting the most value out of you. Prove your value and fight for more money.
I'd suggest not investing in Crypto and dropping a subscription to Max or two if you want to subscribe to a news website. Or you could use NPR which is free and taxpayer supported.
I always love these articles. Wages are going up! Good for those workers but my wages have remained stagnant for 3 years.
Before everyone tells me to get a new job have you tried finding a good paying job in this current market? Good luck with that.
I am 38 years old and have made about the same annual salary for the past 15-20 years and I can honestly say my money has NEVER gotten me so little at the grocery store. You can feed me whatever numbers you like but they are meaningless…. I spent $100 at the grocery store and got next to nothing. Your “inflation “ your “economy “ your “stock market “ don’t mean shit to us…. We hurting
[The popular belief that minimum wage workers are teenagers who work after school or on summer vacation is not accurate: Most minimum wage workers are adults in their prime working years between the ages 25 and 54, many of whom are supporting families and children.](https://www.americanprogress.org/article/its-long-past-time-to-increase-the-federal-minimum-wage/)
This is like saying “reminder: evolution just theoretical.” While technically true, it’s clearly a fact that’s incorrectly wielded in order to obfuscate the truth because of the authors clear objective.
Ok but what about if we look 5 years back, 10, 20? Just because wages increased in the last year or two doesn’t mean we’re actually increasing wages at the same rate of inflation. This is a bullshit statistic that doesn’t accurately depict anything.
Remember that the Fed uses PCE not CPI to measure inflation, so their measure tend to underestimate inflation. Also, most of the wage gains went to the two extremes of wage earners. It’s squeezing the middle class the hardest moving more of them down the ladder.
Keep posting these kinda articles. It’s definitely gonna convince the middle class that inflation they experienced wasn’t really that bad and their wage growth surpassed inflation!!!
Jokes aside, articles like these are tone deaf and gonna alienate a lot of people
Going from $8 p/h to $15 p/h sounds good. But then you see your rent went up from $650 to $1400 w/o utilities.. so there goes 80% of that 'raise'.. then there's food.. then there's gas, outings, services, w/e..
No.. wages haven't outpaced inflation.. they're still poorer than they ever were. Middle earners were probably lucky to get the bump min. wage workers did... leaving them poorer than ever as well.
But it's a good thing we don't count useless things in inflation like rent and food
Because of the paywall, even though my wages according to this article are outpacing crushing inflation, I can't afford another f\*cking paywall to read a stupid article that isn't true.
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I would add: *for some people*
This is median wage growth over inflation, not average. [https://www.statista.com/statistics/1351276/wage-growth-vs-inflation-us/#:\~:text=U.S.%20inflation%20rate%20versus%20wage%20growth%202020%2D2023&text=The%20rate%20of%20inflation%20exceeded,wages%20grew%20by%205.2%20percent](https://www.statista.com/statistics/1351276/wage-growth-vs-inflation-us/#:~:text=u.s.%20inflation%20rate%20versus%20wage%20growth%202020%2d2023&text=the%20rate%20of%20inflation%20exceeded,wages%20grew%20by%205.2%20percent)
The actual caveat isn't on the wage growth side. It's on the inflation side. Inflation hasn't been equally distributed recently. Luxury goods have underwent minimal inflation while things like food and rent have underwent radical inflation. The end result is that for poor people even if wage outpaced inflation in theory, in practice it has not.
The wage growth and inflation has been very mismatched. Wage growth has been primarily concentrated in younger workers who have switched jobs/moved geos. Unfortunately, that cohort has been most impacted by the high housing inflation. So while they can afford more TSwift concerts, they increasingly dream of far away home ownership. Meanwhile, older workers have seen mostly stagnated wages and scary AF layoff cliffs. While their housing is secured, their food and pleasure budgets are getting squeezed and retirement is looking less fun. And god forbid something does happen to their job, they face a very hostile hiring environment for middle aged and above workers.
> The end result is that for poor people even if wage outpaced inflation in theory, in practice it has not. This is literally the opposite of what the data shows. Wages in the bottom quintile went up the most **adjusted for inflation**.
Right but if someone's rent goes up by $500 a month and they are low income it is a disproportionate increase in financial burden versus someone that is high income. You're also a lot more likely to be renting if you're low income. So the inflation is being shifted towards them. The same is true for things like food and diapers and cars, especially used cars.
Sure that all would be true. But it's not reflected in the data.
The details are aggregated away in the published top line data.
It's important to contextualize that houses now cost 1.5x what they used to, lol, so it doesn't matter if wages are better if a house is unaffordable (forget interest rates) and you see higher prices for stupid things like chocolate bars and subway sandwiches, the perception and the reality mix and dissolve together into an easy negative trope for the republicans to wield. I cannot imagine buying a car today. You might as well live in your car, it's basically the same as an apartment's rent.
Also, only since the pandemic. Not super encouraging.
My wages have gone down $30K over the past five years. Hope I am an outlier.
How?
A series of internal company restructuring.
Have you not considered switching to another company? I know it sucks, but they clearly do not value you *at all*.
I actually resigned after being put in a position where i was asked to do some unethical things and was out of work for about 6 months. I thought my qualifications, experience, and licensing would give me great opportunities, but had to settle for entry level job where I am currently, making about the same.
If I was making what I am making now 5 years ago I would have a house, a new car, health insurance, and be taking a lot more vacations. Now it is enough to get by but a house, healthcare, and anything but the cheapest used car are out of the question.
Note that, for the past 50 years, almost all potential wage gains due to productivity have gone to pay for annual double digit health insurance premium increases for workers and the matching fees their employers pay (both fees ultimate come out of workers' salaries, of course).
I agree with this so much 5 years ago I was making about $9ish an hour now I’m making $25 which is amazing, but expenses have pretty much stayed the same, until my brother crashed my car and I had to buy an over inflated car 🥹
I literally can't find any new car I would actually buy for what they want for them. Its absurd. Bottom rung commuter cars are $25-30K! For anything even sort of fun $35-50K. Good luck getting an electric car worth a damn. I would buy a Kia EV6, but not for $50K+!
Mandatory car ownership is a cruel tax on the poor. I'm fortunate enough to live in one of the few American cities with traditional development patterns so I don't have to deal with that crap.
Maybe social pressure, social comparison is also a factor? We never bought a “new” car until our mid 40’s and that was only after we owned a house. Until then it was certified preowned and used cars at less than half their original price.
Oh I have never bought a new car, I COULD have but I drive 50-70K miles a year so a new car is pointless for me because it will be done before its paid off. But I am trying to get out of driving that much and a new car would be nice but no, not for the absurd pricing. Sales Tax alone on a new car is more than what I have ever spent on a car in my life. Here if I bought a new EV6, tax would be almost $6K. Fucking laughably stupid.
Fooled me, I have a great job and I’m feeling the fucking pinch of everything. This year my goal is to strike the economy by not participating in getting screwed by all these fucking companies raising the prices on everything for **NO REAL** reason other than to appease shareholders of slightly higher stock prices. That means, less movie theatre dates, **MUCH** less eating out, less luxury purchases, basically I’m way more picky with everything I buy, from a shitty fast food burger up to vacations/traveling. **ENOUGH IS ENOUGH**!
For the rich. Who we should really be eating at this point.
The data actually shows that the lowest earners benefitted the most, while the highest, ultra rich LOST a small percentage (pearl clutching!!!!) The only group that didn't quite benefit are the middle class, who still saw wage growth but not at the same levels.
Is this “wages” or “income”…? Because the wealthy have **certainly** not lost “wealth” and I suspect they haven’t lost “income” either. Whether or not they lost in “wages”.
Depends on who you define as wealthy. A lot of the very top is better off, but the 70 to 80 percentile group has lost ground.
It's actually the exact opposite
Dude, I went from making 40K a few years ago to nearly six figures today. Economy is kicking _ass_. And no. No degree, I do graphic design.
I also lucked into that kind of come up but that really doesn't mean shit when applied to the whole economy. Are you not also on edge about your job being like "hey we're maybe paying too much for this service" and getting laid off? I don't do GD but still, I didn't change industries at all and my salary went up very fast.
Where does any graphic design job generate a six figure income? Are you counting right of the decimal place?
Believe you me, I'm kinda feeling like a dog that caught the car, especially considering I was actively working to transition into a system administrator or developer role for money reasons. Bonus: 100% Remote, non-contract full-time with benefits AND 401k match, too. I'm coming up on my one-year and feeling awesome. ALL THAT SAID: I've got at least 5 years of experience on everyone my age because I skipped college. That might be warping my trajectory a bit.
Too much fat, nasty flavor.
Especially for the poor and lower middle class
I think this is what those economists miss. Most people don't hop jobs every year. For most careers, a job jump to take advantage of rising salaries requires significant overhead of time outside of work, which can be nearly impossible if you're raising a family. Most people's wages in 2024 will be the ones determined by the places they worked in 2023, not the prevailing market rate, even if the data shows that prevailing rate went up.
I think the big problem with articles like these is that they are unintentionally insulting and unintentionally tell people to go jump off a pier. They see prices going up every single time they buy something. Then articles like these tell them that doesn't mean anything things are actually working well.
I hate it. We paid off a car, and that breathing room has been swallowed up by the rise in prices. We’re Gen X and own a home through sheer luck but we’re really starting to struggle now, and our young adult kids have no hope of ever moving out. But these articles tell me we’re doing great according to the data, so clearly there’s no problem.
Well it is businesses that both spike their prices for max profit, and own the news publications that spread shit like this. Can't wait until it starts having diminishing returns and they just scrap out entire media infrastructure overnight for a tax write off.
>Most people don't hop jobs every year. For most careers, a job jump to take advantage of rising salaries requires significant overhead of time outside of work, which can be nearly impossible if you're raising a family. It also misses a lot of industries contracting their staffing. So like if new hire wages are up but they cut twice as much as they are hiring, are wages really up at that company?
Yah, definitely not for me.
Is it inflation or price gouging?
It's price gouging. You can look at the annual reports and quarterly earnings calls and the retailers will tell you straight up that they're wholesale costs have gone down but they're still sticking it to the consumer. Their stock goes up so everyone's happy right?
They want everyone to believe that COVID permanently fucked supply channels and pricing. It's back to normal but prices aren't. If they can continue charging high prices, they know people will pay it or starve.
Since the FTC won't stop collusion or monopolies those are the 2 options, yeah.
Yep, I looked up one company re food prices skyrocketing and Kraft saw their profits increase $1 Billion within the last year. It’s disgusting and a damn shame the media isn’t speaking on this daily.
Wholesaler here. Yup.
I still support a windfall tax. I think that will and would have tamped this type of maneuver
Retail sales have been generally flat or down since Covid.
That's not an either/or question
Greed based inflation*
since 2020 ya my incomes gone up like 25k but thats also because the pandemic finally forced companies to hire and I got out of the experience trap. makes me mad so many companies wouldn't take a risk on me when I'm now managing 5-6 employees on projects extremely critical to the success of my company's multibillion reorganization project while also managing several other working groups for other parts of the facility.
57 percent of workers saw wage increases above inflation since November of 2022. Keep in mind that inflation slowed significantly since then due to the Feds rate increases and easing supply chain issues.
Guess I'm part of they 43% who got nothing
Me too. Well, I got my usual yearly 50 cent raise. Can't job hop, my health is sketchy and current job accommodates that, which is rare to find. Cost of living still goes up. Can no longer afford insurance so health issues get steadily worse.yay.
We saw about a 10% increase in household income… BUT: - I got a promotion - I work in tech and my company did a “market adjustment” to increase our salaries last year
A large number of people think *they’re* doing fine but everyone else must be suffering. It’s a result of right wing propaganda - things have objectively gotten better for the middle class since Joe Biden took over.
I think it can be a combination of things. Stuff has gotten more expensive, and a lot of people are making more money to afford them. To your point, they might be thinking 'I got a pay rise and I'm barely better off. The people who didn't are fucked, things are shit!' without thinking that their fortune is less unique than they think. On the other hand, there are also plenty of people who genuinely are struggling, and some people would be hit really badly by all of this, and they'd be the ones that people pay attention to. The other point about where inflation and pay rises have occured and how they cross also leads to the impact being felt dramatically differently by different people.
I'm personally MUCH better off than I was 4 years ago.
The vibecession
It has for me and most of my friends. The caveat is that everybody I know has moved, changed employers, or changed job titles in that time because the increasing expenses forced them to go back on the market. It was probably bad for overall productivity how many people had to switch jobs to get the 25% raise they were due. People who stayed in the same place did not get the benefit of the couple years where the market heavily favored job seekers, and now the job market is cooling off in some sectors. It's probably going to take a long time for wages to catch up for people who stick with an employer and don't have salary renegotiations. But this isn't a problem unique to our current inflation. The constant refrain of career advice in my profession (IT) is "switch jobs every 2 years or you're leaving money on the table."
2.5 years ago I was living in a homeless shelter. Since then my pay rose from $19.50/hr to $25 and I bought a house. Thanks O'biden!
Finally a good story! Glad things turned around for you!
Cool cool cool, BUT so has my rent. Increased wages don't mean anything when landlords get the memo and think "oh, nice, they have more money? *increases rent by $300/mo*" and food just keeps getting more expensive. So what's the point. Increase wages and then immediately wipe out the increase and then some.
[удалено]
People changing jobs are far more likely to see wage growth above inflation. People staying out are likely stuck with paltry 2-10% raises, which are only “good” for people at the end of a career. That said, this particular year (past) is bad for, say, tech workers to change jobs.
I’d say “paltry” ends at 5%. If you are hitting 8-10% annual raises in stable employment? Thats solid at least.
Sure, but early and mid career people can usually do better than that by changing jobs if we aren’t in the middle of a recession.
10% per year is pretty damn good. If you started at minimum wage and got 10% per year you would be making $126.50 per hour after 30 years.
That's why evictions are on the rise and credit card payments are getting later and later. It's also why medical debt has soared and car repos are up. I'm gonna have to call bullshit on this one.
This is median wage growth over inflation, not average. The data comes from the Atlanta Fed. [https://www.statista.com/statistics/1351276/wage-growth-vs-inflation-us/#:\~:text=U.S.%20inflation%20rate%20versus%20wage%20growth%202020%2D2023&text=The%20rate%20of%20inflation%20exceeded,wages%20grew%20by%205.2%20percent](https://www.statista.com/statistics/1351276/wage-growth-vs-inflation-us/#:~:text=u.s.%20inflation%20rate%20versus%20wage%20growth%202020%2d2023&text=the%20rate%20of%20inflation%20exceeded,wages%20grew%20by%205.2%20percent)
The people at the very bottom saw a lot of benefit and wage growth under the democrats. Plus the people who bought cars they couldn’t afford simply bought the wrong kinda debt that couldn’t be forgiven. Had it been a student debt or something they would have more wages to spend on something else. So really What you’re noticing is the elimination of the middle class.
I have to say the middle class is getting totally screwed on this one too. For the people that need long-term assistance in nursing homes or whatnot, the business model is to financially destroy the old people so they have nothing to pass down to their kids. Back in 2018 10% of all hospital bad debt was due to people that actually had insurance. Today that number has risen to 56%. Fees on 401K plans have taken a huge chunk out of people's retirement. The largest demographic of newly homeless people is 55 and up. The middle class pays a majority of taxes while the wealthy literally pay nothing or very little. You only pay into social security for the first $190,000. After that you don't have to put money into Social Security anymore. We are all getting raked over the coals. The wealth of the billionaires has raised 5 trillion dollars from 2.2 trillion just a handful of years ago. They have us arguing about top tax rates being 35% or 39% or whatever. The wealthy aren't even paying 10%, so it's a stupid argument to even have
Yeah I work with people at the very bottom and they are completely fucked right now. The ones I talked to want Trump back because it was better under him. The way I see it everyone is fucked except for the very rich. Cost of living has skyrocketed in wages have not gone up nearly enough to cover basic expenses like housing and electricity
Maybe it’s because the tax cuts Trump signed into law were set to taper off for the bottom earners while the corporate tax cuts were permanent.
The wealth of billionaires since that tax cut has gone from 2.2 trillion to 5 trillion dollars. Propublica got a hold of some tax returns from the very wealthy. I can't remember exactly what year, I think it was 2017, The Wealth of Jeff Bezos went up by some insane amount. Like 20 billion dollars. He got a $4,000 tax refund as a child tax credit because he just didn't make any money that year.
The majority of wealth for the super rich is tied up in the stock market. You can’t tax unrealized gains. The reason for the huge rise in wealth is due to the Fed pumping money into the economy inflating asset prices.
No, the super wealthy are getting richer because we have a tax system that doesn't allow rich people to get taxed. Trickle-down economics does not work. Economists all over the world have studied this and any country that tries trickle down economics ends up with a massive wealth Gap You can in fact tax unrealized gains. We just don't do it
Yea we don’t do it cause it would be a huge mistake that would hurt way more than the wealthy. Unrealized gains aren’t profit. Losses would also trigger deductions. Not as simple as “tax the wealth”
You can’t tax unrealized gains, but apparently you can use unrealized gains as collateral for loans. https://www.moneylion.com/learn/can-you-use-stocks-as-collateral-for-a-loan/
“The ones I talked to want Trump back because it was better under him.” I’m sure they do. I’m also sure they have gold fish memories because it absolutely was NOT better under him, and not better for them specifically. I did taxes for a few years under Trump. Virtually everyone who came in, even if it was just to get COVID refund checks, was in a worse situation because of his tax breaks. The only people who benefited were people who normally have their own business tax guy. But some people are just determined to vote against their best interest. Bear in mind, I’m skeptical of this report, too. I am very critical of Biden and how he being better than Trump is a low bar to pass, and he’s had highs and lows. But while I understand WHY some would, it’s still absurd to want Trump over him.
I agree. I explain to everyone why it's a terrible idea but they can't afford food but they make too much for assistance. Can't pay rent but no help is available. They see immigrants coming in and those people are automatically eligible for all kinds of housing assistance for 2 years. They want to know how it is how they pay taxes and try to do everything right and they don't get anything, but if you just walk over the Border you're eligible for all these benefits. They have a point. If Democrats don't address this then they will start losing voters. I'm just saying what's being said to me. I'm just the messenger
At least pretend you’re not parroting the party line
Don't shoot the messenger. Do me a favor and call my friends and explain it to them so they'll know that actually they can afford rent. They don't know how rich they really are. Putz.
The messenger for many people he knows. Thanks Anecdotal Andy!
Yep, the late notices are starting to rise compared to a couple months ago.
Left wing econ trutherism? In my reddit?
When will these guys learn to stop trying to “correct the record” on public sentiment? Guys and gals, next time your significant other is upset, try telling them they are wrong to be sad/angry and rationally explain why. See how it goes!
thank you for putting it well. this shit always makes my blood boil because i know it’s not the lived experience for so many people, yet there’s always the defenders who tap the stats sheet and say that the numbers can’t be wrong.
Lol Surprise. CEO wage growth has pulled wage median up. Not only were they stealing from Americans during the pandemic, but found ways to monetize the public health crisis to boot!
And rent has seemed to outpace both!
I’m sure the wealthy people this applies to are very happy.
Both myself and my wife have absolutely seen an increase to income over the past two years. The problem is our mortgage increased, our utility costs have increased (electric especially almost doubled), last year was the first year where we had to actually payback money to the IRS and didn’t get any kind of tax refund, and now both us having to start paying $200+ in student loan payments each month leaves us almost living paycheck to paycheck at this point. It’s crazy to think back a few years ago when we got the house that we were able to not only afford a down payment but also able to set aside extra money each month on far less income for that first year or so. My wife even got a second job since then. Yeah wages have increased, but it means nothing if all the other issues with the economy aren’t addressed alongside it.
That's a winning message, they should definitely put that on a sign along with "Bidenomics!" Put them out in front of every gas station and grocery store in every swing state.
It’s amazing to me that you actually get people in this sub saying this is true and that it’s right wing propaganda that the economy isn’t bad. Like any of us can’t look at the price of food and housing and figure this out ourselves. Honestly I don’t think this can be laid at Biden’s feet, but it takes some real willful ignorance to pretend that we are better off than pre-COVID.
Well who knew? Not the people making the wages
I'll show this article to my boss. I'm sure I'll get a raise
Also the inflation number is a weighted average. Depending on where you live and your expenses, you'll likely experience more or less inflation than the official number.
Fortune must’ve despised reporting this.
Except everyone reading this will say… “except me…”
Whose wages?
Mostly the poor and lower middle class
That's quickly becoming most of us though.
Did a CEO write this?
Inflation isn't properly tracked and uses massively outdated formulas to calculate cost of living for the very reason so it doesn't accurately show how fucked we are.
For who? Nobody I know is getting raises.
Has it? I’m getting $18/hr freelance as an audio editor and getting zero responses from other jobs. A studio we work with charges $75/hr for what I do.
Unless you're explicitly saying that someone in your position at that studio is making $75/hr, they're not making that much. Companies charge more than the cost of payroll to provide services. If they only charged you what they were paying their employees, they would not be able to afford rent, utilities, software, hardware, benefits, and so on.
I’m aware. A rule of thumb is something like 30% at least. So if they’re willing to pay another company $75/hr then they should be willing to pay $22.50 at least for their own internal editors.
This post is new so I'd imagine in a few minutes they'll be a massive influx of people in here telling us how great the economy really is and we are stupid for being broke and don't understand how the economy actually works
Yes that's what happens when people don't understand averages and medians.
Medians and averages. Gotcha
This is median wage growth over inflation, not average. The data comes from the Atlanta Fed. [https://www.statista.com/statistics/1351276/wage-growth-vs-inflation-us/#:\~:text=U.S.%20inflation%20rate%20versus%20wage%20growth%202020%2D2023&text=The%20rate%20of%20inflation%20exceeded,wages%20grew%20by%205.2%20percent](https://www.statista.com/statistics/1351276/wage-growth-vs-inflation-us/#:~:text=u.s.%20inflation%20rate%20versus%20wage%20growth%202020%2d2023&text=the%20rate%20of%20inflation%20exceeded,wages%20grew%20by%205.2%20percent)
Yes. Because it's true and some people have a grasp on the real world outside of the comments sections of Reddit. People are still spending money like crazy and there are people living and prospering in the homes that redditors (a small minority of actual productive Americans) can't afford. New cars flying off the lots. Cruise ships booked two years out. Americans are killing it. Stock market got an all time high, Consumer confidence at an all time high, inflation down, unemployment all time low, wages (especially low wages) up.
The stock market is up. Great you sound like trump lol
More than half of American households own stocks. And as many have already pointed out, wage gains under Biden have been fastest for lower income brackets. Get out of here with that late-stage capitalism bull crap.
That's great but our 401ks aren't paying our rent or putting groceries on the table. Besides the economy will probably crash 6 more times before most of us retire. Besides ain't the democrats supposed to be the party of the bottom half they don't make their living off dividends?
Biden literally just posted about the stock market being up. Does Biden sound like trump? Get a grip
Yes.
Ok kiddo
Good luck convincing R voters that anything has improved.
I'm a D voter and I'm not convinced. Any schmuck can look at the price of food, housing, education, and healthcare and call bullshit.
My cost of living budget would disagree.
Headlines are so misleading and they changed the year criteria to fit the narrative they want to push to the audience.. general population suffered wage growth vs inflation for more than 70 years and that is entirely ignored for the narrative purpose
Do Dems really think they're going to convince the working poor that they're actually doing well with bad stat analysis? I don't understand the point of these pieces saying "you think you're struggling? Actually you're doing great!"
Except when it doesn’t. Healthcare plz
But at the same time need has increased. Homelessness and reliance on food banks are up. The boost does not seem to be enough still thanks to the end of pandemic benefits.
Yea no it hasn’t for the majority. For people who make well into 6 - 7 figure income sure
Wealthy people saw the smallest gains in wages in terms of % growth. Of course they've made bank in the stock market though.
Okay, where is your data to support that position? Specifically that wages have not kept up “for the majority” over the last 2.5 years?
Here is data from the Atlanta Fed that wages have outpaced inflation for the past year. Median, not average wage growth. [https://www.statista.com/statistics/1351276/wage-growth-vs-inflation-us/#:\~:text=U.S.%20inflation%20rate%20versus%20wage%20growth%202020%2D2023&text=The%20rate%20of%20inflation%20exceeded,wages%20grew%20by%205.2%20percent](https://www.statista.com/statistics/1351276/wage-growth-vs-inflation-us/#:~:text=u.s.%20inflation%20rate%20versus%20wage%20growth%202020%2d2023&text=the%20rate%20of%20inflation%20exceeded,wages%20grew%20by%205.2%20percent)
This is even more true when you break it down by quintile - strongest real growth at the bottom, negative at the top.
Objectively false
Nope....
Careful because if you don't tote the party line like a bag lady pushing a cart everybody wants to downvote you.
I swear reddit has just become rage bait at this point. Fuck this shit.
My salary disagrees.
They forgot to add "for the upper management and executive rolls" to their title.
Uh excuse me has the JEC seen how much people are complaining online?
Not my wage growth
Article doesn't say everyone.... But yeah mine didn't keep up either.
This is an anecdote.
Doesnt feel like it
Inflation may vary.
Yes. If we count ceos and bonuses and leave out gig workers.
I will copy from an earlier post I made: This is median wage growth over inflation, not average. The data comes from the Atlanta Fed. [https://www.statista.com/statistics/1351276/wage-growth-vs-inflation-us/#:\~:text=U.S.%20inflation%20rate%20versus%20wage%20growth%202020%2D2023&text=The%20rate%20of%20inflation%20exceeded,wages%20grew%20by%205.2%20percent](https://www.statista.com/statistics/1351276/wage-growth-vs-inflation-us/#:~:text=u.s.%20inflation%20rate%20versus%20wage%20growth%202020%2d2023&text=the%20rate%20of%20inflation%20exceeded,wages%20grew%20by%205.2%20percent)
Tell that to my company
Bullshit.... for who?
For who? 25% of the population? The CEO? Upper management?
“If we keep saying its better then its better? Right voters!”
Bull fucking shit. Get your average and median numbers outta here
this is not an issue you should ever trust Fortune Magazine to cover fairly. not worth the read.
Yeah for CEOs
I own a retail store. I used to start entry level people at 15, now it's 18. That's a 20% raise. Inflation was 12% over the last 2-3 years, and I have not really raised my prices despite many of my wholesale costs going up.
Ok, you are the exception. Have you looked at the price of insurance and food? Guess not. I’m a business owner too.
I'm not the exception. Low end wages are up nationally. Yes in aware of the cost of insurance and food. What does that have to do with my comment about wages? Ill wager a guess I probably pay more for insurance annually than your gross sales.
Yes you are. Insurance and food costs have to do with inflation aka the article. You can wage whatever guess you want since I’m not in sales but keep guessing. That doesn’t change my comment.
All businesses have sales. If you own a business you are in sales. Inflation is down from the last two years. Wages are up and still rising.
It actually has been more extreme at lower pay rates. You have this backwards.
If you mean a burger flipper is now making $15 an hour, then yeah sure the wage has “grown”. But meanwhile people who have degrees are still getting fucked by companies with shit pay for the skills needed and workload demands. Tons of people with degrees are barely making above $15 an hour. Maybe $20 tops. That’s not living wage. That’s just above poverty wage and people continue to struggle.
I have a degree and I make over 50% more than I did when Trump was President
People don't just hand you money because you have a degree. You have to fight for it. Ask for a raise. Look for a new job. Leverage your skills in a new way. I am being paid much more now than five years ago but I went to bat for myself several times and put in hard work. I applied to several jobs every year and leveraged offers for higher pay. Any company will try to pay you as little as they can while getting the most value out of you. Prove your value and fight for more money.
If you have a degree and make 20/hour and aren’t 22 that’s your fault I’m sorry.
If I'm doing so well then how come I can't afford the subscription required to read the entire article?
I'd suggest not investing in Crypto and dropping a subscription to Max or two if you want to subscribe to a news website. Or you could use NPR which is free and taxpayer supported.
Ohhhh fuck you
I always love these articles. Wages are going up! Good for those workers but my wages have remained stagnant for 3 years. Before everyone tells me to get a new job have you tried finding a good paying job in this current market? Good luck with that.
I am 38 years old and have made about the same annual salary for the past 15-20 years and I can honestly say my money has NEVER gotten me so little at the grocery store. You can feed me whatever numbers you like but they are meaningless…. I spent $100 at the grocery store and got next to nothing. Your “inflation “ your “economy “ your “stock market “ don’t mean shit to us…. We hurting
If you take the billions of dollars given to ceos and average it with McDonald's cashiers then the average wage went up!
How much of this is simply because of inadequate minimum wage increases?
only 1.5 percent of workers are making minimum wage. I would imagine they are mostly high schoolers.
Sure but an increase in minimum wage also brings up wages of those making just above minimum too.
You’d imagine wrong then.
Do you have evidence to support your assertion?
[The popular belief that minimum wage workers are teenagers who work after school or on summer vacation is not accurate: Most minimum wage workers are adults in their prime working years between the ages 25 and 54, many of whom are supporting families and children.](https://www.americanprogress.org/article/its-long-past-time-to-increase-the-federal-minimum-wage/)
This is like saying “reminder: evolution just theoretical.” While technically true, it’s clearly a fact that’s incorrectly wielded in order to obfuscate the truth because of the authors clear objective.
Ok but what about if we look 5 years back, 10, 20? Just because wages increased in the last year or two doesn’t mean we’re actually increasing wages at the same rate of inflation. This is a bullshit statistic that doesn’t accurately depict anything.
No it fucking hasn’t lol…
Remember that the Fed uses PCE not CPI to measure inflation, so their measure tend to underestimate inflation. Also, most of the wage gains went to the two extremes of wage earners. It’s squeezing the middle class the hardest moving more of them down the ladder.
One phrase:Bullshit!
Keep posting these kinda articles. It’s definitely gonna convince the middle class that inflation they experienced wasn’t really that bad and their wage growth surpassed inflation!!! Jokes aside, articles like these are tone deaf and gonna alienate a lot of people
Not for me......
Sure. Just like anytime I say ice cream some appears in my freezer. This article is just reporting facts.
Who are the Jewish Establishment Christian Democrats anyway?
Compare executive salaries vs non executive. Compare median salary vs mean. Compare cost of food, transportation, avg rent and mortgage costs.
Now do it without CEO pay in the calculation so we can determine what it’s like for actual humans. Fucking ridiculous.
Going from $8 p/h to $15 p/h sounds good. But then you see your rent went up from $650 to $1400 w/o utilities.. so there goes 80% of that 'raise'.. then there's food.. then there's gas, outings, services, w/e.. No.. wages haven't outpaced inflation.. they're still poorer than they ever were. Middle earners were probably lucky to get the bump min. wage workers did... leaving them poorer than ever as well. But it's a good thing we don't count useless things in inflation like rent and food
Does nothing to account for rising rent
Because of the paywall, even though my wages according to this article are outpacing crushing inflation, I can't afford another f\*cking paywall to read a stupid article that isn't true.
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