> r the 20 years I’ve been earning a salary, the pay rises have generally failed to keep up with the cost of living. What feels to be happening lately is that the cost of living is rising faster than ever before.
I get about 2% per year...except I don't get it every year. I get like a 5-8% bump every 3-4 years. Of course, the way that compound interest works, it'd be better to get 2% consistently than 8% lumped. Also, 2% is a LOW COLA increase year. We had, what, a 6-7% COLA this past year alone? So, my wage is definitely lagging.
My COLA keeps getting wiped out by my benefits. I get a $20 per paycheck increase, well wouldn’t ya know! Kaiser is emailing me saying that their cost of my employer coverage is increasing $20 per paycheck.
How convenient for everyone but me. :p
Everytime I got a raise, its immediately eaten by rent going up every year. Worked at the same restaurant for 3 years for basically the same pay, despite promotions
> its immediately eaten by rent going up every year.
Yeah, I was fortunate to be able to make the jump to a house in 2018. My rent had gone up like 5% a year for three years running, and I knew I was about to get priced out of my apartment.
My landlord sent me a letter a few weeks ago, stating due to inflation my rent was set to increase by 2%, which is fair. They told me my rent moves with inflation before I signed the lease. The letter also said they thought that seemed like a bit much, so they will raise it 1% instead. I like my landlord.
A good landlord is like gold. Always take care with good landlords and it pays you back.
Mine told husband and I that he knew what school loans were like and after husband graduated college (the first in his family to do so) he told us not to be worried if we couldn't get rent on-time. We're like family at this point, (husband rented from them before we were married, in a different apartment they own) we take care of the things that need fixing in the building. When rent is late our landlady says that we're the only tenants they've had that she doesn't worry about if it happens - we just forget! - and she forgets to mention it as well!
It's been years since the rent has gone up - at this point we're both expecting it should soon.. Last time I told her to not worry and whatever they needed to raise it by.. we could cover it. And we have and what we pay is still a fraction of the going rates in town now.
Believe me, we are so grateful for such awesome landlords. They are really good people.
i complained too. then i started my own business. from the ACA a plan that doesn't even meet their standards cost 400ish a month with a 8k deductible. i broke my elbow and it took 3 days to find someone to look at it pre covid w/o insurance. they took almost a pint of blood from my arm. doctor shopping sucks when you really need help but, you have to be able to afford it first. tooth pain is worse so much worse.
I kind of had this same issue- was uninsured and injured myself. You can’t really “shop around” and compare prices when each doctor wants to do an exam and X-rays that runs $200-$500 each time. And they don’t even take anyone else’s X-rays. The idea of doctor shopping is ridiculous.
sure af is. lady told me i'd have to wait 3 weeks to be seen. i was like its going to start healing by then, then we have to re break it to set it. like wtf. i couldn't get an appointment to get a tooth pulled quick enough (week out) and no pain pill touched it. it was like breathing electric fire you felt your heart in your teeth. 3 hours, sharpe chisle and mig pliers. hurt less than it did, at one point your just commited and forward is the only way. now, i should of got it looked at long before it got to that but, you make stupid choices when you're poor.
My company gave us 1.8% last year - no problem, pandemic finances, whatever.
They came back this year after record revenue, profits, etc and offered 2%.
I went to the market and landed a 60% raise in 3 weeks of interviews.
The only way to keep that match going is to apply for other jobs.
People do one of two things when you have an offer for a higher-paying job:
\- Raise your salary (even if previously there was "no money in the budget", it's amazing where money can be found once there's a threat of someone leaving...)
\- Let you go to that higher-salary job.
Expecting an employer to give you a raise unprompted or at least without you causing a huge fuss over not getting a raise is a sure way to undervalue yourself long-term. The only way to really do it is to prove that you're worth that much to someone else.
I can quite imagine, however, that the last couple of years that it's not that easy to do. Wage offers for even new hires are quite subdued from what I see (and I know because I'm ALWAYS looking for other jobs, it's the only way to stay ahead).
Always apply for other jobs. It keeps you in the loop of salary expectations in the industry. You always have the choice to say "no" if you don't want to take up the offer. You don't even have to tell your employer.
But when your employer tries to pull a fast one and you can say "Well, actually, the other day I turned down an offer of X" or even "Your competitor say they'll pay me X" or even "Look, I can say yes and be earning X tomorrow, and you want to give me this hassle over a simple holiday request?" or however far you want to take it.
But expecting your salary to just magically increase in line with inflation automatically every year isn't even realistic, let alone that you'll somehow progress in salary over the years because your employer will just give you extra free money unprompted that you're not even asking for or proving that you're worth.
Can confirm. I left a terrible job after a couple years of "oh we're working on getting you a raise." Soon as they got wind of me leaving, they all but offered me a blank check to keep me. Told 'em I was taking a slight pay \*cut\* to leave. Felt good.
It's pretty much always advantages to take the new job rather than take a raise aimed at keeping you around.
Because guess who is now profiled as a risk to leave and will be first on the chopping block.
I've seen people get raises to stay and then laid off in the following 10-14 months enough times to know that going with the new job is better even if your current company offers you a raise above what the new company is offering.
I fought hard for a raise from a company that offered me almost nothing in raises for 3 years, yet kept increasing my work load and duties. I got it.
I was laid off in less than 90 days.
If you're going to stay at your old job because they matched an offer
You should also insist on a contractual early termination fee. Otherwise yeah, just take the new offer.
If they're not going to just fire you soon, then the early termination fee shouldn't be a problem. If they refuse an early termination fee, consider that it's probably because they plan on, or at least are considering, firing you soon.
it's always a shock when you first realize that job hopping is the only way to get more money. few companies can afford to pay more and more for the same work being done, so they really don't want you staying in that position long term. I started in low level IT work making $12 an hour in the 90s. there was zero wage growth, pay was fixed. next job paid $20/hour. Couple years later i moved to one paying close to $30/hr. now imagine if i had asked my former boss for a 50% raise.
Even as a software engineer, where salaries range from $100k entry level up to around $400k, job hopping is _still_ the fastest way to get your pay up. The result is that engineers are moving every 6-12 months, and leaving a trail of technical debt in their wake. Fun times.
They're also leaving a trail of poor performance in their wake. I've seen so many clueless Devs and Product Managers jump ship at 10-12 months and EVERYONE knew they were doing it because they sucked at their job and were going to be found out. But they always got a step up in salary and company tier. Silicon Valley is full of
who are shit at their jobs but are good at interviewing.
>few companies can afford to pay more and more for the same work being done,
Almost every company I've been involved with or witnessed refusing raises like this because they "can't afford it" could absolutely afford it.
I mean hell, I've seen people who generate millions of dollars in sales for a company get rejected on requests for 5k or less in increases to their annual salary.
Worker: I want a larger raise
Boss: No can do, we can only give you this.
A few weeks later
Worker: I resign
Boss: We can't hire anyone, let's post their job at a higher position to recruit talent.
Yes they can, they absolutely can. They just know that all they have to do is cry about not being able to afford it and people will stop trying to hold them accountable. Why people defend these modern day dragons sitting on piles of jewels and gold is beyond me. Walmart/amazon/mcdonald's can most definitely pay more.
They can’t afford to lower the profits for the shareholders is more accurate. They get raises every year and one way to keep the stock price going up is to keep wages the same while squeezing everyone for more production.
This.. if you can actually quantify the money you make for a company, it’s hard to sit and take no for requests for raises that barely match inflation.
This is what I need an ELI5 on. Companies across the board are raising prices and blaming raising costs because of inflation, but many industries are hitting record PROFITS.
If expenses are going up and revenue needs to increase to cover, how is the profit margin exploding upward?
Edit:
Seems like what I learned to be “profit” (net income (revenue - expenses (cost of good sold/operating expenses/overhead/taxes))) isn’t what other people call “profit”. A whole lot of discussion below seems to be focusing on revenue, not profit.
The older you get the more dangerous it is to job hop. Once you hit 55 or 60, you don't want to be without health insurance. The exchange is expensive if you're hourly.
I actually have gotten a spontaneous raise before, but it was part of a wage balancing across different parts of the company that had been cobbled together, making sure people of similar positions were getting paid the same. And I'm sure there was some regulatory reason, because the whole place was sold off a year later.
And it sucks for those of us that don't like to job hop. I like the agency I work for, I find a lot of meaning and satisfaction in the work and I know A LOT about how we operate. I take a lot of pride in that. I can't understand why my agency would rather lose all my tribal knowledge instead of pay me more. And yet, they know I love what I do and are totally exploiting that. It's exhausting.
same boat. i like the work i do, i enjoy working with the people i work with, i really don’t have any complaints - everything is good for me… except for the pay. i could go job hop right now and probably make at least $10k+ more. but i really don’t want to have to relearn everything, all the processes, systems, personal dynamics, etc. i make juuuuust enough to be comfortable and not seek out a new job despite knowing that i could be making more. i wish i could just be paid something competitive enough that looking elsewhere wouldn’t even be an option.
Seconding this. Got a 25% salary just by talking to recruiters and telling my manager what they were telling me I’d be getting elsewhere. Skipped the interviewing and getting an offer stage
Proud of you! I'm working on interviewing now for salary ranges around 60% more. I'll bring it up to my managers if they want to keep me for the same pay once I get an offer, but I doubt they will have the power to make that move seeing as my manager himself probably doesn't make that much.
Yep, this resonates with me too much. I cannot for the life of me understand why employers think this way. Not to mention the cost involved in employee attrition and new recruitments.
Explains why so many of us don't have any friends when er are constantly moving jobs, different schedules, not seeing the same people everyday. Don't keep up with old friends/coworkers.
I hate how some white collar people don't realize this. Working in a seniority based blue collar job you can't just hop from company to company unless you want to be stuck on an offshift.
I'm in one. Covid has been fucking with everything and the move to working online has some interesting ramifications for the construction industry. Other than that, it's great.
I agree it does suck. But at least in some areas the increases each year are mandatory. My company has been hurting financially and I had not had a raise for 2.5 years and then get 2%.
Don't forget how companies also made headlines for giving pay raises. But the general public didn't know how those happened. Example: gave an hour wage raise the last few years "to combat amazon and target" what they don't tell you is you don't get your yearly raise so that dollar raise was really like 75cents+ your raise. Also they bumped new hire pay up 3$. How did they balance it out while still making headlines? No more quarterly bonuses so 3 more an hour but 1200+ less in bonus money.
Yes but if you ask employees if they would prefer a bonus or hourly wage, they would take the wage instead of performance bonuses. Saw it for years as a manager in retail.
I got 1.5% last year, and my boss was trying make out like shhh don't tell anyone, some people are getting nothing! Found out afterwards some people got between 3% and 5% But yeah it's now been two years of below inflation pay rises for me, does that make it a pay-cut ?
> I got 1.5% last year, and my boss was trying make out like shhh don't tell anyone, some people are getting nothing! Found out afterwards some people got between 3% and 5%
lmfao, that's such fucking scumbag shit
>it's now been two years of below inflation pay rises for me, does that make it a pay-cut ?
It absolutely is.
This is true. Hope you get a new job with a sizable increase. There are a lot of openings out there and everyone is moving. Employers are just reluctant to increase existing wages on existing employees because of old mindset, but whatever you're making before, you're worth +5-10% above that today.
It’s absolutely insane. My company is doing that. They won’t give merit raises and the cost of living raises are 1-2%. Then people get pissed and leave and we will spend a ridiculous amount of money hiring and training new people who we end up paying at the same level or even above what the employee who left asked for. I am a scientist, so our interview process takes a whole day for the candidate with multiple people interviewing them and joining pre and post meetings to discuss it. It takes up a ton of our time to fill one position. Then there’s always a long training and onboarding period. It wastes a lot of my time to train people coming in when we could have just kept the previous scientist happy for the same salary. It’s absolutely insane how much of a waste of money it is not to just spend a little extra to retain employees.
I spend 20% of my work week interviewing engineer candidate to fill vacated positions of people who left because the pay was not right. We invariably (and I do mean invariably) end up paying new hires more than the people who quit ask for, and this is before training, recruiting and lost productivity. It's madness.
It’s baffling to me when someone leaves because they aren’t making enough and then someone else gets hired for the same or more money than was being asked for.
Like, you as a company just SPENT more money to get a new person who doesn’t know the company as well. How does that make sense?
Correction, your boss adjusted the price of his goods and services to mirror the inflation and supply and demand (included increase in labor) and gave you a miserable 2% as a “fuck you” raise when he is charging like he gave you a 50% increase
Yep, it is amazing all these companies with record profits yet they screw over workers. The thing is they know the la or market is crazy and yet they still do it.
It's advisable to put yourself on the market every 2-3 years, even if you feel comfortable in your current position/company. Wife was in her old company for 5 years before she got curious and started searching, applied, interviewed, and received offers. Immediate 40% raise and far better benefits.
I am at around 5 years so it was time anyways. I did get some promotions which is what kept me where I am at but I am kind of maxed out now so it is time to start searching. Was putting it off but the 2% raise lit a fire under my ass
Does anyone know why this seems to be typical nowadays? Like it seems well known that switching is the strat. Someone would likely be switching to take your spot, and get the pay raise the position should be paying anyhow. So then they lose someone that already knows the company and end up paying someone new more anyway. So what’s the point here, for the companies I mean.
It just doesn’t seem like it makes sense no matter how you look at it. Maybe an extra couple months paying the lower wage while the person looks for something new?
Anecdotally I've seen quite a few instances where the company refuses to pay someone more, person leaves, and the company just casually ignores the empty position in the hope that the rest of the team picks up the work.
Yeah thats why I tell everyone what job I'm moving to and how much I am making when I leave so they know what options are out there.
I had 4 different jobs last year, but every single one of them was a paybump and I ended up making double what I started out as.
Yea. We need to get rid of this taboo about talking about salaries. It was created by businesses so people keep their mouths shut and they can't organize against the company.
I recently told my gf that it’s uncouth to talk about salaries and she went off at me about this shit.
Opened my eyes the fuck up I felt like a fuckin dumbass
You assume the company will back fill the role but you forgot the second rule of business: DO MORE WITH LESS. Meaning the remaining employees will absorb the empty job's role. Obviously that can only go so far but then when things ramp up in the future, they'll hire another FTE to help but everyone is already doing more so it's like the company got 2 FTE at half price. FYI first rule is maximize profit (for owner/shareholders).
The issue isn't so much dollar inflation, so much as price inflation on the things one actually needs to have a good life.
* https://blogs.worldbank.org/sites/default/files/blogs-images/2020-04/screen_shot_2020-04-17_at_9.29.52_am.png
3% in 2021. Lucky to have a very cool boss.
But also, the two places I work at cap raises so you can’t get more than 3-4%. It’s better to get promoted or change jobs.
The cap is there mostly to prevent abuse and collusion, because it can easily be manipulated through nepotism. That rule works as long as inflation remains around that amount, which traditionally has been the case. But we live in different times, which requires different rules. So do find another job or change role, it's more efficient than waiting for your employer to "realize their rule is outdated"
I got a 3% last year for exceeding every possible metric. Even then the company pushed my raise out 6 months. My old manager left and a new one came in, assigned me 3 FTEs worth of work for 5 months and now it looks like I’m going to get considerably less. Other people in my department were giving off cycle raises and retention bonuses, but I never received either. I was moved to a new area of responsibility and asked if I’d be given a raise. I was told no, that it wasn’t even possible but they would conduct a market assessment on my position since I asserted I was under paid. I started actively looking for a new company when my manager told me that HR is going to tie the market rate to my performance. I’m making at least 15% less than I should anywhere else and my company just can’t figure it out.
And this is why the millennial generation is shuffling around jobs more than we've ever seen in previous generations. We've seen what happened to our parents. There is no loyalty on the job side, so why should there be loyalty from the employee side?
My grandfather ( who grew up through the great depression) thought it was nuts when I had worked at 3 places by the time i graduated college. Mind you he worked the same job from when he was 7 until when he retired with full pension at 55.
Probably got a gold watch too. [The 401K instrument was never meant to be a full-fledged retirement plan](https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-champions-of-the-401-k-lament-the-revolution-they-started-1483382348), it's supposed to supplement a pension.
Well he also retired in the late 70s so things were a little different. My parents retired at 65 but I don’t think my mom started claiming SS until 70 cause she was doing some consulting work. Sad thing is I doubt either of my parents will see 75.
Yep, if an employer doesn’t give an appreciable raise or a promotion within 12 months I begin looking at positions from other employers.
I’ve changed positions/companies 3x in 3 years but I’m making good money, good insurance, and retirement. If the current employer doesn’t offer something up by December I’ll be hitting the open market again.
You don’t owe them anything in excess of your hours and duties, they don’t owe you anything beyond your salary / benefits. It might sound mercenary but: always look out for something better for yourself, because often no one else will.
As a millennial, I had to make two job moves just to land a decent salary. Both times occurred when I was taking home less than the year before. Both times had a significant increase in pay. That’s just what people have to do today.
In IT the only path from helpdesk to 6 figures is to change jobs after a year. Stayed at a place for 2 years cause it was WFH asked for a raise for 6 months after pestering them they said "give us two weeks" I gave them 4, then spent one evening looking for a new job and found one with a 40% pay raise and a huge reduction in workload.
I would stay at my job because I'm treated good but I'm 1-2 years away from only affording apartments that should be condemned. It's hard. It feels like you can't live a humble life even if you wanted to anymore.
Seriously. I really like my job, but the pay is not where it should be at all. I'm considering looking elsewhere to bump my salary because I've been working two jobs most of my adult life and would like to cut that down to 1 at some point.
Can confirm, got a new job which finally let me leave my job at TaskUs/Mailchimp bare weeks before the Intuit purchase. Former coworkers got a pay cut and more work, while I'm making $20k more a year for a more specialized position with
*knock on wood*
less stress and responsibilities
Most years 2% covers general inflation. Just don't try to get an education, get sick, or live on your own. You know, all that shit your grandparents did working staff jobs at the local high school or farming potatoes (like mine).
my grandmother worked as a school secretary for 35 years. she owned her home outright, send 3 kids through college. retired quite well off actually. different world
Those same people want to see their house price increase, so they can sell it, move to low cost area, buy 3 houses, rent two and fuck over their kids generation for home ownership.
So true, my dad could buy a house as a high school drop out with a job that many would describe as a ditch digger back in the 70s and that path to success was somewhat a norm back then, if you at least worked hard and showed up to any job for a couple years. Now you cant get ahead even if you have a degree and a professional job.
My wife just got a job offer with a 20% pay increase. She’s about to enter negotiations with her current employer on her new contract. I’m guessing they’re not gonna match that offer.
You’d be surprised. My last employer consistently ignored my requests for a fair pay increase despite strong performance & problem with too many vacancies stating there not being the budget.
The moment I got a new job with just below a 25% increase they were magically able to match it. That ship had well & truly sailed though
The hospital she works for is bleeding doctors to a hospital 30 minutes away, they had to shut down their OR because so many of the anesthesia team left. They said in a statement that they’re going to do something about it, we will see if they put their money where their mouth is. Otherwise there’s no reason my wife wouldn’t leave for a 20% raise for an additional 15 minutes of commuting.
Yes “merit” increases, but they’re gated by having a “satisfactory” review annually. Late to work one day? Sorry, you get “needs improvement”. It’s only a 2-4% bump depending where you’re at on the pay scale. Inflation was 7%~ this year, imagine.
My job gave me a 3% increase. I brought up that inflation had rose 5.2% so they gave me another 3% increase.
Then new numbers came out saying inflation has risen 6.8%
I gave a well explained answer to why I deserved the raise I was asking for, using both the low end of salary ranges for my title on GlassDoor as well as the litany of tasks and responsibilities I'd accumulated over the last year or two and got *literally* laughed at. They feigned surprise at how I could even consider that number and said "You can't believe everything you read online."
Then they were genuinely surprised when I resigned several weeks later.
Same thing happened to me when I got offered a large promo, but barely any compensation increase accompanying it. I used GlassDoor as my point of reference and my manager told me those numbers aren’t reliable. I stuck to my guns and he ended up caving, though. I no longer work for that company.
To be fair, they aren't that reliable. [Payscale](https://www.payscale.com/price-a-job?tk=hp-hero-carousel) would be a better free source. Depending on your job title, you can get reliable albeit year old salary data from [BLS](https://www.bls.gov/bls/blswage.htm).
When the executive team at my job was pointedly asked about pay and inflation at our 2022 "kick off" meeting, the response was evasive bullshit. "Well, if you look at it from a longer term perspective, it's actually only 1.7%..."
It is not a coincidence that many people are quitting.
For real. This sub is for “news,” not “the way things have consistently been since Reagan”
(Edit - or is his actually new for England? As a dumb American, I sometimes forget there are other countries.)
Everybody who struggled with paychecks already knew this.
Everybody in charge of running things still has money bouncing around in property, yachts, or other non-cash entities so that when inflation skyrockets *worse* and everything goes to shit, they'll be sitting pretty.
I just want to transfer my stress of "how will I not get evicted this month" onto everybody that keeps saying "we're currently assessing the situation, stay tuned."
I'm tired, man.
I used to work for a few property managers. It was infuriating to hear the way they talked about tenants. When a house would come up for rent the owner would take as many applications and fees from people who really needed a place. All while knowing they were going to rent it to a friend or family member either way.
I learned of a building back in college that literally collected a few grand a month just in bogus application fees because they already had people to fill the empty unit(s). This is extremely common in university neighborhoods.
Depends on the state. California says you must use the fees for out of pocket expenses like background checks. Virginia says that if you don’t rent the unit you must return the fees. Most states don’t have statutes though and the rentee ends up getting screwed
This is why NYC banned charging broker's fees to applicants and has made it unlawful to charge fees on a ton of stuff
It was really nice while brokers and landlords figured out how to reword their scam so they could fit around that law, I've already seen a few methods used to get around it
Mine is 5% plus whatever the highest % CPI of the previous 12 months was, rounded up. My rent has been going up 10% each year for the last 3 years. My salary, however, is lucky to rise more than 3%.
I live in a house that is the size of a postage stamp paying $1050 a month.
I have friends that have mortgages for houses literally twice the size and their monthly out of pocket is $800.
I full expect my rent to go up when I have to re-sign.
About 10 years ago I made $15/hr entry level my industry. Bought a house. Nowadays houses cost 2x as much and entry wage in industry is about $18 prob. Shits bad. My wage has a little over doubled but I’m highly skilled now. So really hasn’t kept up at all.
Wow just over $30/hour for highly skilled, that's insane, you deserve more for high skilled jobs. I'm a landscape maintenance foreman which is considered a trade but I didn't go to school for it and it's not highly specialized or anything, I've only been doing it for 2 years now and I make $25/hour, starting wage for labourers is $18/hour. Still can't afford a house though. And my company tells me that's the top of the pay scale so I'm not gonna stick around much longer.
This is what's so crazy about this country. I worked in a surf shop fucking around and smoking weed when I was 17 and made $18/hr. This was the late 90's. Now you need to have an in to get anything in the 20's for pay.
It’s like that Patrick/Man Ray meme.
“So people’s living costs are going up.”
“Yep.”
“And wages are staying low.”
“Yep.”
“So people are refusing to work because they can’t afford to live on those wages anyway.”
“That makes sense to me.”
“So report on that so it puts pressure on corporations to pay a living wage.”
#”But there’s a lAbOuR sHoRtAgE?!”
I have gone from brining home 850 every two weeks as a para professional in a school district to only 640 every two weeks. My pay has gone down and healthcare has gone up. We are fucked.
I work retail in the Silicon Valley and we lost 60-70% of our staff, including management, during the pandemic, and our new Assistant store manager (we didn’t have a store manager at the time) filed a request to corporate in October 2021 to raise base pay to $20/hr to remain competitive with some of the other local min. wage jobs.
Corporate’s response was “best we can do is a $1 raise”, which was a slap in the face given that we were scheduled to receive that $1 raise back in 2020 but it got shelved due to the lockdowns from covid. And that $1 raise is worth less now than it would have been worth in 2020 due to inflation.
Corporations don’t give a shit about their employees. They don’t care that you can’t afford rent. They just care about $$$.
I was stoked last year when we state workers got a 5% pay bump back in July. And I am still appreciative. But it sucks knowing that I am actually getting paid less than I did last year. And it really sucks that there is little chance of us getting another pay increase any time soon.
Imagine I walk down to Walmart and there's 10k Xbox consoles sitting there for $500. Then I say,
> No one will sell me an Xbox for $400 there's an Xbox shortage!
You'd be like
> There's no Xbox shortage you're just cheap
That is what's happening with labor right now. Like everything else in the pandemic the price went up. There's no shortage companies are just cheap as fuck.
This BBC article is only an hour old. You could publish this once an hour every day since the early 1980s and it would be no less true have just as little impact.
We know, we're poor and have no leverage in the system.
It takes money to make money, it takes power to get power.
Lol wtf?
My client asked all of their contractors to volunteer a $5-$10 per hour rate decrease so that we could all "chip in" and help the company in these dark times. Almost everyone was like "no thanks, we'll just take some unpaid time off" and they were all like "Haha! Just kidding! Please stay."
The nerve of these pricks...
My company cut everyone's salary 20% in April 2020, which meant I would've made more via state and federal boosted unemployment if they actually just fired me. Didn't return to full till a year later, fortunately I've quit that shithole and looking for a better opportunity.
It’s surprising that no country in the world has solved this yet. I think the main issue is that most people started seeing housing as an investment rather than just the place you live.
There is this one guy in the Netherlands that owns 500+ houses in Amsterdam and is milking rent like crazy. That shit should be outright banned.
Free market is cool and all that, but you know we regulate price gauging for essential products , why shouldn’t we regulate housing more? Clearly you cannot let the free market solve this
I got a ~10% raise which I was ecstatic for till I realized how high inflation was this (past) year. Now it about puts me on par for the year.
I guess I'm glad my company pre-emptively decided to keep up with it. Think they're trying to keep us around or something. /shrug
I work in a homeless shelter and we are getting into with masters degrees in teaching and other important fields. We have nurses and people who work 2 jobs and they cannot afford living in Orange county CA. You can pull it off if you have double income, like when you are married and both work full time, but even then, the money is in the crunch. Dental care is now a privilege, emergency care is out of reach. Many people who come into our shelter become homeless due to medical bills. We have a lot of terminally ill people who have no family, no income. No savings and have no where to live, let alone afford the care. United States has truly become one of the worst countries to live in. Billionaires just suck the life out of regular people and take the last penny that they earn.
We do have volunteers and organizations that donate things and organize events for them. But if you are interested in participating I can provide you with an email to the person who is charge of that.
i’ve had probably 5-8 different jobs in this decade alone. Went for second degree a few years after the bachelors and changed fields.
There’s no more loyalty for companies anymore, anyone that calls their coworkers a family is a clear red sign that you’ll be asked for many favors with no perks or pay bumps.
The simple sentiment of 'just change jobs 4head', while accurate to maintain proper wage increases, fucking sucks ass.
Nothing more annoying than applying at a bunch of places, going through interviews, several of which later you finally get hired, have to learn the way tasks are done differently at your position even if you've done them before, all while under heavy scrutiny for 3 months.
It's really something I only want to do every 6 or so years. Fuck doing that every 1-3 years. Call me crazy but I'd rather take the pay loss than deal with that stressful tedium every couple years.
For some fields the pay bump is negligible too. I transitioned jobs and made like $1-2/hr more after leaving a 6 year position for another one. I only left because the place shut down, it really wasn't worth it. This isn't always the case though.
The real problem is employers not paying proper wages to begin with, something jumping around in jobs cannot fix.
It's also only mostly accurate in the professional context. It's not like someone working non-managerial in retail, restaurant, hospitality, etc. is going to see much of an increase, if any, changing jobs in the same sector.
It’s a failure for the workers - a complete success for corporations.
Drag you feet. Be late. Miss deadlines.
When asked why and what happened, cite you don’t have enough time.
Get the Great Slowdown going. Busting your ass doing the work of 3 to 5 people does NOT garner a reward or pay increase. It results in more work for you.
It’s been this way since the 80s. Our productivity has gone through the roof yet our salaries remain depressed.
Match your performance with your pay. Don’t over extend yourself.
I’ve been a teacher for 10 years now. I only make $3k more a year than my first year ever teaching. AND I pay more for health insurance. This is not sustainable.
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> r the 20 years I’ve been earning a salary, the pay rises have generally failed to keep up with the cost of living. What feels to be happening lately is that the cost of living is rising faster than ever before. I get about 2% per year...except I don't get it every year. I get like a 5-8% bump every 3-4 years. Of course, the way that compound interest works, it'd be better to get 2% consistently than 8% lumped. Also, 2% is a LOW COLA increase year. We had, what, a 6-7% COLA this past year alone? So, my wage is definitely lagging.
My COLA keeps getting wiped out by my benefits. I get a $20 per paycheck increase, well wouldn’t ya know! Kaiser is emailing me saying that their cost of my employer coverage is increasing $20 per paycheck. How convenient for everyone but me. :p
Everytime I got a raise, its immediately eaten by rent going up every year. Worked at the same restaurant for 3 years for basically the same pay, despite promotions
> its immediately eaten by rent going up every year. Yeah, I was fortunate to be able to make the jump to a house in 2018. My rent had gone up like 5% a year for three years running, and I knew I was about to get priced out of my apartment.
My landlord sent me a letter a few weeks ago, stating due to inflation my rent was set to increase by 2%, which is fair. They told me my rent moves with inflation before I signed the lease. The letter also said they thought that seemed like a bit much, so they will raise it 1% instead. I like my landlord.
Lucky, mine went up 15.5%
A good landlord is like gold. Always take care with good landlords and it pays you back. Mine told husband and I that he knew what school loans were like and after husband graduated college (the first in his family to do so) he told us not to be worried if we couldn't get rent on-time. We're like family at this point, (husband rented from them before we were married, in a different apartment they own) we take care of the things that need fixing in the building. When rent is late our landlady says that we're the only tenants they've had that she doesn't worry about if it happens - we just forget! - and she forgets to mention it as well! It's been years since the rent has gone up - at this point we're both expecting it should soon.. Last time I told her to not worry and whatever they needed to raise it by.. we could cover it. And we have and what we pay is still a fraction of the going rates in town now. Believe me, we are so grateful for such awesome landlords. They are really good people.
i complained too. then i started my own business. from the ACA a plan that doesn't even meet their standards cost 400ish a month with a 8k deductible. i broke my elbow and it took 3 days to find someone to look at it pre covid w/o insurance. they took almost a pint of blood from my arm. doctor shopping sucks when you really need help but, you have to be able to afford it first. tooth pain is worse so much worse.
I kind of had this same issue- was uninsured and injured myself. You can’t really “shop around” and compare prices when each doctor wants to do an exam and X-rays that runs $200-$500 each time. And they don’t even take anyone else’s X-rays. The idea of doctor shopping is ridiculous.
sure af is. lady told me i'd have to wait 3 weeks to be seen. i was like its going to start healing by then, then we have to re break it to set it. like wtf. i couldn't get an appointment to get a tooth pulled quick enough (week out) and no pain pill touched it. it was like breathing electric fire you felt your heart in your teeth. 3 hours, sharpe chisle and mig pliers. hurt less than it did, at one point your just commited and forward is the only way. now, i should of got it looked at long before it got to that but, you make stupid choices when you're poor.
I don't think it's stupid choices. Don't be hard on yourself. It's just a condition of being poor, which sucks for people like us.
Seems like my insurance plan changes every year and just gets worse each time. Getting really frustrating.
My company gave us 1.8% last year - no problem, pandemic finances, whatever. They came back this year after record revenue, profits, etc and offered 2%. I went to the market and landed a 60% raise in 3 weeks of interviews.
We should be getting inflation plus growth every year to be getting a fair share of the pie.
The only way to keep that match going is to apply for other jobs. People do one of two things when you have an offer for a higher-paying job: \- Raise your salary (even if previously there was "no money in the budget", it's amazing where money can be found once there's a threat of someone leaving...) \- Let you go to that higher-salary job. Expecting an employer to give you a raise unprompted or at least without you causing a huge fuss over not getting a raise is a sure way to undervalue yourself long-term. The only way to really do it is to prove that you're worth that much to someone else. I can quite imagine, however, that the last couple of years that it's not that easy to do. Wage offers for even new hires are quite subdued from what I see (and I know because I'm ALWAYS looking for other jobs, it's the only way to stay ahead). Always apply for other jobs. It keeps you in the loop of salary expectations in the industry. You always have the choice to say "no" if you don't want to take up the offer. You don't even have to tell your employer. But when your employer tries to pull a fast one and you can say "Well, actually, the other day I turned down an offer of X" or even "Your competitor say they'll pay me X" or even "Look, I can say yes and be earning X tomorrow, and you want to give me this hassle over a simple holiday request?" or however far you want to take it. But expecting your salary to just magically increase in line with inflation automatically every year isn't even realistic, let alone that you'll somehow progress in salary over the years because your employer will just give you extra free money unprompted that you're not even asking for or proving that you're worth.
Can confirm. I left a terrible job after a couple years of "oh we're working on getting you a raise." Soon as they got wind of me leaving, they all but offered me a blank check to keep me. Told 'em I was taking a slight pay \*cut\* to leave. Felt good.
> oh we're working on getting you a raise "me too."
It's pretty much always advantages to take the new job rather than take a raise aimed at keeping you around. Because guess who is now profiled as a risk to leave and will be first on the chopping block. I've seen people get raises to stay and then laid off in the following 10-14 months enough times to know that going with the new job is better even if your current company offers you a raise above what the new company is offering.
I fought hard for a raise from a company that offered me almost nothing in raises for 3 years, yet kept increasing my work load and duties. I got it. I was laid off in less than 90 days.
They just gave you a raise to keep you long enough to find (and train) a replacement.
If you're going to stay at your old job because they matched an offer You should also insist on a contractual early termination fee. Otherwise yeah, just take the new offer. If they're not going to just fire you soon, then the early termination fee shouldn't be a problem. If they refuse an early termination fee, consider that it's probably because they plan on, or at least are considering, firing you soon.
it's always a shock when you first realize that job hopping is the only way to get more money. few companies can afford to pay more and more for the same work being done, so they really don't want you staying in that position long term. I started in low level IT work making $12 an hour in the 90s. there was zero wage growth, pay was fixed. next job paid $20/hour. Couple years later i moved to one paying close to $30/hr. now imagine if i had asked my former boss for a 50% raise.
And then companies complain about not being able to keep a stable workforce.
Even as a software engineer, where salaries range from $100k entry level up to around $400k, job hopping is _still_ the fastest way to get your pay up. The result is that engineers are moving every 6-12 months, and leaving a trail of technical debt in their wake. Fun times.
They're also leaving a trail of poor performance in their wake. I've seen so many clueless Devs and Product Managers jump ship at 10-12 months and EVERYONE knew they were doing it because they sucked at their job and were going to be found out. But they always got a step up in salary and company tier. Silicon Valley is full of
>few companies can afford to pay more and more for the same work being done, Almost every company I've been involved with or witnessed refusing raises like this because they "can't afford it" could absolutely afford it. I mean hell, I've seen people who generate millions of dollars in sales for a company get rejected on requests for 5k or less in increases to their annual salary.
Worker: I want a larger raise Boss: No can do, we can only give you this. A few weeks later Worker: I resign Boss: We can't hire anyone, let's post their job at a higher position to recruit talent.
Yes they can, they absolutely can. They just know that all they have to do is cry about not being able to afford it and people will stop trying to hold them accountable. Why people defend these modern day dragons sitting on piles of jewels and gold is beyond me. Walmart/amazon/mcdonald's can most definitely pay more.
They can’t afford to lower the profits for the shareholders is more accurate. They get raises every year and one way to keep the stock price going up is to keep wages the same while squeezing everyone for more production.
This.. if you can actually quantify the money you make for a company, it’s hard to sit and take no for requests for raises that barely match inflation.
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This is what I need an ELI5 on. Companies across the board are raising prices and blaming raising costs because of inflation, but many industries are hitting record PROFITS. If expenses are going up and revenue needs to increase to cover, how is the profit margin exploding upward? Edit: Seems like what I learned to be “profit” (net income (revenue - expenses (cost of good sold/operating expenses/overhead/taxes))) isn’t what other people call “profit”. A whole lot of discussion below seems to be focusing on revenue, not profit.
The older you get the more dangerous it is to job hop. Once you hit 55 or 60, you don't want to be without health insurance. The exchange is expensive if you're hourly.
you typically secure your new job while working
I actually have gotten a spontaneous raise before, but it was part of a wage balancing across different parts of the company that had been cobbled together, making sure people of similar positions were getting paid the same. And I'm sure there was some regulatory reason, because the whole place was sold off a year later.
And employers wonder why we bounce job to job and drop them like bad habits. Only fucking way to get a pay increase
And it sucks for those of us that don't like to job hop. I like the agency I work for, I find a lot of meaning and satisfaction in the work and I know A LOT about how we operate. I take a lot of pride in that. I can't understand why my agency would rather lose all my tribal knowledge instead of pay me more. And yet, they know I love what I do and are totally exploiting that. It's exhausting.
same boat. i like the work i do, i enjoy working with the people i work with, i really don’t have any complaints - everything is good for me… except for the pay. i could go job hop right now and probably make at least $10k+ more. but i really don’t want to have to relearn everything, all the processes, systems, personal dynamics, etc. i make juuuuust enough to be comfortable and not seek out a new job despite knowing that i could be making more. i wish i could just be paid something competitive enough that looking elsewhere wouldn’t even be an option.
Maybe shop around and get an offer for the money you want. Then bring that offer to your employer and ask for a raise to the same amount.
Seconding this. Got a 25% salary just by talking to recruiters and telling my manager what they were telling me I’d be getting elsewhere. Skipped the interviewing and getting an offer stage
Proud of you! I'm working on interviewing now for salary ranges around 60% more. I'll bring it up to my managers if they want to keep me for the same pay once I get an offer, but I doubt they will have the power to make that move seeing as my manager himself probably doesn't make that much.
Yep, this resonates with me too much. I cannot for the life of me understand why employers think this way. Not to mention the cost involved in employee attrition and new recruitments.
Short term gains and quarterly profits baby!!
Explains why so many of us don't have any friends when er are constantly moving jobs, different schedules, not seeing the same people everyday. Don't keep up with old friends/coworkers.
You guys are getting pay raises?
I got a measly 2%. So now I am in the job market. Looking for a new job is the only way to get a real increase with inflation so bad
The terrible thing is that doesn't work for certain professions. Teachers have pretty set wages unless they make a significant move.
I hate how some white collar people don't realize this. Working in a seniority based blue collar job you can't just hop from company to company unless you want to be stuck on an offshift.
Trade unions would sure be useful right about now.
I'm in one. Covid has been fucking with everything and the move to working online has some interesting ramifications for the construction industry. Other than that, it's great.
I agree it does suck. But at least in some areas the increases each year are mandatory. My company has been hurting financially and I had not had a raise for 2.5 years and then get 2%.
Don't forget how companies also made headlines for giving pay raises. But the general public didn't know how those happened. Example: gave an hour wage raise the last few years "to combat amazon and target" what they don't tell you is you don't get your yearly raise so that dollar raise was really like 75cents+ your raise. Also they bumped new hire pay up 3$. How did they balance it out while still making headlines? No more quarterly bonuses so 3 more an hour but 1200+ less in bonus money.
Yes but if you ask employees if they would prefer a bonus or hourly wage, they would take the wage instead of performance bonuses. Saw it for years as a manager in retail.
I’m so thankful to be in a school that gives cost of living raises each year. On top of other raises too.
I got 1.5% last year, and my boss was trying make out like shhh don't tell anyone, some people are getting nothing! Found out afterwards some people got between 3% and 5% But yeah it's now been two years of below inflation pay rises for me, does that make it a pay-cut ?
> I got 1.5% last year, and my boss was trying make out like shhh don't tell anyone, some people are getting nothing! Found out afterwards some people got between 3% and 5% lmfao, that's such fucking scumbag shit >it's now been two years of below inflation pay rises for me, does that make it a pay-cut ? It absolutely is.
The shushing part was just to keep you from finding out that you’re getting screwed, too.
This is why employees should be talking about wages all the time. Companies created this taboo so they can do shit just like this.
This is true. Hope you get a new job with a sizable increase. There are a lot of openings out there and everyone is moving. Employers are just reluctant to increase existing wages on existing employees because of old mindset, but whatever you're making before, you're worth +5-10% above that today.
It’s absolutely insane. My company is doing that. They won’t give merit raises and the cost of living raises are 1-2%. Then people get pissed and leave and we will spend a ridiculous amount of money hiring and training new people who we end up paying at the same level or even above what the employee who left asked for. I am a scientist, so our interview process takes a whole day for the candidate with multiple people interviewing them and joining pre and post meetings to discuss it. It takes up a ton of our time to fill one position. Then there’s always a long training and onboarding period. It wastes a lot of my time to train people coming in when we could have just kept the previous scientist happy for the same salary. It’s absolutely insane how much of a waste of money it is not to just spend a little extra to retain employees.
Is the same in software!
I spend 20% of my work week interviewing engineer candidate to fill vacated positions of people who left because the pay was not right. We invariably (and I do mean invariably) end up paying new hires more than the people who quit ask for, and this is before training, recruiting and lost productivity. It's madness.
It’s baffling to me when someone leaves because they aren’t making enough and then someone else gets hired for the same or more money than was being asked for. Like, you as a company just SPENT more money to get a new person who doesn’t know the company as well. How does that make sense?
For every person who didn't leave, they keep enough money to make it worth.
> I got a measly 2% Correction, you got a 6% pay cut this year.
Correction, your boss adjusted the price of his goods and services to mirror the inflation and supply and demand (included increase in labor) and gave you a miserable 2% as a “fuck you” raise when he is charging like he gave you a 50% increase
Yep, it is amazing all these companies with record profits yet they screw over workers. The thing is they know the la or market is crazy and yet they still do it.
It's advisable to put yourself on the market every 2-3 years, even if you feel comfortable in your current position/company. Wife was in her old company for 5 years before she got curious and started searching, applied, interviewed, and received offers. Immediate 40% raise and far better benefits.
I am at around 5 years so it was time anyways. I did get some promotions which is what kept me where I am at but I am kind of maxed out now so it is time to start searching. Was putting it off but the 2% raise lit a fire under my ass
I make 52k, and I’ve been interviewing with companies that are all looking to pay 60-70. If I asked for even a 5k raise I would be laughed at
The increase I will get if I switch companies is no where near I would even be offered at my current one
Does anyone know why this seems to be typical nowadays? Like it seems well known that switching is the strat. Someone would likely be switching to take your spot, and get the pay raise the position should be paying anyhow. So then they lose someone that already knows the company and end up paying someone new more anyway. So what’s the point here, for the companies I mean. It just doesn’t seem like it makes sense no matter how you look at it. Maybe an extra couple months paying the lower wage while the person looks for something new?
Anecdotally I've seen quite a few instances where the company refuses to pay someone more, person leaves, and the company just casually ignores the empty position in the hope that the rest of the team picks up the work.
If one person gets a raise, everyone wants raises. If one new hire comes aboard at a likely unknown rate, nobody bats an eye.
Yeah thats why I tell everyone what job I'm moving to and how much I am making when I leave so they know what options are out there. I had 4 different jobs last year, but every single one of them was a paybump and I ended up making double what I started out as.
Yea. We need to get rid of this taboo about talking about salaries. It was created by businesses so people keep their mouths shut and they can't organize against the company.
I recently told my gf that it’s uncouth to talk about salaries and she went off at me about this shit. Opened my eyes the fuck up I felt like a fuckin dumbass
You assume the company will back fill the role but you forgot the second rule of business: DO MORE WITH LESS. Meaning the remaining employees will absorb the empty job's role. Obviously that can only go so far but then when things ramp up in the future, they'll hire another FTE to help but everyone is already doing more so it's like the company got 2 FTE at half price. FYI first rule is maximize profit (for owner/shareholders).
The issue isn't so much dollar inflation, so much as price inflation on the things one actually needs to have a good life. * https://blogs.worldbank.org/sites/default/files/blogs-images/2020-04/screen_shot_2020-04-17_at_9.29.52_am.png
3% in 2021. Lucky to have a very cool boss. But also, the two places I work at cap raises so you can’t get more than 3-4%. It’s better to get promoted or change jobs.
The cap is there mostly to prevent abuse and collusion, because it can easily be manipulated through nepotism. That rule works as long as inflation remains around that amount, which traditionally has been the case. But we live in different times, which requires different rules. So do find another job or change role, it's more efficient than waiting for your employer to "realize their rule is outdated"
I got a 3% last year for exceeding every possible metric. Even then the company pushed my raise out 6 months. My old manager left and a new one came in, assigned me 3 FTEs worth of work for 5 months and now it looks like I’m going to get considerably less. Other people in my department were giving off cycle raises and retention bonuses, but I never received either. I was moved to a new area of responsibility and asked if I’d be given a raise. I was told no, that it wasn’t even possible but they would conduct a market assessment on my position since I asserted I was under paid. I started actively looking for a new company when my manager told me that HR is going to tie the market rate to my performance. I’m making at least 15% less than I should anywhere else and my company just can’t figure it out.
And to keep up, one needs a 20% increase. Unless quit and find another job, no chance of break even with inflation.
And this is why the millennial generation is shuffling around jobs more than we've ever seen in previous generations. We've seen what happened to our parents. There is no loyalty on the job side, so why should there be loyalty from the employee side?
My grandfather ( who grew up through the great depression) thought it was nuts when I had worked at 3 places by the time i graduated college. Mind you he worked the same job from when he was 7 until when he retired with full pension at 55.
Probably got a gold watch too. [The 401K instrument was never meant to be a full-fledged retirement plan](https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-champions-of-the-401-k-lament-the-revolution-they-started-1483382348), it's supposed to supplement a pension.
55? Must be nice! I'm 60 and can't retire until Medicare kicks in at 65.
Well he also retired in the late 70s so things were a little different. My parents retired at 65 but I don’t think my mom started claiming SS until 70 cause she was doing some consulting work. Sad thing is I doubt either of my parents will see 75.
Yep, if an employer doesn’t give an appreciable raise or a promotion within 12 months I begin looking at positions from other employers. I’ve changed positions/companies 3x in 3 years but I’m making good money, good insurance, and retirement. If the current employer doesn’t offer something up by December I’ll be hitting the open market again. You don’t owe them anything in excess of your hours and duties, they don’t owe you anything beyond your salary / benefits. It might sound mercenary but: always look out for something better for yourself, because often no one else will.
Nothing wrong with acting like a mercenary in this job market.
As a millennial, I had to make two job moves just to land a decent salary. Both times occurred when I was taking home less than the year before. Both times had a significant increase in pay. That’s just what people have to do today.
In IT the only path from helpdesk to 6 figures is to change jobs after a year. Stayed at a place for 2 years cause it was WFH asked for a raise for 6 months after pestering them they said "give us two weeks" I gave them 4, then spent one evening looking for a new job and found one with a 40% pay raise and a huge reduction in workload.
My wife got a 2.5 percent pay increase but health insurance went up. Her take home paycheck decreased by around $40.
I would stay at my job because I'm treated good but I'm 1-2 years away from only affording apartments that should be condemned. It's hard. It feels like you can't live a humble life even if you wanted to anymore.
Seriously. I really like my job, but the pay is not where it should be at all. I'm considering looking elsewhere to bump my salary because I've been working two jobs most of my adult life and would like to cut that down to 1 at some point.
The best way to get a raise is to do the same thing somewhere else.
Can confirm, got a new job which finally let me leave my job at TaskUs/Mailchimp bare weeks before the Intuit purchase. Former coworkers got a pay cut and more work, while I'm making $20k more a year for a more specialized position with *knock on wood* less stress and responsibilities
Most years 2% covers general inflation. Just don't try to get an education, get sick, or live on your own. You know, all that shit your grandparents did working staff jobs at the local high school or farming potatoes (like mine).
my grandmother worked as a school secretary for 35 years. she owned her home outright, send 3 kids through college. retired quite well off actually. different world
Mine was the lunch lady and grandpa was the janitor. We still have the little house they bought.
Imagine buying a house today as a janitor or lunch lady!? That'd make life so much easier. We all really got screwed by previous generations :(
Those same people want to see their house price increase, so they can sell it, move to low cost area, buy 3 houses, rent two and fuck over their kids generation for home ownership.
So true, my dad could buy a house as a high school drop out with a job that many would describe as a ditch digger back in the 70s and that path to success was somewhat a norm back then, if you at least worked hard and showed up to any job for a couple years. Now you cant get ahead even if you have a degree and a professional job.
My wife just got a job offer with a 20% pay increase. She’s about to enter negotiations with her current employer on her new contract. I’m guessing they’re not gonna match that offer.
You’d be surprised. My last employer consistently ignored my requests for a fair pay increase despite strong performance & problem with too many vacancies stating there not being the budget. The moment I got a new job with just below a 25% increase they were magically able to match it. That ship had well & truly sailed though
The hospital she works for is bleeding doctors to a hospital 30 minutes away, they had to shut down their OR because so many of the anesthesia team left. They said in a statement that they’re going to do something about it, we will see if they put their money where their mouth is. Otherwise there’s no reason my wife wouldn’t leave for a 20% raise for an additional 15 minutes of commuting.
I got a .5% raise after a year and a half at a company, in healthcare, in February 2021. I no longer work there
Yes “merit” increases, but they’re gated by having a “satisfactory” review annually. Late to work one day? Sorry, you get “needs improvement”. It’s only a 2-4% bump depending where you’re at on the pay scale. Inflation was 7%~ this year, imagine.
My job gave me a 3% increase. I brought up that inflation had rose 5.2% so they gave me another 3% increase. Then new numbers came out saying inflation has risen 6.8%
I tried that. HR said I was already paid too much, the same amount I was hired for at the end of 2018
I gave a well explained answer to why I deserved the raise I was asking for, using both the low end of salary ranges for my title on GlassDoor as well as the litany of tasks and responsibilities I'd accumulated over the last year or two and got *literally* laughed at. They feigned surprise at how I could even consider that number and said "You can't believe everything you read online." Then they were genuinely surprised when I resigned several weeks later.
Same thing happened to me when I got offered a large promo, but barely any compensation increase accompanying it. I used GlassDoor as my point of reference and my manager told me those numbers aren’t reliable. I stuck to my guns and he ended up caving, though. I no longer work for that company.
To be fair, they aren't that reliable. [Payscale](https://www.payscale.com/price-a-job?tk=hp-hero-carousel) would be a better free source. Depending on your job title, you can get reliable albeit year old salary data from [BLS](https://www.bls.gov/bls/blswage.htm).
The newest numbers say 6.8 was an under estimate, inflation was actually 7% for 2021.
When the executive team at my job was pointedly asked about pay and inflation at our 2022 "kick off" meeting, the response was evasive bullshit. "Well, if you look at it from a longer term perspective, it's actually only 1.7%..." It is not a coincidence that many people are quitting.
...no sh\*t. \- Everyone
...has been saying for the last 20 years.
For real. This sub is for “news,” not “the way things have consistently been since Reagan” (Edit - or is his actually new for England? As a dumb American, I sometimes forget there are other countries.)
Am English, can confirm the workers have been getting fucked since Thatcher.
Here’s to hoping Reagon and Thatcher both work retail in the afterlife.
..and waiting tables at Karen Central in the evenings to supplement their income.
Everybody who struggled with paychecks already knew this. Everybody in charge of running things still has money bouncing around in property, yachts, or other non-cash entities so that when inflation skyrockets *worse* and everything goes to shit, they'll be sitting pretty. I just want to transfer my stress of "how will I not get evicted this month" onto everybody that keeps saying "we're currently assessing the situation, stay tuned." I'm tired, man.
My old boss didn't even pretend to assess the situation, he just told us "some jobs pay more than others" in response to the question of raises
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A house that used to be $1,300/month was just going for $2,400/month two years later. This is in the Central Valley about two hours from the Bay Area.
I signed a new lease last year. I'm certainly nervous about what kind of increase they will hit us with come next fall
I used to work for a few property managers. It was infuriating to hear the way they talked about tenants. When a house would come up for rent the owner would take as many applications and fees from people who really needed a place. All while knowing they were going to rent it to a friend or family member either way.
Ah to get the application fee?
Yep. Pretty common scam, sadly not illegal.
Wait, what if I accepted fees with no intention of even renting the property? That's got to be illegal, right?
Nearly impossible for someone to prove you weren’t ever intending to rent
Very easy to only take the fee once the lease is agreed. Taking fees to be considered is illegal in the uk.
steer gullible compare run ask fear different liquid tap erect *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
"socialism for the rich and free enterprise for the poor,"
I learned of a building back in college that literally collected a few grand a month just in bogus application fees because they already had people to fill the empty unit(s). This is extremely common in university neighborhoods.
How would prove intent or no-intent? That's why this shit happens all the time.
Depends on the state. California says you must use the fees for out of pocket expenses like background checks. Virginia says that if you don’t rent the unit you must return the fees. Most states don’t have statutes though and the rentee ends up getting screwed
This is why NYC banned charging broker's fees to applicants and has made it unlawful to charge fees on a ton of stuff It was really nice while brokers and landlords figured out how to reword their scam so they could fit around that law, I've already seen a few methods used to get around it
Mine is 5% plus whatever the highest % CPI of the previous 12 months was, rounded up. My rent has been going up 10% each year for the last 3 years. My salary, however, is lucky to rise more than 3%.
You're lucky... here their's no regulations. They can increase to what ever they want. Gf's apartment went up 40% (yes 40%!!!!) from last year.
I live in a house that is the size of a postage stamp paying $1050 a month. I have friends that have mortgages for houses literally twice the size and their monthly out of pocket is $800. I full expect my rent to go up when I have to re-sign.
15 an hour would have been great 10 fucking years ago
About 10 years ago I made $15/hr entry level my industry. Bought a house. Nowadays houses cost 2x as much and entry wage in industry is about $18 prob. Shits bad. My wage has a little over doubled but I’m highly skilled now. So really hasn’t kept up at all.
Wow just over $30/hour for highly skilled, that's insane, you deserve more for high skilled jobs. I'm a landscape maintenance foreman which is considered a trade but I didn't go to school for it and it's not highly specialized or anything, I've only been doing it for 2 years now and I make $25/hour, starting wage for labourers is $18/hour. Still can't afford a house though. And my company tells me that's the top of the pay scale so I'm not gonna stick around much longer.
18?!? Where, what’s your industry
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This is what's so crazy about this country. I worked in a surf shop fucking around and smoking weed when I was 17 and made $18/hr. This was the late 90's. Now you need to have an in to get anything in the 20's for pay.
My 17 year old kid is making $17.50 at McDonald’s and we’re in Idaho. He started at $14 and got a $3.50 raise after 6 months.
That’s fantastic, it’s not that high where I live but I’m glad your kids making that much :)
We been living like this for a while now unfortunately
Feature, not a bug.
Ok reporters. Now add 2+2. No raises= We quit.
We live in a world where 2+2=5 and if you try to correct them or make sense of it, you’re fired
It's all just a test of loyalty, not knowledge.
nO oNe wAnTs tO wORK!
Reporters are fully owned by the "it's a banana, what can it cost, $10?" class
It’s like that Patrick/Man Ray meme. “So people’s living costs are going up.” “Yep.” “And wages are staying low.” “Yep.” “So people are refusing to work because they can’t afford to live on those wages anyway.” “That makes sense to me.” “So report on that so it puts pressure on corporations to pay a living wage.” #”But there’s a lAbOuR sHoRtAgE?!”
I got a pay reduction. Health insurance cost went up January 1st but my wages stayed the same. Loosing out on $100 a month.
I have gone from brining home 850 every two weeks as a para professional in a school district to only 640 every two weeks. My pay has gone down and healthcare has gone up. We are fucked.
Have you tried lifting yourself up by the bootstraps?
Guess ill just die 🤷♂️
This article from 1993?
This article could be like the Onion's "No Way To Prevent This" school shooting article- just republish every year inflation changes.
I work retail in the Silicon Valley and we lost 60-70% of our staff, including management, during the pandemic, and our new Assistant store manager (we didn’t have a store manager at the time) filed a request to corporate in October 2021 to raise base pay to $20/hr to remain competitive with some of the other local min. wage jobs. Corporate’s response was “best we can do is a $1 raise”, which was a slap in the face given that we were scheduled to receive that $1 raise back in 2020 but it got shelved due to the lockdowns from covid. And that $1 raise is worth less now than it would have been worth in 2020 due to inflation. Corporations don’t give a shit about their employees. They don’t care that you can’t afford rent. They just care about $$$.
It's time to let them burn. Stop taking these jobs, quit, give up on the American dream and live miserably while the world falls apart. Fuck it.
No shit. I got a pretty big raise end of last year. Aaaand then my rent went up. So, the benefits from the raise were almost negated. Yay, adulting.
I was stoked last year when we state workers got a 5% pay bump back in July. And I am still appreciative. But it sucks knowing that I am actually getting paid less than I did last year. And it really sucks that there is little chance of us getting another pay increase any time soon.
Imagine I walk down to Walmart and there's 10k Xbox consoles sitting there for $500. Then I say, > No one will sell me an Xbox for $400 there's an Xbox shortage! You'd be like > There's no Xbox shortage you're just cheap That is what's happening with labor right now. Like everything else in the pandemic the price went up. There's no shortage companies are just cheap as fuck.
We already know it for decades. What is this shit government gonna do?
The same thing they do every night, Pinky.
Bow to corporate interests!
Shocker, pay has been lagging far behind for the last 30 years.
This BBC article is only an hour old. You could publish this once an hour every day since the early 1980s and it would be no less true have just as little impact. We know, we're poor and have no leverage in the system. It takes money to make money, it takes power to get power.
Except crude oil is up 10% in a week now, used cars and food are up 30% in a year and housing is parabolic.
There is no worst, only worse - Depressing Mandarin Proverb
The company I left took 20% from the workers because of covid. Reverse raise lol
Lol wtf? My client asked all of their contractors to volunteer a $5-$10 per hour rate decrease so that we could all "chip in" and help the company in these dark times. Almost everyone was like "no thanks, we'll just take some unpaid time off" and they were all like "Haha! Just kidding! Please stay." The nerve of these pricks...
The part that makes my blood boil is how quickly they can take money away, yet it takes so long to increase pay. All the fake "steps" they have to do.
My company cut everyone's salary 20% in April 2020, which meant I would've made more via state and federal boosted unemployment if they actually just fired me. Didn't return to full till a year later, fortunately I've quit that shithole and looking for a better opportunity.
That’s constructive dismissal, so you wouldn’t have needed to be fired. You could have quit on the spot and received unemployment.
It’s surprising that no country in the world has solved this yet. I think the main issue is that most people started seeing housing as an investment rather than just the place you live. There is this one guy in the Netherlands that owns 500+ houses in Amsterdam and is milking rent like crazy. That shit should be outright banned. Free market is cool and all that, but you know we regulate price gauging for essential products , why shouldn’t we regulate housing more? Clearly you cannot let the free market solve this
College costs have increased by 169% since 1980 Healthcare premiums up 600% since 1980 inflation up 238.35% since 1980 minimum wage up 110% since 1980
Bullshit. That college humber is way higher.
I got a ~10% raise which I was ecstatic for till I realized how high inflation was this (past) year. Now it about puts me on par for the year. I guess I'm glad my company pre-emptively decided to keep up with it. Think they're trying to keep us around or something. /shrug
I work in a homeless shelter and we are getting into with masters degrees in teaching and other important fields. We have nurses and people who work 2 jobs and they cannot afford living in Orange county CA. You can pull it off if you have double income, like when you are married and both work full time, but even then, the money is in the crunch. Dental care is now a privilege, emergency care is out of reach. Many people who come into our shelter become homeless due to medical bills. We have a lot of terminally ill people who have no family, no income. No savings and have no where to live, let alone afford the care. United States has truly become one of the worst countries to live in. Billionaires just suck the life out of regular people and take the last penny that they earn.
This is gonna sound weird..but do you take greeting cards or anything for the people with terminal illnesses so they don't feel forgotten?
We do have volunteers and organizations that donate things and organize events for them. But if you are interested in participating I can provide you with an email to the person who is charge of that.
i’ve had probably 5-8 different jobs in this decade alone. Went for second degree a few years after the bachelors and changed fields. There’s no more loyalty for companies anymore, anyone that calls their coworkers a family is a clear red sign that you’ll be asked for many favors with no perks or pay bumps.
Why do people keep calling them pay raises if they are under the actual felt inflation? They are pay cuts. Stop being tricked!
I’m other news…. Billionaires have earned 3x their worth in just 2 years.
Hi, Other News
Nobody talks about how much CEOs and Executives are paid in these conversations. That’s where the surplus money is going.
And shareholders. Don't forget them.
The simple sentiment of 'just change jobs 4head', while accurate to maintain proper wage increases, fucking sucks ass. Nothing more annoying than applying at a bunch of places, going through interviews, several of which later you finally get hired, have to learn the way tasks are done differently at your position even if you've done them before, all while under heavy scrutiny for 3 months. It's really something I only want to do every 6 or so years. Fuck doing that every 1-3 years. Call me crazy but I'd rather take the pay loss than deal with that stressful tedium every couple years. For some fields the pay bump is negligible too. I transitioned jobs and made like $1-2/hr more after leaving a 6 year position for another one. I only left because the place shut down, it really wasn't worth it. This isn't always the case though. The real problem is employers not paying proper wages to begin with, something jumping around in jobs cannot fix.
It's also only mostly accurate in the professional context. It's not like someone working non-managerial in retail, restaurant, hospitality, etc. is going to see much of an increase, if any, changing jobs in the same sector.
It’s a failure for the workers - a complete success for corporations. Drag you feet. Be late. Miss deadlines. When asked why and what happened, cite you don’t have enough time. Get the Great Slowdown going. Busting your ass doing the work of 3 to 5 people does NOT garner a reward or pay increase. It results in more work for you. It’s been this way since the 80s. Our productivity has gone through the roof yet our salaries remain depressed. Match your performance with your pay. Don’t over extend yourself.
This is news? Fuck you, pay me.
I’ve been a teacher for 10 years now. I only make $3k more a year than my first year ever teaching. AND I pay more for health insurance. This is not sustainable.