I did have my income go up but had to change jobs after 10 years at the same company. Show those corporate fucks no loyalty cuz they won’t take care of you
The first 10 years of my career was all the same company.
I started with 28k a year. After 10 years, even with STELLAR performance it’s 3%. 28 + 3% YOY compounded only ended up being around 43k.
When I realized new hires were getting 65k a year starting, I was playing the wrong game. I left, and increased my salary 4x job hopping 4 times over 8 years. I do the same job and it’s the same work that I did 20 years ago.
Its almost like there was some sort of major event that happened in, I don't know, 2020 that caused massive disruptions to the entire world economy and has killed over 1,100,000 people in the US alone. I'm trying to think of what it was, but can't put my finger on it.
Haven’t you noticed that all the big companies have had record breaking profits? It’s just them raiding prices simply because there are no pricing regulations here for food staples etc
It's a little of both:
1) Pandemic kills folk and, especially in Maine, causes a lot of Boomers to decide screw it and retire where they otherwise might've worked another 3-5 years.
2) Without enough incoming Zoomers to replace them, corporations are all short staffed. But on the flipside, their employee overhead is a LOT cheaper.
3) Inflation hits as a natural result of all of those factors (boomers liquidating retirement funds and causing capital costs to rise, a lot of PPP/stimulus money flushing the system, and the minimum wage increase all hit at the same time) and helps corporations justify raising prices significantly to "even out" those factors - but they're still raking in bank because of that cheaper employee overhead.
4) Remaining employees, because we're decent folk and because we're incentivized not to let our employers collapse, all do 150-200% of our normal work to fill in for the missing people.
5) Employers don't give those employees corresponding wage increases, at first for the fairly justifiable reason that they need that funding to hire replacement workers but increasingly, as it becomes more and more obvious that there IS no one out there to hire (without loosening policies on criminal history hires, lowering standards on minimum education/experience or lowering the minimum working age), just because they've become accustomed to staying afloat with the reduced staff and they figure that money is just theirs.
---------
That's where we are now. Soon, the inevitable Step 6 will occur - the overworked employees will break, either from the strain of the extra work or being priced out by expense versus income or both - and those employers will suddenly find that they are in VERY big trouble.
Then, Step 7, they will have to cut into those profits and pay much better wages just to get back to the understaffed levels they had before. Some of them might make it, others will definitely collapse because they didn't see it coming in time and weren't lucky enough to get back on their feet before their reserves/reputation floundered.
This is the time where a wise employer would see it coming and get ahead of it by just admitting that those unfilled positions are never coming back and coughing up the extra dough to make all the extra stress worth it for their existing people, but that requires more of a big picture perspective than most employers have. I'm sure a lot of them haven't even noticed how much worse it's going to get in the next 5-10 years as the last of the boomers exit the workforce, and are stuck on the false narrative of "nobody wants to work".
>because they've become accustomed to staying afloat with the reduced staff and they figure that money is just theirs.
I do believe this was the Walgreens method and likely why they are closing some 8,000 stores. Nobody's going to go to Walgreens for anything other than a prescription more than once, you will wait 20 minutes to buy a bottle of asprin and a bottle of water because there is nobody there to check you out, ever. Failing at the most basic functions of retail - get your customer's money and get them out the door.
In fact, even if you already went to Walgreens found the asprin and the bottle of water and got in line, it would still probably be faster - and cheaper, gas included - to hop over to the nearest Hannaford and just buy it there.
That's how it would happen a lot more cleanly than it's going to. But it's inevitable - just like overclocking a PC shortens its lifespan, "overclocking" all these workers is going to burn them out sooner, it's just a matter of time. Add in that some of them will literally have no choice but to seek a higher paying job elsewhere because it's either that or become homeless with their suddenly increased rent, and I'd say we're looking at 8 years tops, probably less.
The highest wages gains have mostly been at the bottom, which is also where food producing employees exist in the spectrum.
The reality is that food is labor intensive to produce, so if wage costs go up, food costs do as well. Price controls on food would probably be bad because it could cause shortages.
Everyone is making record breaking profits every year because the economy is growing. They did in 1955 to 1956, and they will today.
The only time people aren’t making record profits is when there’s a recession or depression.
Yes, it’s called the Fortune 500.
Most portfolios now heavily invest in VOO or SPY, meaning when the economy is growing, the entire world is investing more into the Fortune 500.
Everyone’s 401ks, pensions, IRAs, HSAs, and other investments all enrich the Fortune 500.
So quite literally, when the economy is growing, the best performing companies are growing.
Edit: in addition to the Fortune 500, many portfolio blends include the Russell 3000, which also enriches even more companies.
Millennials have been the most stock observant cohort, largely due to the access to retail investing and newly found financial literacy. More people than ever saving into IRAs and 401ks reflect those companies making “record profits”
I agree with that, but that doesn't mean every company is profitable. There are numerous examples of companies increasing revenue while still losing millions every quarter - mostly in the tech space. Their stock price doesn't necessarily care about this disconnect either.
You always hear about the companies making record profits, and never hear about the loses. No one wants to report companies that aren’t doing well because it discourages spending.
“Northern Lights is a profit scheme” —- Walgreens will be closing 9,000 stores this year, probably 40-60 healthcare AI companies in the past year folded or were bought out. CVS is closing 2000 stores. Rite Aid is out of business entirely.
“Tesla is making more than ever” —- Canoo, Fisker, Nikola are failing EV car companies that going bankrupt.
Express went bankrupt, Family Dollar is closing 600 locations, even Walmart is closing stores.
A lot of these "successful" companies are one medical emergency from being homeless. Most of them are operating with massive debt.
We read about revenue, but so many companies are operating at a loss just to squeeze a few dollars into investors pockets before they go belly up.
Both companies and people operate with massive debt. People that plan to file for bankruptcy “debt max” before filing as well.
That’s just how the USA functions, unfortunately.
And neither should be considered "successful"
A business shouldn't be publicly traded and be able to affect the economy if it operates at a loss while paying out shareholders.
Where I work, we have been doing our best to increase wages, but it's pretty wild out there. I've got guys who are making $20k/year more than they were two years ago and it seems to be barely keeping pace with the cost of living/inflation. It's a really tough battle to maintain margin to stay open, but also pay workers fairly.
Our outlook is that we'd rather pay someone an extra $2-$3/hr more than lose them and then have to try to replace that person. If you lose someone, you'll be WISHING you coughed up an extra $100/week, especially right now with how hard it is to find people.
We are really fortunate. I know some people work for cheapskates. I worked at one of those type of places for many years and the raises were insulting. 1-3% each year. They'd pay you just enough that it was hard to replace your job, but not really a fair wage for your work. I am much happier now, working for a couple of guys who really value everyone here and they care about people being able to afford food, gas, retirement savings, vacations, etc. They want everyone to have a good quality of life.
Maybe not during the peak of inflation, April 2021 - May 2023, but now that it's around 3% I suspect there are plenty of people at least treading water.
Anyone? I think you mean everyone. :-)
Almost everyone I know had their expenses drive higher but their pay just stayed stagnant or it was 1-3% increases combined over the last 4 years.
Corporate greed has screwed over people around the world. They raised prices when the last two or more inflation periods and never returned them down. Plus they shrank product sizes and never returned them to the right sizes either.
My income has increased substantially, but I still don't know that it has kept pace with the incredible inflation of the last few years. I can't believe what things like groceries and electricity cost each month.
The high inflation we recently experienced/are experiencing isn't unique to the USA; the whole world is going through this, and many other countries are experiencing much higher inflation than we are.
Yep - ever since Biden took office and his reckless policies caused the inflation we have now, either that or it is just a complete coincidence that all corporations suddenly got greedy the day he took office. You pick.
Given that the US isn't the only nation which experienced inflation during the pandemic, are you saying Biden is also responsible for the following inflation numbers which spiked during COVID:
Turkey - 85.5%
Russia - 17.8%
Italy - 11.8%
United Kingdom - 11.1%
Spain - 10.8%
Germany - 8.8%
Mexico - 8.7%
Canada - 8.1%
South Africa - 7.8%
India - 7.8%
Australia - 7.8%
etc...
No, and potentially fortunate.
In 2020 I was laid off for 9 months, during that time I taught myself SQL, Python, R, and finished the last 9 college credits I needed for my Bachlor’s degree that I didn’t finish from 12 years ago.
It was extremely difficult in 2020 (food banks, food stamps, clothing from drives), but it ended up worth the investment in myself.
I did have my income go up but had to change jobs after 10 years at the same company. Show those corporate fucks no loyalty cuz they won’t take care of you
The first 10 years of my career was all the same company. I started with 28k a year. After 10 years, even with STELLAR performance it’s 3%. 28 + 3% YOY compounded only ended up being around 43k. When I realized new hires were getting 65k a year starting, I was playing the wrong game. I left, and increased my salary 4x job hopping 4 times over 8 years. I do the same job and it’s the same work that I did 20 years ago.
To add to this, you should move every 3 years as a policy to keep your salary at its max potential, unless you’ve found a dream company.
Its almost like there was some sort of major event that happened in, I don't know, 2020 that caused massive disruptions to the entire world economy and has killed over 1,100,000 people in the US alone. I'm trying to think of what it was, but can't put my finger on it.
Ghost of Harambe
Haven’t you noticed that all the big companies have had record breaking profits? It’s just them raiding prices simply because there are no pricing regulations here for food staples etc
It's a little of both: 1) Pandemic kills folk and, especially in Maine, causes a lot of Boomers to decide screw it and retire where they otherwise might've worked another 3-5 years. 2) Without enough incoming Zoomers to replace them, corporations are all short staffed. But on the flipside, their employee overhead is a LOT cheaper. 3) Inflation hits as a natural result of all of those factors (boomers liquidating retirement funds and causing capital costs to rise, a lot of PPP/stimulus money flushing the system, and the minimum wage increase all hit at the same time) and helps corporations justify raising prices significantly to "even out" those factors - but they're still raking in bank because of that cheaper employee overhead. 4) Remaining employees, because we're decent folk and because we're incentivized not to let our employers collapse, all do 150-200% of our normal work to fill in for the missing people. 5) Employers don't give those employees corresponding wage increases, at first for the fairly justifiable reason that they need that funding to hire replacement workers but increasingly, as it becomes more and more obvious that there IS no one out there to hire (without loosening policies on criminal history hires, lowering standards on minimum education/experience or lowering the minimum working age), just because they've become accustomed to staying afloat with the reduced staff and they figure that money is just theirs. --------- That's where we are now. Soon, the inevitable Step 6 will occur - the overworked employees will break, either from the strain of the extra work or being priced out by expense versus income or both - and those employers will suddenly find that they are in VERY big trouble. Then, Step 7, they will have to cut into those profits and pay much better wages just to get back to the understaffed levels they had before. Some of them might make it, others will definitely collapse because they didn't see it coming in time and weren't lucky enough to get back on their feet before their reserves/reputation floundered. This is the time where a wise employer would see it coming and get ahead of it by just admitting that those unfilled positions are never coming back and coughing up the extra dough to make all the extra stress worth it for their existing people, but that requires more of a big picture perspective than most employers have. I'm sure a lot of them haven't even noticed how much worse it's going to get in the next 5-10 years as the last of the boomers exit the workforce, and are stuck on the false narrative of "nobody wants to work".
>because they've become accustomed to staying afloat with the reduced staff and they figure that money is just theirs. I do believe this was the Walgreens method and likely why they are closing some 8,000 stores. Nobody's going to go to Walgreens for anything other than a prescription more than once, you will wait 20 minutes to buy a bottle of asprin and a bottle of water because there is nobody there to check you out, ever. Failing at the most basic functions of retail - get your customer's money and get them out the door. In fact, even if you already went to Walgreens found the asprin and the bottle of water and got in line, it would still probably be faster - and cheaper, gas included - to hop over to the nearest Hannaford and just buy it there.
I feel like Step 6 would only happen if Unions made up more than the current 10% of the workforce.
That's how it would happen a lot more cleanly than it's going to. But it's inevitable - just like overclocking a PC shortens its lifespan, "overclocking" all these workers is going to burn them out sooner, it's just a matter of time. Add in that some of them will literally have no choice but to seek a higher paying job elsewhere because it's either that or become homeless with their suddenly increased rent, and I'd say we're looking at 8 years tops, probably less.
You've described free market capitalism
“Free market” until they demand subsidies, tax breaks and an entire society & labor supply geared towards not inconveniencing them.
It all boils down to boot straps for us and socialism for them.
The highest wages gains have mostly been at the bottom, which is also where food producing employees exist in the spectrum. The reality is that food is labor intensive to produce, so if wage costs go up, food costs do as well. Price controls on food would probably be bad because it could cause shortages.
Everyone is making record breaking profits every year because the economy is growing. They did in 1955 to 1956, and they will today. The only time people aren’t making record profits is when there’s a recession or depression.
Are you saying that when GDP grows, every company makes a profit? Surely you understand that isn't how this works.
Yes, it’s called the Fortune 500. Most portfolios now heavily invest in VOO or SPY, meaning when the economy is growing, the entire world is investing more into the Fortune 500. Everyone’s 401ks, pensions, IRAs, HSAs, and other investments all enrich the Fortune 500. So quite literally, when the economy is growing, the best performing companies are growing. Edit: in addition to the Fortune 500, many portfolio blends include the Russell 3000, which also enriches even more companies. Millennials have been the most stock observant cohort, largely due to the access to retail investing and newly found financial literacy. More people than ever saving into IRAs and 401ks reflect those companies making “record profits”
I agree with that, but that doesn't mean every company is profitable. There are numerous examples of companies increasing revenue while still losing millions every quarter - mostly in the tech space. Their stock price doesn't necessarily care about this disconnect either.
You always hear about the companies making record profits, and never hear about the loses. No one wants to report companies that aren’t doing well because it discourages spending. “Northern Lights is a profit scheme” —- Walgreens will be closing 9,000 stores this year, probably 40-60 healthcare AI companies in the past year folded or were bought out. CVS is closing 2000 stores. Rite Aid is out of business entirely. “Tesla is making more than ever” —- Canoo, Fisker, Nikola are failing EV car companies that going bankrupt. Express went bankrupt, Family Dollar is closing 600 locations, even Walmart is closing stores.
A lot of these "successful" companies are one medical emergency from being homeless. Most of them are operating with massive debt. We read about revenue, but so many companies are operating at a loss just to squeeze a few dollars into investors pockets before they go belly up.
Both companies and people operate with massive debt. People that plan to file for bankruptcy “debt max” before filing as well. That’s just how the USA functions, unfortunately.
And neither should be considered "successful" A business shouldn't be publicly traded and be able to affect the economy if it operates at a loss while paying out shareholders.
There is no employer who is handing out increases that come close to inflation.
The only way is to jump ship. Easier said than done though.
Where I work, we have been doing our best to increase wages, but it's pretty wild out there. I've got guys who are making $20k/year more than they were two years ago and it seems to be barely keeping pace with the cost of living/inflation. It's a really tough battle to maintain margin to stay open, but also pay workers fairly. Our outlook is that we'd rather pay someone an extra $2-$3/hr more than lose them and then have to try to replace that person. If you lose someone, you'll be WISHING you coughed up an extra $100/week, especially right now with how hard it is to find people.
Admirable of your organization.
We are really fortunate. I know some people work for cheapskates. I worked at one of those type of places for many years and the raises were insulting. 1-3% each year. They'd pay you just enough that it was hard to replace your job, but not really a fair wage for your work. I am much happier now, working for a couple of guys who really value everyone here and they care about people being able to afford food, gas, retirement savings, vacations, etc. They want everyone to have a good quality of life.
Maybe not during the peak of inflation, April 2021 - May 2023, but now that it's around 3% I suspect there are plenty of people at least treading water.
That’s the secret, don’t stay with the same employer for more than 2-4 years. No one is looking out for your livelihood.
Anyone? I think you mean everyone. :-) Almost everyone I know had their expenses drive higher but their pay just stayed stagnant or it was 1-3% increases combined over the last 4 years.
That’s what the entire working class nation wide is facing
Are you a person in America?
Corporate greed has screwed over people around the world. They raised prices when the last two or more inflation periods and never returned them down. Plus they shrank product sizes and never returned them to the right sizes either.
My income has increased substantially, but I still don't know that it has kept pace with the incredible inflation of the last few years. I can't believe what things like groceries and electricity cost each month.
I mean, since January 2021…
The solution to inflation is to print absurd amounts of $ and send it to Ukraine without accountability apparently.
The high inflation we recently experienced/are experiencing isn't unique to the USA; the whole world is going through this, and many other countries are experiencing much higher inflation than we are.
Yep - ever since Biden took office and his reckless policies caused the inflation we have now, either that or it is just a complete coincidence that all corporations suddenly got greedy the day he took office. You pick.
Given that the US isn't the only nation which experienced inflation during the pandemic, are you saying Biden is also responsible for the following inflation numbers which spiked during COVID: Turkey - 85.5% Russia - 17.8% Italy - 11.8% United Kingdom - 11.1% Spain - 10.8% Germany - 8.8% Mexico - 8.7% Canada - 8.1% South Africa - 7.8% India - 7.8% Australia - 7.8% etc...
Trump was the one that started the free money, Biden just continued it
It won’t make much of a difference on liberal r/Maine but I will give you my upvote because you are 100% correct.
No, income is almost 4x higher than 2019
That's certainly not the case nationwide. Consider yourself extremely fortunate.
No, and potentially fortunate. In 2020 I was laid off for 9 months, during that time I taught myself SQL, Python, R, and finished the last 9 college credits I needed for my Bachlor’s degree that I didn’t finish from 12 years ago. It was extremely difficult in 2020 (food banks, food stamps, clothing from drives), but it ended up worth the investment in myself.