Most people I know who were lucky enough to get raises got only one or two percent:
NEW YORK (AP) — If you hope to get a raise that finally feels like one, it helps to work in the right industry.
Pay for all kinds of workers should be rising by this point in the economy’s recovery. But five years after the Great Recession officially ended, raises remain sharply uneven across industries and, as a whole, have barely kept up with prices. Overall pay has been rising about 2 percent a year, roughly equal to inflation.
The best raises have gone to workers with specialized skills in a few booming industries — energy, transportation, health care, technology. Those in retail or government have been less fortunate.
“If you’re in an in-demand field, with the right skill set, the chance of getting a raise is much higher,” says Katie Bardaro, an economist at PayScale, a pay-tracking firm.
Bill Clinton gave us a very low unemployment rate. Some say he gave us full employment. Unfortunately most of the jobs he created were low-paying service industry jobs. Those jobs disappeared as soon as the 2005 recession began. Millions of them. Clinton shipped high-paying, union jobs in the manufacturing sector overseas with his Bush Sr. NAFTA legislation. Millions of them. His NAFTA also flooded the Mexican market with cheap produce causing Mexican farmers by the millions to abandon their farms. Guess where those displaced farmers and their families traveled to? The oligarchy (1%) are real tricky folks when it comes to making profit.
Thanks for your daily dose of CDS idiocy, IM. Always good for a laff.
Wages have been stagnant since the 1970s. The only way to get a significant raise is to get a promotion or, quit and find another company. I did that once and eventually came back to work at my old company with a 30% increase in salary. Since then – 1 or 2% a year. My income (including yearly company-wide incentive bonuses) in 2013 was within $200 of my income in 2012.