New paper shows that 37% of workers in US saw real wages decline from 2021-2024 [pdf]

The other interesting finding here is that only 57% of these "job stayers" beat or matched inflation, while 43% suffered a real wage cut. A huge chunk of the people who's wages beat inflation only did so due to job hopping

I guess RSUs aren't really "real wages" but mine vested over four years to the extent that by the time I left they were worth barely 25% of what they had been when I signed the offer. Happened over time, too, so quarterly vests took a decent hit in that timeframe.

What 2021-2024?

Check the prices of the flagship 1975 Ferrari, the flagship 1975 Hasselblad camera, or, I don't know, a 1975 Cessna 182 in reference to median 1975 household income.

Then check it again for 2026.

Oh, but we have GPS, Amazon Prime, and doomscrolling now.

Thanks, I'd rather take the Cessna.

Would love to see this calculated in high cost of living areas (NY, CA), pretty sure some people have seen 20% wage declines since covid (in terms of how far your income goes)

So 63% didn't. I wonder what the average netted out to. Increase or decrease and how much?

This was at the tail end of Covid where a lot of in-person workers were out of a job.

The paper only mentions total compensation as: "total compensation (base wages plus bonuses)"

Total compensation includes stock options, stock grants, health insurance premiums, 401k contributions, so-called "employer social security contributions", retirement contributions, time off with pay, etc. Total compensation averages 146% of wages.

This is not a triviality.

The paper doesn't cover this, and so the conclusions don't have merit.

In terms of GB of DRAM it looks even worse.

I haven't had a pay raise since about 2021 so yes, that makes sense. Purchasing power is definitely down.

Who would have guessed printing a bunch of money would be a working class tax

Title is: Sticky Wage Norms and the Real Wage Cost of Unexpected Inflation

Interactive brief: https://bfidatastudio.org/project/sticky-wage-norms-and-the-...

No big surprise- were making mess money and terrified of losing our jobs, afraid of losing healthcare and can’t afford our homes, less social because of doom scrolling

Welcome to the progress and “better world” that Tech Bros promised while they reaped billions of the VC/PE economy

Me for example.

Dot Com 2.0 was 2008-2016

These youngsters talking about 2020s have no idea!

...and the money printer went brrrr

That was bound to happen with the 8-9% inflation we had during the Biden years. 2026 will likely see a similar decline thanks to Trump’s war in Iran.

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About fucking time someone called bullshit.

You'll never believe what happened next

LOL

Tied to immigration levels, more cheap labor, more labor competition, wages go down. Immigrants willing to live 2 to a bedroom, rise in rent prices.

During/immediately after a global pandemic? No!