Wages have outpaced inflation the last few year in the US and I don't think people will admit it, amirite?

There was a massive spike in inflation in the range of 25% to 50%. Almost no company's wage growth kept pace with this inflation, and a large portion of people saw no wage increases during this period. Wage increases outpacing inflation after inflation drops to 2% to 3% doesn't change the fact that people are still hurting from higher prices. It will likely take 10 to 25 years at this pace for most people to recover from COVID.

by Anonymous 5 hours ago

Right? People think they can cherry pick data to prove whatever point they want, and think nobody will notice. The past three years don't exist in a vacuum, but OP wants us to believe they do.

by kevonweber 5 hours ago

Inflation, as reported, specifically leaves out certain categories that are very much not left out when calculating total cost of living. And these changes are averaged, so it doesn't tell the whole picture. Take housing for example. If you are in the same home you were in pre-2020, your net worth went up and your bills stayed the same. If you made more money or even the same money, housing didnt affect you. If you bought in 2022 or later, you are living a different reality than the first group. If you are renting, you are living a different reality than the first group.

by Flat_Vanilla3781 4 hours ago

Exactly. As an example, you could have bought a house in 2020 for 500k with 20% down and 3% interest. About 2400 monthly payment. That same house is now 750k. 20% down went from 100k to 150k. Interest went from 3% to 6.5%. You're now paying about 4800 a month for that house. Wages did not keep up.

by Anonymous 4 hours ago

In America, sure, America is great to be middle class but sucks if you're poor In Canada, even being middle class sucks cause you're taxed to death and your money sucks and your wages suck

by eliseoschiller 4 hours ago

Middle class in America is 200k plus

by Anonymous 4 hours ago

this is stupendously ignorant about basic economics as in the end effective buying power fell and did infact not rise regardless of inflation

by Confident-Primary 3 hours ago

macro vs small scale its possible over covid the higher recovery allowed it but at macroscales inflation has massively outscales wages

by Confident-Primary 3 hours ago

not to mention that it only looks at one part of the data. its not like minimum wage has moved for most states. Averages are horribly skewed.

by Anonymous 3 hours ago

point should look at median not averages

by Confident-Primary 3 hours ago

Citation needed. I'd like to read it

by Anonymous 3 hours ago

Oh. I'm not sure about European countries - I haven't looked at that region. But thanks for this.

by Anonymous 2 hours ago

I'm sorry my econ calsses were in german so my terms might be a bit off but just because your wages are inreased doesn't mean the actual people have more money to spend in the economy since the producing sector lets the consumer pay the increase in cost from higher wages. In german this would be called Löhne und Realllöhne or wages and the actual worth accounted for Inflation. You can find all of that on the first few pages of google.

by Specialist-Drama 2 hours ago

Someone didn't read their own sources

by Gullible_Door6929 2 hours ago

I'm going to be simple and give the small minded answer. I'm not learn-ed, just a high school diploma, I don't follow Forbes or the DOW Jones, all I know is what I see in front of me. I believe that since Covid I have gotten better pay and more opportunities that I had in any period of time before. That said, things weren't exactly moving up in the world pre-covid, so I'm not sure the few raises I've gotten in the last 5 years make up for the stagnation I experienced for the decade before that, and whether my pay goes up or not, inflation always will.

by Anonymous 2 hours ago

I think the issue with the point you are trying to make is that this is all very short term, and while you may be correct in the short term, there has been a much larger discrepancy in buying power over a longer period of time that is not being accounted for if you are looking at statistics within the last 5 to even 10 years.

by Anonymous 1 hour ago

Exactly

by Anonymous 1 hour ago

I want everyone to remember this when 2024 was full of disparaging remarks about the "vibecesscion", and 2025 has been nothing but "cost of living" and "price of groceries". Depending on one's political leanings, it either wasn't a problem and now suddenly is, or it was a problem and now suddenly isnt.

by Flat_Vanilla3781 1 hour ago

This doesn't change the fact that we are starting to see inflation from trump's tariff policies

by False_Opposite 1 hour ago

I 100% agree there. Cost increases are going to screw over the lower and middle class with higher taxes/inflation in the next few months.

by Anonymous 50 minutes ago

So there are fewer jobs but they are paid more. So more people unemployed, and those who are employed are paid more.

by After_Hold_6443 35 minutes ago

Agreed. Kind of in the definition of "unemployment." People have to be looking for a job to be part of that 4.1%.

by Anonymous 24 minutes ago