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I am skeptical that employers have been raising wages. The average could have increased simply because job losses have been concentrated at the low end of the w
by gamble 16y ago
I am skeptical that employers have been raising wages. The average could have increased simply because job losses have been concentrated at the low end of the wage scale.
Even if we are in a deflationary environment, that isn't necessarily good for the average person either. Their wages may be worth more in real terms, but deflation would increase the value of their debt as well. With so many underwater mortgages and a middle class riddled with consumer debt, prolonged deflation would be much, much worse than inflation.
- Alex63 16y agoI agree that deflation would be worse, at least for those of us with mortgages, etc. People on fixed incomes (and without debt) might view it differently - I wonder if a deflationary period would prompt baby-boomers to retire earlier?
- electromagnetic 16y agoMy wage was raised by about 8% and my friends by around the same (same company). The company used the recession to lay off a few bad eggs and raised pay for everyone who stayed on. Big employers might not be raising wages, however small employers either made it or went broke in the recession (at least here in Canada). I can only really speak for the construction sector, but this has been the norm here. Bad companies have thankfully gone under and the companies left are making the profits. There's still work there from all the companies that went broke because they were skirting the margins before the recession, which means the companies that were doing well before the recession have been riding it out and absorbing the jobs of others. Right now we can't go fast enough, which is bizarre this early out of a recession.