My 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 eve

My 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.