Economically, that’s simply not the employer’s fault — that the cost of certain employer sponsored benefits has significantly outpaced inflation. If there are

Economically, that’s simply not the employer’s fault — that the cost of certain employer sponsored benefits has significantly outpaced inflation. If there are components of compensation which are cheaper to provide now than 30 years ago, receiving the same thing in that case is counted as lower total compensation. Or to put it another way, if employer share of health benefits stayed exactly the same and employee share took all the hit, and instead, your paycheck increased — leaving total compensation at exactly the same dollar amount — would you consider that as better compensation? Because under that scenario you would be worse off after taxes.