<story><title>Worker pay isn’t keeping up with inflation</title><url>https://www.axios.com/wages-inflation-economic-data-c912afdb-b950-4183-8283-50afff593576.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>throwawaycities</author><text>Glad this was the top comment.&lt;p&gt;Wages have not kept up with cost of living for 50 years in the US.&lt;p&gt;We need to stop pretending flat wages are some modern problem of inflation, and we need to stop pretending inflation is some problem caused by the pandemic.</text></item><item><author>Gareth321</author><text>Real wages have been flat since the 1970s (&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.pewresearch.org&amp;#x2F;fact-tank&amp;#x2F;2018&amp;#x2F;08&amp;#x2F;07&amp;#x2F;for-most-us-workers-real-wages-have-barely-budged-for-decades&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.pewresearch.org&amp;#x2F;fact-tank&amp;#x2F;2018&amp;#x2F;08&amp;#x2F;07&amp;#x2F;for-most-us...&lt;/a&gt;). &amp;quot;Okay, so people&amp;#x27;s living standards are about the same since 1970?&amp;quot; Not even close. The problem with inflation is that its calculation is fraught with all kinds of selective weighting, bias, and politics. Take a look at the relative differences between the things which have decreased and increased in cost in real terms (&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;static.seekingalpha.com&amp;#x2F;uploads&amp;#x2F;2017&amp;#x2F;5&amp;#x2F;29&amp;#x2F;saupload_inflation10-16.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;static.seekingalpha.com&amp;#x2F;uploads&amp;#x2F;2017&amp;#x2F;5&amp;#x2F;29&amp;#x2F;saupload_i...&lt;/a&gt;). Okay, so TVs and cellphones are cheaper, but necessities like college, childcare, and healthcare are up significantly.&lt;p&gt;And when you drill in more, there are other issues. For example, the housing metric appears relatively flat in real terms, right? Except, that doesn&amp;#x27;t tell the story for the majority of Americans. Housing costs are WAY up in cities as Americans migrate to where the jobs are, while housing costs are down in all the areas where jobs are disappearing. In practise, housing costs are actually significantly up for most Americans, but because the CPI is calculated across the entire nation, the government can claim inflation is low. This allow them to keep the fed rate low, which keeps stock valuations high. This LOOKS great and generates great headlines, but the reality is that most Americans are significantly worse off since the 1970s.&lt;p&gt;And then we come to the other elephant in the room: why are real wages flat? Given the incredible performance of the American economy since 1970, shouldn&amp;#x27;t real wages be significantly UP? This is yet another reminder that wealth is being squeezed from the bottom and funnelled straight up. As a non-American, it&amp;#x27;s heartbreaking to see efforts to unify the underclass completely derailed by this ridiculous race war. Poor people in America have FAR more in common with each other than the rich, no matter race. I really hope you all manage to set aside the obvious red herring of race and unite in tackling your staggering wealth inequality.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>vmception</author><text>The other side of this to remember is that highly compensated employees are still subjects to this reality.&lt;p&gt;The numbers themselves dont actually matter. It doesnt matter if highly compensated to you means $88k or $150k annual compensation, $450k or $750k.&lt;p&gt;If a single earner cant buy a home outright in 5 years in that area, then the compensation isn&amp;#x27;t high enough compared to when wages were keeping up. There was a housing shortage in the 1970s too, so the supply side isnt a worthwhile deflection.&lt;p&gt;The oppression contest and olympics from the masses earning way less isn&amp;#x27;t really useful because that just conveniently perpetuates the reality.</text></comment>
<story><title>Worker pay isn’t keeping up with inflation</title><url>https://www.axios.com/wages-inflation-economic-data-c912afdb-b950-4183-8283-50afff593576.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>throwawaycities</author><text>Glad this was the top comment.&lt;p&gt;Wages have not kept up with cost of living for 50 years in the US.&lt;p&gt;We need to stop pretending flat wages are some modern problem of inflation, and we need to stop pretending inflation is some problem caused by the pandemic.</text></item><item><author>Gareth321</author><text>Real wages have been flat since the 1970s (&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.pewresearch.org&amp;#x2F;fact-tank&amp;#x2F;2018&amp;#x2F;08&amp;#x2F;07&amp;#x2F;for-most-us-workers-real-wages-have-barely-budged-for-decades&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.pewresearch.org&amp;#x2F;fact-tank&amp;#x2F;2018&amp;#x2F;08&amp;#x2F;07&amp;#x2F;for-most-us...&lt;/a&gt;). &amp;quot;Okay, so people&amp;#x27;s living standards are about the same since 1970?&amp;quot; Not even close. The problem with inflation is that its calculation is fraught with all kinds of selective weighting, bias, and politics. Take a look at the relative differences between the things which have decreased and increased in cost in real terms (&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;static.seekingalpha.com&amp;#x2F;uploads&amp;#x2F;2017&amp;#x2F;5&amp;#x2F;29&amp;#x2F;saupload_inflation10-16.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;static.seekingalpha.com&amp;#x2F;uploads&amp;#x2F;2017&amp;#x2F;5&amp;#x2F;29&amp;#x2F;saupload_i...&lt;/a&gt;). Okay, so TVs and cellphones are cheaper, but necessities like college, childcare, and healthcare are up significantly.&lt;p&gt;And when you drill in more, there are other issues. For example, the housing metric appears relatively flat in real terms, right? Except, that doesn&amp;#x27;t tell the story for the majority of Americans. Housing costs are WAY up in cities as Americans migrate to where the jobs are, while housing costs are down in all the areas where jobs are disappearing. In practise, housing costs are actually significantly up for most Americans, but because the CPI is calculated across the entire nation, the government can claim inflation is low. This allow them to keep the fed rate low, which keeps stock valuations high. This LOOKS great and generates great headlines, but the reality is that most Americans are significantly worse off since the 1970s.&lt;p&gt;And then we come to the other elephant in the room: why are real wages flat? Given the incredible performance of the American economy since 1970, shouldn&amp;#x27;t real wages be significantly UP? This is yet another reminder that wealth is being squeezed from the bottom and funnelled straight up. As a non-American, it&amp;#x27;s heartbreaking to see efforts to unify the underclass completely derailed by this ridiculous race war. Poor people in America have FAR more in common with each other than the rich, no matter race. I really hope you all manage to set aside the obvious red herring of race and unite in tackling your staggering wealth inequality.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>AlexandrB</author><text>I don&amp;#x27;t get why minimum wage isn&amp;#x27;t tied to the CPI by default. I supposed there&amp;#x27;s a risk of it creating a positive feedback loop, but only a small portion of the workforce is paid at minimum wage. It seems capricious for minimum wage to only be increased when the legislative branch decides it&amp;#x27;s popular enough to fight for.</text></comment>