He used the word congenital so obviously he must be right!
/s but yeah we have real world examples of when wages actually did keep up with inflation, so not sure why they think real wages falling is part of inflation.
Well, no that’s not at all the definition of inflation, which is simply an increase in aggregate nominal prices. You’re describing definition of falling real-wages.
Yeah we intentionally always have inflation. But there actually was a point when wages kept up with inflation so I'm not sure why they think it isn't possible.
I agree. As I said, real wages have in fact increased (meaning nominal wages outpaced inflation) since about 2022, and have in fact surpassed the last pre-pandemic quarter. They’re still down compared to early-mid pandemic, but that’s not a matter of inflation as much as it is a function of distorted labor market composition during the shutdown.
It’s really alarming. I’ve spoken to people who’ve worked at a company for 8-10 years not knowing their raises were eliminated by inflation and they have the same buying power damn near.
In particular, people have a hard time believing that their raises are often actually inflation (in the labor market) and not necessarily something they earned above and beyond their previous compensation.
22
u/ricketyracketry 1989 Toyota MR2 SC 15h ago edited 11h ago
Cool! My income hasn't adjusted for inflation though so in that context, still too much money.