Inflation

Question

Looking at how salary websites work, wouldn't showcasing the median salary in high inflationary market then keep down salaries? The statistically correct way in my opinion is to first de-trend, do the median then put back the trend.

Having really old salaries (pre-inflation, pre-COVID etc..) in the database is skewing down all the stats as they are taken over a non-stationary distribution. The median stats on the website should be limited to the data in the last year.

When I showed this website to my boss, he was like: yeah, look the median is under what you are earning, so you are good.

Whereas actually I'm struggling to pay my day to day expenditures due to the increased rent & food.

Even funnier, our HR increased the cafeteria prices by ~13% quoting inflation and increased prices but the salary ranges only by ~3% quoting they benchmark competitively in the market (ref "median").

19g615l21do5mj · Accepted Answer

Your boss will cite whatever they can to justify your pay. Pay isn't "fair" or "market rate", pay is whatever you will work for mostly. Bring them a higher offer from another company and ask them to match it. If they don't match it, accept the offer.

If you can't get a higher offer somewhere else, that's the market telling you that you are fairly paid (note: the market may be wrong, and you may disagree, but that's how this works).

MLE3760 · Answer

You say the cafeteria prices increased by 13% and salaries only by 3%. But this can be a very wrong way of looking at it. When was the last time each of them increased? How often do they increase? Inflation doesn't mean that every good and service inflates 2-3% per year. They usually change in price far less often but with bigger increases. And especially in the US, a lot of recent price increases in the service industry has been due to workers finally getting paid a normal living wage.Also, inflation doesn't have anything to do with your fair compensation. You're paid for the value you bring to the company. If tomorrow we witness an armageddon and suddenly food prices go up 1000%, but you still provide the same value to your employer as before, you can't expect for your compensation to be increased to match the inflation. It sucks, but that's how the world works. Focus on adding more value to the company (and definitely make it very visible to your boss) regardless of current inflation. If you're still getting priced out, you either have to find a better paying job or move to a lower COL place.

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