• rockSlayer@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      No. Wages have remained stagnant and actually have gone down. The median salary is $74k, and remember that half of people in the US make less than that. 62% of Americans can’t afford to buy the cheapest house in the cheapest state for housing.

      • Death_Equity@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        To clarify, $74k is the median household income and not salary. Median salary in the US is $37k. Median salary in California, where half of the cities mentioned in the article are, is just shy of $40k.

        • sunzu@kbin.run
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          3 months ago

          I am pretty sure those are pre-covid numbers.

          median is now like 45k. still unlivable in most of the country tho.

          • Death_Equity@lemmy.world
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            3 months ago

            My numbers were from 2022 census. Estimates put US median at $59k and California at shy of $85k for household.

            • sunzu@kbin.run
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              3 months ago

              Estimates put US median at $59k

              Maybe for full time employed adults between ages 25-65

        • sunzu@kbin.run
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          3 months ago

          That’s the beauty of the system, it does not matter if everybody makes more money, the orphan crushing machine will extract everything they can from bottom 60% and the government enables it.

      • omgitsaheadcrab@sh.itjust.works
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        3 months ago

        It doesn’t take much to find plenty of people on Reddit talking about how they make 130k a year as a Walmart truck driver. Or the hordes or software engineers with 300k salaries, grads starting straight out of uni with well over 100k.

        There is definitely inflation, the corresponding salary increases just don’t seem to be across all industries.

        • rockSlayer@lemmy.world
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          3 months ago

          So anecdotal stories are more important to you than statistics from the US census bureau? For the record, the department does more than send out a survey every 10 years; the survey is like a recalibration for their statistics.

          There are 3 primary factors contributing to the housing crisis:

          • Inflation
          • Low wages
          • Housing being treated as a commodity stock

          These 3 issues aren’t the end of the story either, the opiate crisis, climate change, exclusionary politics, and many other factors are contributing to the housing crisis. The primary issue is that workers aren’t being paid enough.

        • Thurstylark@lemm.ee
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          3 months ago

          Not to mention across demographics. Plenty of people don’t use Reddit for reasons of taste, time, or simply access.

          Plus, there’s definitely a bias towards bragging about ones high salary (whether real or imagined). Not a lot of us who are struggling like to broadcast exactly how much we’re struggling. It fucking sucks, and the majority of our lives are spent dealing with that fact.

          You’re operating on anecdotal evidence in a heavily biased context. This is why you’re getting the downvotes you deserve. Get your head out of your ass.

    • eran_morad@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      Fuck is you talkin bout? Let’s say you have a couple making $100K each, with two kids. Good salaries, maybe even a bit “mad”. You think they can afford childcare and a $1M home?

    • Carvex@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      I work for a small private employer in rural America, in a field where there are no other places to work at without moving. I haven’t had a raise above inflation rate since covid, technically I’m making less money than years ago. Everyone here is fighting each other to take more of that 1% of the wealth we all have to share. Our government is complicit and backroom-contracted into keeping money in the wealthiest hands. A politicians vote isn’t even that expensive.

        • eran_morad@lemmy.world
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          3 months ago

          Only way to achieve that is to leave for a higher paying job, or threaten to do so, credibly. Worked for me.

          • Krauerking@lemy.lol
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            3 months ago

            I offered to quit for 6 months to get out from a non compete since I am technically a contractor and that got me a new contract and a small raise… That was neat.

          • SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world
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            3 months ago

            I seem to have stumbled upon an employer that actually values its employees, seeing how I keep getting raises that match inflation.

            Granted, I left a different job for that initial 40% “raise” …

            We’ll see how it pans out.

          • jubilationtcornpone@sh.itjust.works
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            3 months ago

            That works if you have negotiating power (i.e. marketable, in demand skills). It’s not an option for many people. For instance, I live in Arkansas where Tyson Foods is a major employer. They have poultry plants in small towns all over the place. Higher paying jobs don’t exist in a lot of those places.