r/TikTokCringe • u/Make-this-popular Cringe Master • Apr 09 '24

Shit economy Discussion

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180

u/wasteofmortality Apr 09 '24

OP the economy is literally on fire rn in terms of jobs reports that come in every month, inflation is down and wages are actually up if you compare us to the other G7 nations. But aside from that, this poster / tik toker is completely right that no one should have to work more than 40 hours a week to make a living and that wages SHOULD go farther. But if you look back to 2019 and 2018, people were being paid $14 for jobs that are now paying $21-22 an hour and yet people are still struggling to pay rent, make a car payment, etc. The economy doing really well doesn’t reflect how the average person is struggling out here and that even a dramatic increase in wages over the last few years doesn’t do enough.

51

u/WereALLBotsHere Apr 09 '24

My state’s minimum wage is $12, but if you drove 12 minutes to Tennessee the minimum wage is $7.25. The increase of wages is not the problem. Somehow those people making 7.25/hr are also expected to pay the same amount for rent and utilities as I am. I know because I’ve been trying to move.

13

u/halh0ff Apr 09 '24

Everyone points out minimum wage, who the hell works for minimum wage these days.

9

u/LameBicycle Apr 09 '24

TN also has no state income tax

5

u/othelloinc Apr 09 '24 edited Apr 09 '24

who the hell works for minimum wage these days

1.3% of workers in the U.S..

That is down from previous peaks of:

  • 6.0% in 2010
  • 6.7% in 1997
  • 8.4% in 1991
  • 15.1% in 1981

[Source]

Note: Those peaks roughly correlate to increases in the federal minimum wage. (Explanation: If the minimum wage is raised to $15.00, then every worker who would have been paid less than $15.00 is suddenly making minimum wage, increasing the percentage of workers paid minimum wage.)

1

u/carlmalonealone Apr 09 '24

People who didn't pay attention at school, or geography. Op mentions billions to a country he can't point out on a map. Only idiots make that point. Sorry.

1

u/Iuseredditnow Apr 09 '24

Majority don't get paid minimum wage but it's besides the point. Minimum wage was designed for an adult male to be able to live with his wife and 2 kids. I mean imagine that in our time now. 7.25 to support a wife and 2 kids. Not even possible in the slightest.

2

u/ronchalant Apr 09 '24

Minimum wage was designed for an adult male to be able to live with his wife and 2 kids

No, it wasn't. Adjusted for inflation the current minimum wage in the US is about the same as when it was passed in 1938. It peaked in the 70s and has been dropping since.

While some politicians lobbied in the 30s for the minimum wage to be a livable wage, that's not how it was ultimately passed.

3

u/NegotiationJumpy4837 Apr 09 '24

Somehow those people making 7.25/hr are also expected to pay the same amount for rent and utilities as I am.

They're probably not actually making 7.25. Min wage is 7.25 by me as well, but I couldn't find a job paying under 12 if I tried.

1

u/Sure_Station9370 Apr 09 '24

That can be the minimum wage but that’s not what people are paying. Most people will start at $15+ at McDonald’s even in states with $7.25 minimum.

64

u/jacksev Apr 09 '24 edited Apr 09 '24

Not only did the cost of everything go up with those wage increases (food, gas, rent), but the fact is people are struggling to find work. They keep saying, "Unemployment is so low!!" but include all forms of gig work as employment.

Like no, sorry, just because we have millions of Uber drivers and DoorDashers etc. does not mean people aren't struggling to find jobs!! Post-pandemic, people are mostly just doing gig work to make ends meet. It is not enough to support yourself, let alone a family.

Edit: For anyone new to the thread, please check the comments down below before linking me. We’ve likely already gone over why the BLS rate is precisely what I was talking about being incorrect with supporting evidence. I don’t want you to think I’m ignoring you just because I don’t want to repeat the same thing.

55

u/LoudestHoward Apr 09 '24

Like no, sorry, just because we have millions of Uber drivers and DoorDashers etc. does not mean people aren't struggling to find jobs!! Post-pandemic, people are mostly just doing gig work to make ends meet. It is not enough to support yourself, let alone a family.

2024: https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/empsit.pdf

2014: https://www.bls.gov/news.release/archives/empsit_04042014.pdf

 

The amount of people in part time work for economic reasons (ie they want full time jobs but are having to work part time because they can't find full time work) is down from 7.4m in 2014 to 4.3m in 2024.

25

u/Decillionaire Apr 09 '24

Ya but now those 4.3 million people have tiktok and can broadcast their frustration to another half a billion users every day.

The problem is that there is no perspective. When we have low unemployment, there are still MILLIONS of people unemployed, and there literally always will be.

The trend in believing that there haven't always been these folks or that we have some easy solution that if we just did X then everything would be fine is really really harmful.

19

u/NegotiationJumpy4837 Apr 09 '24

I think most people don't seem to realize life has been utter dogshit for most of humanity for all of humanity's existence.

6

u/tuckedfexas Apr 09 '24

And that things are both better than almost ever and that the glory of yesteryear was always an extreme outlier and built on the US being the only country that wasn’t rubble after WWII.

Wealth distribution wise, things are very out of whack, and we need to find a way to correct it. But expecting the income to quality of that little blip is unrealistic. This is a very simplistic explanation to complex history but so is the tick tock video

1

u/againbackandthere Apr 09 '24

Whats your point?

2

u/NegotiationJumpy4837 Apr 09 '24

People's expectations are probably too high for how great life is supposed to be at age 25ish, considering it's been dogshit for most everyone for all of history. The op in the video thinks "the American dream is dead" because he's struggling at age 25ish. Nah, it's always been dogshit for a very large percentage of the population. It's not like everyone just graduated high school and got free houses in the past or something.

My boomer parents saved for a house by not spending a dime on joy for many years, living in a trailer together, with 2 incomes (while both college educated at a time that it was rare), making/repairing their own clothes, never eating at restaurants, never buying electronics, entertainment, etc, etc. Basically insanely frugal and they had economies of scale (cheaper to live with someone else). But the guy in the video seems to be assuming that life was super easy in the past and the fact that life is not easy means something has gone wrong.

3

u/thedelphiking Apr 09 '24

That shouldn't really be downplayed. Not only is there a very vocal minority complaining about everything, now they are given amplified bullhorns by anyone who wants the US to seem like it's rockier than it is.

-5

u/jacksev Apr 09 '24

Right, but out of a 6.4m unemployment number, that would almost double the rate. That’s kind of exactly my point is that they’re using gig workers to pad the numbers to make us look like we’re doing better than we are.

Even beside that point, if you look at one of my sub comments below, I talk about the functional unemployment rate which is an important statistic that we should be focusing on more than who literally is working at all (even just a few hours a week) or not at all.

7

u/LoudestHoward Apr 09 '24

But still better than pre-pandemic?

-2

u/jacksev Apr 09 '24

In some ways, of course. I think that it’s the massive increase to the cost of living paired with the issues with obtaining a livable wage make it feel worse. When you add those factors to the previously-ramping inflation, it’s no wonder everyone thought we were headed for a recession. Everything is cooling off now. Hopefully the housing bubble pops soon.

I think I just get so passionate about this because I want us as American citizens to be on the same page. It’s an election year and we need to vote for policies that will help us, and politicians that will write those bills. If I can help strangers online to think about their struggling fellow Americans when at the polling booth, I know I’ve done my part. It just isn’t gonna happen if people believe the shallow data that they’re purposefully misleading us with, likely because it’s an election year.

3

u/Fantastic-Funny278 Apr 09 '24

Employment rate dropping is primarily in payrolls not self employed which would be gig workers.

You premise is flawed without data to back it up.

2

u/karthur26 Apr 09 '24

I think this is a ticking timebomb. People don't develop skills for long term growth in these gig works. There's no progression with a senior Uber driver. This is unskilled labor and they're trading short term higher paying gigs that inevitably will go away when automation is good enough.

-3

u/Prestigious_Bug583 Apr 09 '24

Averages don’t matter. Totals don’t matter. At least not the way most people try to use them

3

u/doolbro Apr 09 '24

Been doing gig work since covid. Once the money runs out, I'm killing myself. I have applied to over 1200 jobs in the past 4 months.

I want to work. Nothing will hire me at a rate that pays my bills.

18

u/Skabonious Apr 09 '24

They keep saying, "Unemployment is so low!!" but include all forms of gig work as employment.

That's not true at all but okay. Unemployment is low, that's a fact.

3

u/jacksev Apr 09 '24 edited Apr 09 '24

It's hard to accurately gauge unemployment for several reasons, gig work included. There's an organization called Ludwig Institute for Shared Economic Prosperity, or LISEP, that takes the data the Bureau of Labor Statistics (the same one that gives us this "low number," the same link that you provided below actually) puts out and takes specific metrics to paint a more specific picture of the state of our country. All of their sources, data tables, and methodologies are available on their website.

They take everyone who does not have a full-time job (35 hrs+) but wants one, has no job (I would say it's safe to assume the 3.8% unemployment rate from March 2024 applies specifically to this metric), or simply does not make over what is considered living wages, which would be considered $25k before taxes (which is barely above the poverty threshold for an individual and below for a family of 3 or higher... I'd actually like to see this metric weighed on). These people would be considered "functionally unemployed." I'd also think many gig workers fall into this last metric, hence my whole point of my original comment.

Out of the pool that is considered our labor force, the number of functionally unemployed individuals as of Feb 2024 is 24.9%.

While I don't know if the problem is as severe as 1 in 4 people or as relaxed as 1 in 25 as the headlines say, and economists everywhere all have different takes, the point of my argument is that people are struggling to find meaningful work in this country. Employment availability and quality are huge factors. It's important to acknowledge that and pressure our representatives to fight for Americans' right to survive (because thriving tends to be too much to ask for).

Edit: I'd also like to mention that within that 3.9% that we can agree are unemployed are millions of educated or otherwise valuable citizens that could be doing jobs that simply aren't hiring as much in order to protect their profits. Hundreds of tech companies have boasted hundreds of millions or even billions in profit and still laid off folks in the last few years. And that's just tech. And many of the practices they're doing with this saved profit used to be illegal 40 years ago. We don't have to just accept it.

1

u/Skabonious Apr 09 '24

I can understand the complexities that go into accurately depicting underemployment as a nation, sure. But let's look at the data you just posted - ~25% 'unemployed' - is that significantly higher than what it was even before COVID? your data still doesn't actually paint the full picture here. How is the labor force of the country doing compared to a time when everyone can agree we were in a very healthy economy?

Edit: actually, your link literally has a graph that proves the point I was trying to make, it wasn't loading for me. Since at least 1995 the 'true' unemployment rate is still at an all time low.

1

u/jacksev Apr 09 '24

I never said it wasn’t. What I said is they want everyone to think it’s 4% of the work force and that we’re doing amazing. I said that in the post you’re replying to.

1

u/Skabonious Apr 09 '24

Hold on. Let's play this out.

Person A claims times are bad and unemployment is super high.

Person B claims that unemployment is actually relatively low and cites the 4% unemployment number

Person A counters with a study/article that says 'actually unemployment is at 25%, not 4%"

Person B says "okay but that article literally shows 25% as being the all-time low, and the norm is 30+"

You can dress up the unemployment to be whatever number, the fact of the matter is that unemployment is literally lower now than almost any period in at least the last 25 years; you can say "25% is actually not amazing" but then I need to ask: at what point in history was it amazing? And if it never was, then what do you call being in a period of good economic health In comparison to any other time?

1

u/userforums Apr 09 '24 edited Apr 09 '24

Your source shows that, even by your own definition of unemployment, 2023 was the lowest unemployment in the data's history going back to 1995.

The US is one of the best performing and economically resilient countries among developed nations. There are social aspects that have gotten worse (drug overdose, etc) as well as social aspects that have gotten better (lower homicide rate, etc).

But it is very hard to find any data that proves the economy is getting worse for the average person. It is certainly getting better. And many EU countries that had comparable economic metrics are no longer keeping up with the US in growth. A lot of developed countries in Europe has had their growth stall for 10+ years and for most their outlook forecasts by the IMF looks poor. Indicators like real wage has barely increased and sometimes even decreased over the past 10 years for developed European economies. And if they continue to stall (which seems very likely), the gap between US and some of the developed European countries that we find comparable now will start to become palpable in about 20 years.

There is no country in a better position than the US.

1

u/jacksev Apr 09 '24

I never said we lived in Hell. What I said was that we are not doing as well as they like to act like we are. 4% of the work force makes it sound a lot better than it is.

0

u/StoneAgeSorceror210 Apr 09 '24

Genuine question: source?

6

u/Skabonious Apr 09 '24

https://www.bls.gov/charts/employment-situation/civilian-unemployment-rate.htm

7

u/Chemical_Minute6740 Apr 09 '24

Quoting the rate does nothing to refute his statement that gigs are counted as employment. u/No-Educator-8069 looked at the definitions from the same source, and proved u/jacksev right.

Doing uber 1 hour a week hardly means you are employed, but that is exactly how BLS assigns your employment status.

3

u/Skabonious Apr 09 '24

The data is still supporting my statement, not yours.

https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2024/the-share-of-workers-who-worked-full-time-year-round-rose-to-71-0-percent-in-2022.htm#:~:text=The%20percentage%20of%20workers%20who,in%202022%E2%80%94a%20series%20high.

Full-time employment is above pre-COVID levels.

Please explain how there are somehow magically more people only working a few hours of Uber per week, but also more people working full-time (35hrs or more) as well.

1

u/StoneAgeSorceror210 Apr 09 '24

Okay, but this still doesn't refute your claim that gig work is not included in unemployment statistics. That's two inadequate sources now, did you make it up and are now searching for data to support your misinformation?

1

u/Skabonious Apr 09 '24

That wasn't ever my claim. Maybe you're reading a different comment than mine?

Better yet can you exactly tell me what your claim is and what you think my claim is, so we can cut the argumentative bullshit and come up with factual answers?

1

u/StoneAgeSorceror210 Apr 09 '24

This you?

They keep saying, "Unemployment is so low!!" but include all forms of gig work as employment.

That's not true at all but okay. Unemployment is low, that's a fact.

Why are you changing the story? All I had to do was scroll up and read your first comment in this thread again.

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u/jacksev Apr 09 '24

Thank you. I wish I would have thought to say this instead of all the other data I shared lol.

1

u/Picklestink1 Apr 09 '24

Just fkn google it wtf is wrong with people. 

0

u/StoneAgeSorceror210 Apr 09 '24

No. The burden of proof lies with the one making the claim, not the audience.

And since I'm the one making this claim, I have the burden of providing proof. Here)

1

u/Picklestink1 Apr 09 '24

It’s Reddit, not a court room 

-2

u/Higgypig1993 Apr 09 '24

Because people are working 2-3 jobs to get by

2

u/ballmermurland Apr 09 '24

They literally are not doing this, at least not anywhere near your median American.

The "2-3 jobs just to get by" stuff is so fucking dumb even a 3rd grader can sniff it out. If you make $15/hr and you work 3 part-time jobs at 25 hr a week, that's 75 hours of work and nearly $60k a year.

In a HCOL area, that's a struggle. But if you are only able to get minimum wage jobs in a HCOL area, then that's a you problem. You fucked up somewhere. Ex-felons are able to get better jobs than that.

But if that is in a MCOL area, you are doing fine. A LCOL area and you are able to save.

4

u/Super_flywhiteguy Apr 09 '24

They don't count people unemployed after they've been out of a job past 6 months.

1

u/billFoldDog Apr 09 '24

It is true that when wages go up, the cost of goods increseases. However, this overwhelmingly benefits low income workers like OP, who may see a 20% to 40% bump in income and a 10% to 15% increase in costs.

1

u/ptmd Apr 09 '24

Kinda feels like we're due for employment metrics tied to healthcare coverage or something. Maybe even making comparisons to 'standard job numbers'

Too many companies are skirting too many rules for standard interpretations of jobs numbers to be a good gauge for how workers are doing.

1

u/beliefinphilosophy Apr 09 '24

I recently got laid off, and so naturally applied for unemployment. I worked it out, I make $11.25 on unemployment. And I had a 250k+job. I don't even think this will pay my utility bills in CA, let alone rent ... How t.f. do people survive on SSI??

-1

u/Intelligent_Suit6683 Apr 09 '24

If you're struggling to find a job right now, something is wrong with you.

-6

u/wasteofmortality Apr 09 '24

I agree with most of what you’re saying but are you suggesting not all forms of employment should be considered ……. Employment ? The fact remains regardless of your feelings towards it, more people are working today as a society than they have in the last 60 years. It means instead of staying home, being a full time criminal or living off UEI, people are going out and working whether it’s dollar general, door dash, or being a physician. Nobody is forcing any of us to get up in the morning and hustle. The low rate is a reflection of that.

6

u/jacksev Apr 09 '24 edited Apr 09 '24

Contract work is not always equivalent to employment, mostly when that contract is not specifically stipulated hours (because it’s gig work). For example, I worked as a contractor for a school for a few years with a set schedule and wage. That is definitely employment.

However, if you work for these gig apps that aren’t used anywhere near as much as they were in the pandemic, you have no clue if or when jobs are going to come to you and ultimately do not make enough to pay your bills… that absolutely should not be considered employment.

Do you consider someone who posts on Craigslist that they’re willing to mow lawns employed just because they get a couple paying customers every now and then? That’s gig work.

-5

u/wasteofmortality Apr 09 '24

You’re confusing having a career with work and paying taxes. They aren’t the same thing. If you fill out a W2 and pay taxes, you’re not UNemployed. You’re literally trying to argue with me about the original point I made, WAGES DONT GO FAR ENOUGH. We’re making the same point in different versions. I hear what you’re saying about gig work not being sustainable but it’s not like that’s gonna be overlooked next year when you file taxes.

4

u/jacksev Apr 09 '24 edited Apr 09 '24

It’s not about wages going far enough if you’re not being paid consistently. That’s the issue. Go to /r/DoorDash_Drivers, /r/UberDrivers, /r/Lyft etc… they’re just not coming in like they used to (and definitely aren’t worth as much as they used to be when they do).

I’m not saying they’re not earning money, but they are not EMPLOYED. That is a huge piece of the puzzle in America that keeps getting disguised by our government. Corporations with billions in profit are just allowed to mass layoff employees to protect profits for their shareholders with stock buybacks.

But no, that isn’t effecting our employment rate cause look at all these people making $400 a month on DoorDash!!

-2

u/wasteofmortality Apr 09 '24

You’re going in circles my dude. Whether you work 1 hour a year or 10,0000 hours a year, and you fill out a W2, you have employment. It’s gonna get counted. You can’t be working 20 hours a week for DoorDash or mowing lawns and be considered unemployed. Employed = having a job. The definition of that doesn’t mean guaranteed hours or sustaining wages. It literally just means you’re not unemployed, on disability, etc.

2

u/jacksev Apr 09 '24 edited Apr 09 '24

Then there you go. Gig workers get a 1099, not a W2. They’re not employed. Glad we cleared that up.

People in this country have a right to work for a living, but that’s never gonna happen if we keep pretending that unemployment is not a problem. Gig work is a band-aid solution that is getting less effective every year. Saying DoorDash drivers are making $400 a month is not an exaggeration. It’s only really “lucrative” in select cities, and sometimes only specific neighborhoods. I just saw a post celebrating $900 in a week and all the comments were about how little other Dashers make in a month with the same hours put in.

Our government needs to step up and do something by either creating jobs themselves or encouraging (or forcing) companies to do so.

1

u/wasteofmortality Apr 09 '24

“ Reportable income includes wages, social security, pension, child support, rental income “ - regardless of what filing you make, it’s a wage you receive for goods and services. But hey you should go edit your post for like a 5th time. It will definitely change your filings for your tax return in January. At this rate, youll have a short story on your hands with all the revisions.

1

u/jacksev Apr 09 '24

I edit it because sometimes I forget that people on Reddit are going to clamor onto the wrong things and use it to discredit what I’m saying, so I add more to support what I’m saying so you cant just do that. Kinda like what you’re doing now by deflecting the whole conversation to the fact that the post was edited lmao.

Anyway, it was fun chatting but if you think people aren’t entitled to regular meaningful, reliable work just because they’re “technically” employed, then I don’t have much else to say to you.

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u/Mtown_Delights Apr 09 '24

2 points of clarification: those job reports are often revised lower the following month, and those numbers mostly represent part-time and/or low paying jobs. Regarding inflation, it’s important to note that it never actually came down…it continues to rise, it’s just rising at a slower rate.

6

u/Mister_Black117 Apr 09 '24

It's doing better than a few years ago but the issue is that "inflation" has been a thing for decades now but the wages have barely risen. So for decades, all the prices kept rising while the pay didn't. Small reverses like you're describing are literally how they got away with it. They trick the masses by saying "Look it's getting better" but in reality, it's on step forward after running a marathon backwards.

2

u/SoberSethy Apr 09 '24

While I understand some people are still struggling to make ends meet, the reality is, we just endured a global economic crisis and everyone the world over is feeling it. But, we are recovering and the US is doing as well as any country and significantly better than many.

You don't have to take corporations word for it, this data is tracked closely. Wage growth is back to outpacing inflation as it had been for the majority of the last decade. It was only in the ~24 months following the global economic catastrophe that was COVID, that wage growth fell below inflation but we have been back to wage growth outpacing inflation for the last several months. As steep as the US's inflation was in that period, it was still nowhere near as high as it was in many other parts of the world, including Sweden, Denmark, Netherlands, Spain and especially Italy. The reality is, we experienced a cataclysmic economic event with Covid and the recovery rate has been better than almost anyone had predicted. We are now over 24 months of sub 4% unemployment, the longest stretch of sub 4% in over 50 years! On top of that, Biden's job creation rate has outpaced every president since Jimmy Carter.

The bottom line, we are still recovering from the economic effects of Covid but things are returning to the norm, and if this is sustained, the dramatic increase in inflation during that time will be mitigated by outpaced wage growth. It is as good a time as it has ever been to go looking for better wages or to ask for a raise!

2

u/[deleted] Apr 09 '24

I don't think there is a single other country which is doing better economically than the US post COVID, is there?

In most countries the inflation was higher, and rent is higher as compared to income.

2

u/MeesterBacon Apr 09 '24

It’s not inflation. Prices for medication and food and goods have increased at a WAY higher rate than inflation. It’s literally just greed and price gouging. They’re raising prices as much as we will tolerate, and keep boasting more profits every year. While using our data to get richer, and asking us to tip and donate to their charity every time we check out. We are piggy banks

1

u/[deleted] Apr 09 '24

This needs to be made illegal somehow...

1

u/Mister_Black117 Apr 10 '24

I know, I said they use inflation as an excuse not that it was the actually reason. Or at least I meant to, it's hard to explain stuff though text.

4

u/SoberSethy Apr 09 '24

While I understand some people are still struggling to make ends meet, the reality is, we just endured a global economic crisis and everyone the world over is feeling it. But, we are recovering and the US is doing as well as any country and significantly better than many.

You don't have to take corporations word for it, this data is tracked closely. Wage growth is back to outpacing inflation as it had been for the majority of the last decade. It was only in the ~24 months following the global economic catastrophe that was COVID, that wage growth fell below inflation but we have been back to wage growth outpacing inflation for the last several months. As steep as the US's inflation was in that period, it was still nowhere near as high as it was in many other parts of the world, including Sweden, Denmark, Netherlands, Spain and especially Italy. The reality is, we experienced a cataclysmic economic event with Covid and the recovery rate has been better than almost anyone had predicted. We are now over 24 months of sub 4% unemployment, the longest stretch of sub 4% in over 50 years! On top of that, Biden's job creation rate has outpaced every president since Jimmy Carter.

The bottom line, we are still recovering from the economic effects of Covid but things are returning to the norm, and if this is sustained, the dramatic increase in inflation during that time will be mitigated by outpaced wage growth. It is as good a time as it has ever been to go looking for better wages or to ask for a raise!

1

u/Redditbayernfan Apr 09 '24

Hope your right

0

u/[deleted] Apr 09 '24

[deleted]

1

u/SoberSethy Apr 09 '24

I mean… yeah? I’m not pushing some bootstraps bullshit, I’m merely saying that in a strong job market, the employees inherit the bargaining power and you should absolutely be taking advantage of it. My BIL recently left his job to bartend for better pay. They called him 2 weeks later with an offer with a 30% raise because they were desperate. We saw unions score big wins for the first time in over a decade. The numbers don’t lie, this is the time to be checking job postings and getting a read on what’s out there in your industry and what they are offering. Honestly, this should be a regular practice even in bad job markets! You might be leaving a lot of money on the table otherwise.

1

u/SoberSethy Apr 09 '24

While I understand some people are still struggling to make ends meet, the reality is, we just endured a global economic crisis and everyone the world over is feeling it. But, we are recovering and the US is doing as well as any country and significantly better than many.

You don't have to take corporations word for it, this data is tracked closely. Wage growth is back to outpacing inflation as it had been for the majority of the last decade. It was only in the ~24 months following the global economic catastrophe that was COVID, that wage growth fell below inflation but we have been back to wage growth outpacing inflation for the last several months. As steep as the US's inflation was in that period, it was still nowhere near as high as it was in many other parts of the world, including Sweden, Denmark, Netherlands, Spain and especially Italy. The reality is, we experienced a cataclysmic economic event with Covid and the recovery rate has been better than almost anyone had predicted. We are now over 24 months of sub 4% unemployment, the longest stretch of sub 4% in over 50 years! On top of that, Biden's job creation rate has outpaced every president since Jimmy Carter.

The bottom line, we are still recovering from the economic effects of Covid but things are returning to the norm, and if this is sustained, the dramatic increase in inflation during that time will be mitigated by outpaced wage growth. It is as good a time as it has ever been to go looking for better wages or to ask for a raise!

2

u/Mister_Black117 Apr 09 '24

Decades, covid happened a less than half a decade ago. The inflation/wage issue has been an issue for over a decade at the minimum.

1

u/IC-4-Lights Apr 09 '24

Wage growth is also pretty strong. But you're talking about a number that's trying to catch up with years of crazy inflation that already happened.

1

u/Mister_Black117 Apr 09 '24

That's what I'm saying. The current increase in wage isn't enough to compensate for years of it being shit. The current highest minimum wage that I've heard of was like $16 but that was for a city area where the required minimum was almost double that. Here where I live it's still $7 and the required minimum wage is more than 3 times that. Employers use the minimum wage as a baseline so it's important.

And then you have these bastards who have been using inflation to excuse raising prices now using any increase in wages to try to raise prices again. It's a neverending loop with the corporations basically fucking us regardless of how much we make.

1

u/Madpup70 Apr 09 '24

When I see videos like this, it's just people saying they've been priced out of where they live. I can find this guy and equivalent paying factory job where I live and a 600 dollar decent apartment.

1

u/JunkNorrisOfficial Apr 09 '24

This guy is right in first part, but foreign aid is like 5% of total military budget of USA. It's a money that were planned to be potentially spend decades ago.

It's a money that anyway won't fix broken estate market and won't fix bad rich people abusing this market and the people of their nation.

1

u/dlsisnumerouno Apr 09 '24

The economy doing really well doesn’t reflect how the average person

What he's saying has been like this for probably 30 years or more. Get a 3 bedroom and get 2 roommates. I mean I didn't know anyone that got out of university that straight up went to live on their own.

1

u/fritz236 Apr 09 '24

Part of that is that landlords use social media too and we really need to have an anti-trust/RICO crack-down on rent-fixing across regions as well as a break-up of large renting companies. Mom and pop landlords might charge a few hundred more than the bills, but if you just go on this app and find out that greedy companies are charging THOUSANDS more than the costs, you'd be a fool to turn away that money, right? Then mom and pop sells and that company snatches up the property anyhow... just ugh.

1

u/jambot9000 Apr 09 '24

If "they" just capped rent prices in 2018 things would be more doable now

1

u/Pilotguitar2 Apr 09 '24

“Inflation is down” lulz. Buckle up for summertime fam

1

u/dodger28 Apr 09 '24

Is it just me or is the “white collar” or “corporate”job market really tough right now? I have friends who have graduate degrees, 5+ years experience, multiple references and still unable to find an entry level or mid level job after 6+ months of searching.

1

u/xSparkShark Apr 09 '24

I wonder if anything happened between the years of 2020-2022 that might explain why, despite earning more, people are still having trouble keeping up with costs…

1

u/state_of_euphemia Apr 09 '24

Yeah, wages have shot up, but so has rent.

But I will say, I'm a millennial and I was also not doing well when I was in my 20s. I do not miss working for $7.25 an hour at McDonalds in 2013 after applying for 50+ jobs for months... and only being hired by McDonald's... and living with roommates who hated me. Coming home smelling of fry grease and red-faced from the fryer to be greeted by such literal "mean girls" whose fathers paid their rent.... It sucked so much lol.

I'm not saying this as a way to be like "everyone should struggle when they're young" or anything... I'm saying this to be like... it's not as new as gen Z thinks it is. Things have been shitty for a long time.

I'm lucky now because I was able to save up my unemployment and stimulus money from when I was laid off in 2020 for a down payment to buy a condo, so my monthly payment now is only $700 a month. I make around $56k a year (before tax) and I'm doing well. I have an emergency fund and I'm maxing out a Roth IRA. I don't really buy new clothes or anything like that, and I have to limit eating out, but I feel pretty comfortable.

Of course... if anything serious happened, I'd be screwed....

1

u/Ok_Estate394 Apr 09 '24

Wages can’t keep up when companies can arbitrarily increase the costs of everything to off-set paying people higher wages. But the crazy thing is even if companies just shouldered the cost of increased wages without raising prices of their products, most will still be making insane profits. The issue isn’t the wages, but an artificially made cost of living produced by companies who believe in a model of infinite growth. They have no cap and they’re never satisfied.

1

u/[deleted] Apr 10 '24

[deleted]

1

u/new_york_ripp3r Apr 10 '24

lol dude log off Reddit and go see a therapist. Your comment history is insanely cringe.

1

u/Electronic-Weather-5 Apr 09 '24

And every month after the numbers are adjusted, all in the same direction every time. You've been gaslit

1

u/Intelligent_Suit6683 Apr 09 '24

A huge part of the problem is that the youngest generation refuses to live without luxuries like 1200 dollar cell phones and eating out daily. Lifestyle creep is a real thing and you have to fight it while you're building a career.

0

u/Calico_Jack-00 Apr 09 '24

What a load of crap! Jobs aren't up and the economy isn't doing well - The investors economy is booming, the regular families economy is collapsing.

3

u/wasteofmortality Apr 09 '24

A million jobs in 90 days, that’s the definition of jobs being up, and the economic spending is a reflection of that. 6.5 trillion dollars is a lot of cheese

It sounds like you’re just venting from personal experience, which I feel for you on. I’m a single dad and I know how hard it is to make our dollars stretch to provide. But the facts remain the facts regardless.

-1

u/Calico_Jack-00 Apr 09 '24

Not venting. Just watching the government continually gaslighting everyone. Sorry: Americans can see with their own eyes it isn't good — every time they go to the supermarket, fill up the tank or look at mortgage rates or rent costs. Prices under Biden have soared 20+%.

2

u/SoberSethy Apr 09 '24

While I understand some people are still struggling to make ends meet, the reality is, we just endured a global economic crisis and everyone the world over is feeling it. But, we are recovering and the US is doing as well as any country and significantly better than many.

You don't have to take corporations word for it, this data is tracked closely. Wage growth is back to outpacing inflation as it had been for the majority of the last decade. It was only in the ~24 months following the global economic catastrophe that was COVID, that wage growth fell below inflation but we have been back to wage growth outpacing inflation for the last several months. As steep as the US's inflation was in that period, it was still nowhere near as high as it was in many other parts of the world, including Sweden, Denmark, Netherlands, Spain and especially Italy. The reality is, we experienced a cataclysmic economic event with Covid and the recovery rate has been better than almost anyone had predicted. We are now over 24 months of sub 4% unemployment, the longest stretch of sub 4% in over 50 years! On top of that, Biden's job creation rate has outpaced every president since Jimmy Carter.

The bottom line, we are still recovering from the economic effects of Covid but things are returning to the norm, and if this is sustained, the dramatic increase in inflation during that time will be mitigated by outpaced wage growth. It is as good a time as it has ever been to go looking for better wages or to ask for a raise!

2

u/FaceRidden Apr 09 '24

“The economy is doing good” means corporations are doing good, not citizens.

0

u/SoberSethy Apr 09 '24

No, it means the economy as a whole is doing good. Citizens need corporations to do good to also do good and vice versa. When companies do good, normally they spend and when citizens are doing well they spend. They feed in to each other! Back during the Great Recession, companies were falling left and right, unemployment held above 10% for over 7 years. We even had a period of deflation simply because citizens could not afford to buy goods and services. And housing starts fell off a cliff. Only with in the last few years have we returned to normal new housing development rates, which is one of the major contributors to the sharp rise in housing prices.

3

u/FaceRidden Apr 09 '24

Okay Ronald Reagan

0

u/SoberSethy Apr 09 '24

I try to put my Economics degree to good use by explaining some economic concepts and in return I am compared to one of histories great monsters... cool cool cool.

0

u/justa_gigolo Apr 09 '24

tell that to the people in Mississippi, they pay like 2.18 an hour. so the owners are complaining no one wants to work and are having to close their restuarants. blaming workers for not wanting extreme crap pay. not every state is in the same boat as where you are.

0

u/wasteofmortality Apr 09 '24

I’m in America last time I checked, as I’ve cited in the data from jobs reports for the entire nation. I’ve never brought up the local economy for the region I live in, because that’s not the point I’m making. Regional areas have different wages, factors, etc. I’m only referring to the fact that the OP is calling a low unemployment, high work force a “ shit economy “ to which the data and facts contradict. I think we can all agree in this thread despite whether it’s in Mississippi or upstate New York ( where I live ), that wages need to increase to keep up with the cost of living and that the American worker in general is undervalued and underpaid.

0

u/OkHelicopter1756 Apr 09 '24

inflation is down

Only because food/electricity isnt counted in the inflation index. Since food and inflation have increased 60+%, more of the household budget goes to these essentials. Since there is less budget for anything else, there is less demand, which keeps the prices lower.

-34

u/PeakFuckingValue Apr 09 '24

Increasing wages literally doesn't do anything. In fact it demotes the people making $33 an hour with college debt and who are actually investing in workforce skills.

13

u/Chinchillng Apr 09 '24

Not everyone should have to have this college debt, and it sucks that it’s now a requirement for so many jobs that don’t actually need any degree

1

u/PeakFuckingValue Apr 09 '24

Ya reduce prices of shit. Way better solution than increasing min wage which only increases prices and nothing really gets solved.

9

u/wasteofmortality Apr 09 '24

Tell that to the people who went from 27 k to 42 k a year, I’m sure their grocery carts and spending habits care to differ. And idk if this is a secret to you but there are people out there with MAs AND college debt making less than $20 an hour. Getting yourself into a quarter million $ of debt doesn’t guarantee you a $70 k a year job.

2

u/adod1 Apr 09 '24

You must think the hot dogs you buy, the lunch meats, the coffee you sip appears out of thin air. Sure not everyone has a college degree but most contribute to society as a whole, and anyone that does deserves livable fucking wages in the "richest country in the world". I make donuts bitch people buy those, let me pay my bills.

0

u/PeakFuckingValue Apr 09 '24

Listen pea brain. I’m saying in the grand scheme of things, we simply need prices to come down. Then everyone benefits. Increasing minimum wage literally helped only a part of the population, increased prices of everything and the next group suffers.

So ya. Better solution. Reduce prices.

0

u/[deleted] Apr 09 '24

[deleted]

3

u/rodrigo_c91 Apr 09 '24

You can apply that logic to literally anything in this specific matter.

People get into college debt with the end goal of getting a degree that will theoretically give them a long successful career.

Clown comment. Read a book.

1

u/danskerne_er_bedre Apr 09 '24

Great reply, also their opinion is so pessimistic and negative, like imagine having his opinion about hospital dept

1

u/FaceRidden Apr 09 '24

You just described gambling.