Economy

[admo]

2 hours ago, teachercd said:

Stopped carrying it?

 

More like Tab stopped getting made 25 years ago and they finally just sold their last 12 pack.  Hahahaha

I just had a student quit her 15 dollar an hour candy shop job to take a 17 dollar an hour Target job.

Warehouse wages have definitely gone up.  Although some places try to give 15 hours OT, but tax you at the highest rate.  So you don't see it on paycheck, but will tax season.

[admo]

24 minutes ago, JJ Husker said:

I maybe don’t have a good answer for that but I have raised wages substantially more than the gubment’s stated 6.8% inflation rate. TBH, I don’t know what that really means. I’ve seen most household costs increase by more than 6.8% and my business costs have gone up a huge amount more than that. But I’m not going to triple my employees pay just because steel prices are insane. 

As prices go up, I hate marketing or advertising using key soft words "only" and "just".

Taco Bueno party burrito went from .79 to .99.  
This year the party burrito says "for just 1.49" on it's drive through screen.

Could get 4 for $4.25
Now it's 4 for $6.55

 

Also heard on the radio something went up 20 bucks (which was steadily climbing), and they said "for only 89 dollars"

 

[BigRedBuster]

39 minutes ago, JJ Husker said:

I maybe don’t have a good answer for that but I have raised wages substantially more than the gubment’s stated 6.8% inflation rate. TBH, I don’t know what that really means. I’ve seen most household costs increase by more than 6.8% and my business costs have gone up a huge amount more than that. But I’m not going to triple my employees pay just because steel prices are insane. 

It's a wicked cycle.  Every supplier in the supply chain is seeing the same increases in wages, raw materials, packaging, shipping...etc.  So, everyone who is involved in the cycle has to raise their prices so, by the time it gets to the customer, the price is way higher.

 

Wages aren't necessarily going up to keep up with inflation, they are going up because everyone is fighting for the same few employees.  I'm seeing places where starting wages used to be $13-15 are now advertising for $20-25.  Then, you can't just increase starting wages that much without raising almost everyone else's wages in the company.  It doesn't make someone happy if they've been working at a place for a year making $17 and the new guy coming in is making $20.

 

We usually give everyone a cost of living raise every year.  That's usually in the 2.5-3% range.  This year, we are talking about that being 5-6%.  That's on top of already raising everyone's wages earlier this year to account for what I said in the last paragraph.

 

And, I'm hearing this from everyone I talk to.

[JJ Husker]

34 minutes ago, BigRedBuster said:

It's a wicked cycle.  Every supplier in the supply chain is seeing the same increases in wages, raw materials, packaging, shipping...etc.  So, everyone who is involved in the cycle has to raise their prices so, by the time it gets to the customer, the price is way higher.

 

Wages aren't necessarily going up to keep up with inflation, they are going up because everyone is fighting for the same few employees.  I'm seeing places where starting wages used to be $13-15 are now advertising for $20-25.  Then, you can't just increase starting wages that much without raising almost everyone else's wages in the company.  It doesn't make someone happy if they've been working at a place for a year making $17 and the new guy coming in is making $20.

 

We usually give everyone a cost of living raise every year.  That's usually in the 2.5-3% range.  This year, we are talking about that being 5-6%.  That's on top of already raising everyone's wages earlier this year to account for what I said in the last paragraph.

 

And, I'm hearing this from everyone I talk to.

Yeah I get that. My company has been immune (so far) to the starting wage issue because I have not had any turnover and haven’t had to hire a new employee in about 5 years. But I do need to keep the people I have somewhat happy because I’m sure replacing them, especially right now, would be very difficult and even more costly. Luckily my guys aren’t what you’d call motivated go-getters   

[BigRedBuster]

2 minutes ago, JJ Husker said:

My company has been immune (so far) to the starting wage issue because I have not had any turnover and haven’t had to hire a new employee in about 5 years.

Wow....I'm jealous.

[RedDenver]

1 hour ago, BigRedBuster said:

Personal experience in my area and working with lots of businesses across the country. People need workers and wages have gone way up more than the 6-7% they claim inflation is. 

Good for you and your employees. But are "lots of businesses across the country" really telling you their employee wage increases? I find that hard to believe, but it's possible. Either way, it's still anecdotal and not necessarily reflective of wages or businesses overall.

 

1 hour ago, JJ Husker said:

I maybe don’t have a good answer for that but I have raised wages substantially more than the gubment’s stated 6.8% inflation rate. TBH, I don’t know what that really means. I’ve seen most household costs increase by more than 6.8% and my business costs have gone up a huge amount more than that. But I’m not going to triple my employees pay just because steel prices are insane. 

Again, good for you and your employees. But that doesn't mean wages are keeping up with inflation across the country. They might be, but I'd want some better data to be convinced.

[JJ Husker]

Just now, BigRedBuster said:

Wow....I'm jealous.

Eehh, I paid for it when it was an employer’s market. When I should’ve got rid of underperforming employees, I didn’t. Now I would suffer a fair amount of sticker shock to replace them. Like I said, luckily they aren’t highly marketable. All of them have been here for 20+ years and are aging and slowing down significantly. I’m going to have to bring on a new younger person soon but have been putting it off because it will require bumping everyone up some. Or maybe I’ll just try to eek it out until retirement.

[BigRedBuster]

2 minutes ago, RedDenver said:

But are "lots of businesses across the country" really telling you their employee wage increases?

Yes.

 

[JJ Husker]

1 minute ago, RedDenver said:

Good for you and your employees. But are "lots of businesses across the country" really telling you their employee wage increases? I find that hard to believe, but it's possible. Either way, it's still anecdotal and not necessarily reflective of wages or businesses overall.

 

Again, good for you and your employees. But that doesn't mean wages are keeping up with inflation across the country. They might be, but I'd want some better data to be convinced.

All I can provide is anecdotal and specific to my company. But everyone I’ve talked to and everything I’ve seen indicates its pretty much across the board. I’ve seen some places that haven’t been keeping up with increasing wages and they are paying for it. Employees leaving left and right, new employees that are next to useless, etc. I’m not sure how a person could doubt that wages are increasing rather rapidly in this environment.

 

If you haven’t seen at least an 8% to 10% increase in your wages fairly recently, I’d say it’s time to get looking for another job.

[commando]

if there was only a source of people who wanted to work available to our country.    people willing to come in and do any job at whatever wage they can get.    where are those people?

 

[BigRedBuster]

21 minutes ago, commando said:

if there was only a source of people who wanted to work available to our country.    people willing to come in and do any job at whatever wage they can get.    where are those people?

 

Wouldn't that be nice.

[NM11046]

I do believe many have increased wages due to worker shortages to lure new employees and reward loyalty and good work.  The challenge is that it isn't enough to impact their income against inflation.

 

So yes, you might see folks getting $17 instead of $15 but that is lower than the rate of inflation so at best it's a wash, most often it's less than what they were making when put against that.

 

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/11/10/inflation-has-taken-away-all-the-wage-gains-for-workers-and-then-some.html

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/11/10/inflation-wages-workers-october/

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/05/business/economy/wages-inflation.html

 

So perhaps my blanket statement of wages not increasing wasn't exactly 100% true - they've gone up, but not by enough.

[teachercd]

This has become a Husker game thread.  Most of you know what I mean.

[BigRedBuster]

17 hours ago, NM11046 said:

I do believe many have increased wages due to worker shortages to lure new employees and reward loyalty and good work.  The challenge is that it isn't enough to impact their income against inflation.

 

So yes, you might see folks getting $17 instead of $15 but that is lower than the rate of inflation so at best it's a wash, most often it's less than what they were making when put against that.

 

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/11/10/inflation-has-taken-away-all-the-wage-gains-for-workers-and-then-some.html

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/11/10/inflation-wages-workers-october/

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/05/business/economy/wages-inflation.html

 

So perhaps my blanket statement of wages not increasing wasn't exactly 100% true - they've gone up, but not by enough.

That’s a 13% raise.  That’s higher than inflation. 

[JJ Husker]

2 hours ago, BigRedBuster said:

That’s a 13% raise.  That’s higher than inflation. 

Exactly what I was going to respond. 13.33% to be precise. 
 

That’s some questionable math if a 13.3% wage increase is not keeping up with a 6.8% increase in cost of living. Although I will say the gubments 6.8% inflation rate seems to be suspiciously low.