Alot! Rents are up 50% and food depending on the item up 28% to more than double. Gasoline ~25% increase. Home prices are up ~50%.
No problemo. I’m sure wages and salaries increased by 50% during that period.
Then again
The report found the median pre-tax income from all sources for civil engineers was $128,000 in 2022. Median base salaries were $124,000, up $4,000 over last year and up $16,000 since 2019.
USA has released its annual salary and benefits survey report of members showing that median primary income rose 5.6 percent from 2021 to 2022, behind the inflation rate. The report noted that “real primary income peaked in 2020, and has fallen the past two years, as high levels of inflation have exceeded pay increases.”
Absolutely! I’ve made a lot more money as an early retired Civil Engineer than an employed one – and the oil & gas industry is know for paying generous salaries.
The difference in tax rates between being employed and joining the leisure class is HUGE.
I wonder if there is a meaningful way to measure the disproportionate impact of inflation on people in different circumstances. We retired and bought our retirement home in 2019. Our tax assessment is up about 40% since then, but our tax bill is only .89 percent of our assessment, and the real estate tax rate was dropped by .03 percent to slightly offset rising assessments. So the real increase in our cost of housing is about $1,350 a year. But a young family would be paying an additional $160, 000 for our house if they entered the housing market right now.
It seems to me that the real squeeze is being put on young people who rely solely on their earnings that are losing ground to inflation.