Looking for a raise? Good luck with that

[davidn3600]

Jobs are getting easier to find. A raise? Not so much

Here's another sad truth of the "new normal" after the Great Recession: Wages have flatlined and are unlikely to revive even though the job market is improving.

Five years after the one of the worst recessions on record left millions of Americans unemployed, the job market continues to show painfully slow improvement. There will be more evidence of that Friday, when the government reports the latest monthly numbers for August; forecasters expect to see another 200,000 jobs added to the nation's payrolls.

As more Americans get back to work, the wages included in their new paychecks aren't keeping pace with an expanding job market, however, forcing tens of millions of households to tighten their belts.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/looking-raise-good-luck-164045871.html

[gopiscrap]

1. my wife's an elementary school teacher and she got a 2% raise

me not so lucky. My wife's raise equates to about 80.00 per month take home, but our expenses have gone up about 135.00 a month in the past year.

[Curmudgeoness]

2. Tell me about it!

I have not had a raise in 5 years, even though my boss keeps telling me how valuable I am. We had the best year in the company's history last year. This year, I asked for a raise. I have most of my communications with my boss by phone because I am in a different office. He hung up on me.

I would have left that day after that call, except (surprise) I really need this job.