Tl:dr – my first post. I got a 40¢ raise for ‘living cost inflation’ on my ‘living wage’ rate of $15.50/hour as a full time trained healthcare worker.
Yup.
2.5% raise to ‘cope with inflation and increased living cost’
I’m not ungrateful. I’m glad for the raise. Obviously.
The tone deaf-ness of it is what gets me
Not long after I was hired. The company got a ‘living wage’ adjustment. Where everyone under $15.50/h was increased to that, maybe more depending on role/seniority.
$15.50/ hour full time BEFORE taxes – $1,240.
(If yall paying for food, mortgage, house insurance, utilities, transportation and/or car insurance, phone, child care… for under $1,240/month lmk.)
Now, due to living expenses, we are getting a 2.5% raise to combat hardships.
Cool, so now I’m making a whole 40¢/h more (rounding up)
A whole $32 (before taxes) more a month.
Fuck that.
$15.50/hour isn’t livable.
2.5% raise isn’t keeping up with inflation from the last pay rate adjustment for increased living expenses (back during, what? Boomer years?)
It’s not even keeping up with current, pre covid inflation
$15.90/h doesn’t pay for life now.
It doesn’t pay for any covid time period
Hell, it doesn’t pay for a life, in my 30yr experience
Did i mention I’m a health care worker.
Also. I’m a single parent (no second parent) living rent free with my parents. As in, i pay for my car, phone, and food for me and my kid.
Clothes, toys, electronics, extracurricular classes? My parents provide for my kid.
Im still living below paycheck to paycheck