I recently had a job interview where the salary offered would have been on the lower end, but fine about 3 years ago.
But then I had to remind myself and remind the HR lady that inflation is only rising and that the offered salary is now considerably lower and not competitive enough with current prices. Wish I could say that they counter offered with a better salary, but they didn’t. And so they don’t get to hire me. They don’t get to use the services I can provide because they can’t afford too. Simple as that.
I recognize I’m lucky enough (as of now) to turn down a job offer because their salary doesn’t match inflation. But I wanted to bring this up because I need to remind myself that inflation isn’t a one way street – the hours of our days now cost more too!
If you’re also in a position to turn down a salary because it hasn’t kept up with inflation, I encourage you to do so – we shouldn’t be taking any less. And if you’re in a position to organize with your fellow workers for higher pay, I also encourage you to do so.
So much of the media is focused on the brunt everyday people are facing with inflation and I would love nothing more that to see companies complaining about how expensive it is to hire workers 🙂