Annual raises are coming up at the end of March. I'm gathering information to bring to my boss to justify my raise on just inflation alone, not including any extra I should get for my qualifications or accomplishments.
The main number I have been using is from this inflation calculator: https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/
I put in the year of my last raise and my pay rate and out pops a number about 10% larger. Is this really what I should be using as the MINIMUM number that would keep my pay at the same purchasing power as a year or two ago? Or is the Consumer Price Index a better number (and how do you calculate the value between two dates?)?
I'd also like to find estimates for inflation in the next year. Because really if I only go on inflation to date I might have one month of pay that is synced with prices, but inflation will continue for the next year.