Unsustainable Wages

With technological and social advances throughout the last century, one would assume that there would be a correlation to financial independence for all. However, the progression of society as a whole has benefited none other than the 1%, where the rest are struggling to cater to the same basic needs in comparison to decades prior.

Salaries are barely sustainable, when the national minimum wage average in the United States is at a minimum of $7.25 an hour, with a capping limit of $14 and $15 in the higher cost-of-living cities of Los Angeles, CA and New York City, NY. Yet, there is a trend of a similar salary-to-living ratio throughout the nation, with the unfortunate truth that the US Dollar in 2021 holds the same purchasing power compared to over 40 years ago, where the $4.03 an-hour-rate in the 1970s equates to $23.68 in this day and age. (It is evident that the value of the Dollar is decreasing.)

In addition, inflation has not only been cumbersome, especially post Covid-19, but has increased the prices within markets, exponentially. In 2021 alone, the housing market had gone up by nearly $100,000, with an asking average of $300,000. Compared to the asking prices of vacant units in 1997 at $85,000, that is nearly a 28% increase within the span of 24 years.

Along with the abyss of student loans, the unprecedented unemployment rates during Covid-19, the heavy reliance on dual incomes, familial support, and mental resources, we can only hope that this will no longer be a negative trend in the upcoming years — otherwise, there will be a slippery slope of financial despair to come.

In this episode of Coffee with Beebs, we will discuss the negative implications of the country’s current economics. Also, guest speaker, Nadia Langha, will discuss her trajectory as a business consultant, and even provide her own analysis on whether or not there’s hope.