35% of Americans would give up right to vote for a raise
With the economy on the upswing and job creation on the rise, things are looking up and workers are hoping to cash in. Everyone wishes they could just march into their boss’s office and ask for pay raise (if you try this, there are things you should avoid doing), but it’s not that easy. And while some companies have paid bonuses and boosted pay after the new tax bill passed, more than half of U.S. workers did not receive a raise in 2017.
So, what would Americans do for a salary increase? Just about anything.
LendEDU surveyed 1,238 employed people in the U.S. and asked what they would be willing to sacrifice for a 10% raise. The results were interesting, to say the least.
Over one-third of respondents (34.98%) said they would “give up the right to vote in all elections for life” just to secure an extra 10% in pay, while 9% said they would “give up their child’s or future child’s right to vote” for the rest of their lives.
Over half of the people surveyed (55.9%) thought that putting in “an extra 10 hours per week for life” was worth a bump in pay, apparently not realizing that working 25% more hours for a 10% bump isn’t exactly a good tradeoff.
Some other notable things respondents said they’d forego for a 10% raise:
- 88.61% would stop watching Game of Thrones for life
- 73.42% would give up all alcoholic beverages for the next five years
- 55.9% would work an extra 10 hours per week for life
- 53.55% would give up all social media for five years
- 50.65% would give up watching movies for the next three years
- 50.4% would work one day every weekend for the next year
- 43.86% would give up exercise for the next five years
- 40.06% would give up dental care
- 15.27% would give up all of their vacation days for the next five years
- 18.9% would give up access to health insurance for the next five years
- 12.2% would break up with their partner or significant other
- 5.33% would eat a single Tide Pod
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35% of Americans would give up the right to vote for a raise was originally published on Ladders, a publication dedicated to breaking news, opinion, analysis, and career advice at the cutting edge of our changing workplace. Sign up for our daily newsletter here.