It’s nice to say that you can change jobs to get the increase… not so much in engineering or the building trades right now… there are job losses at the moment.

My husband is an architect… the firm he works for put everyone on a part time schedule hoping to keep the doors open till commercial real estate starts picking up again. They’re eking by with hospital work and tenant fit outs. But it’s a tight market right now.

I’m an engineer – most of the big employers are either laying off or holding steady.

My husband got a 3% raise in order to keep him from quitting. (He’s needed on some projects). I got a 2% raise. Wholesale inflation was 11% – so we’re not keeping up.

Resumes are out there – but it’s not exactly a good market for changing jobs unless you’re willing to change careers.