Another anecdotal data point here.
My pay has not gone up *at all* since about 2002, yet the rent for the apartment I used to live in has increased ~ 50% from then– from $1100 to $1600. And of course we all know how berserk housing prices have gone in that same time.
I am an “almost-professional”– scoped as a technician but doing an engineer’s work. It seems if you are not scoped as an engineer or other technical professional you have been SOL in this economy.
Call me a sucker if you will for staying with the same employer. The coworkers and culture are great; the pay sucks. I could apply across town to a place where I could get a job scoped as an engineer, but I don’t know aobut the culture– especially as far as discrimination. I’ve worked in disrespectful, discriminatory workplaces before and vowed never again. But if I continue to piss my financial future down the drain as I am here, I may have to before it’s too late.
