How to Beat Inflation: Switch Jobs

With the rapid rise of housing, food, and transportation such that you might consider eggs a luxury item, wages aren’t able to keep up with inflation. Increasing income should be a top priority and the most effective way to get a pay raise big enough to beat inflation and get ahead is to change jobs.

My wife and I both switched jobs in late 2021. It wasn’t that we were unhappy at our current jobs at the time, nor were we actively looking. The effects during the height of the Great Resignation led to employers fielding offers that comfortably exceeded the 40-year high rate of inflation. This once-in-a-generation opportunity gave us leverage in a tight labor market. It this day and age it pays to quit your job.

Why it Matters?

Americans have been losing purchasing power the last couple of years because their wages aren’t keeping up with inflation. I first noticed it when the bill from my favorite taco shop in Hawaii came out to $60 for our typical order for two. Now I have to order 3 tacos instead of 5 and rely on the free nachos as filler. Now eggs cost 70% more than they did a year ago!

Key takeaways:

• Even though companies are increasing annual raises this year, the bad news is they’re not matching those increases to inflation.

• Median wage growth of was 3.6% back in 2019 when the annual inflation rate was only 2%. For comparison the inflation rate in 6.5% in December 2022. That means, if your real wage growth didn’t increase by 6.5%,

• Switching jobs help Americans increase their wages enough to beat last year’s inflation.