In the US, there is the following spiral:
- Workers get mandated wage increases.
- Businesses, retail and service industry raise prices to account for the wage hike.
- Workers can't afford stuff because of the raise in prices, so we go to step #1.
(Enter at any step.)
How is this spiral stopped?
There seems to be a longer duration for wage increases for the exempt group.
In over 10 years, I've seen fast-food restaurants go from $5.00USD to now over $12.00. Groceries have gone from $100 to over $200 (for a shopping cart full).
I'm wondering if my pay increases have been for merit or are they only to compensate for the spiral.
