How big was your pay raise last year ?

[ironglow]

  Just how much did your wages increase last year ? Bet it wasn't as large as the White House staff...
 
    Most of the White House staff, already perhaps much overpaid, received an average increase of 9%...how did you do ?

  http://gawker.com/5687778/white-house-staffers-got-a-bigger-raise-than-you-did-last-year

[Ron 1]

i received a incentive work harder or get fired
   rw

[burntmuch]

I like many in the country took a pay cut. But them folks in the White House deserve a raise. Its hard work tearing down a country.

[cwlongshot]

What pay raise? I was reminded " I'm lucky to have a job" my response is same as always, I work to keep my job, but I don't do it outta the goodness of my heart. I expect to be dueley compensated.

Next Jan I'm getting a 2% increase, but health insurance is going up 5%. So I'm going backwards. 

CW

[Tommyt]

I like many in the country took a pay cut. But them folks in the White House deserve a raise. Its hard work tearing down a country.

Ain't that the truth

Tommyt

[magooch]

Being retired is still the best thing going, but I don't recall any pay raise.  Even Social Security was static.  The real pain is that interest rates are pretty much in the toilet and the stock market is still too much of a roller coaster.  The biggest threat we all face is inflation.

[Brett]

I had to find a new line of work when construction tanked in NC and I took about a 50% cut in pay.

[powderman]

Being retired is still the best thing going, but I don't recall any pay raise.  Even Social Security was static.  The real pain is that interest rates are pretty much in the toilet and the stock market is still too much of a roller coaster.  The biggest threat we all face is inflation.

YEP, ss frozen 2 years in a row, but bos people got a raise, how typical. POWDERMAN. 

[PowPow]

my "salary" hasn't changed for 30 years: $0. 
but I work on commission so I expect rainy days; down 33%.

[Brett]

Yeah...unions are really bad though. Top 2% wealth class is cleaning up..good to see somebody is doing well....


..TM7
.

And how do unions come into play in this? 

[Heather]

Amazingly in this economy our business has boomed!  We have more than tripled our students, and had to hire 2 instructors and 2 desk workers.  I still make the same per student, but I personally have twice as many students.  So no raise, but my income has doubled. ;-)

Heather

[lakota]

Pay raise? HA! They froze pay rates indefinatley. They even eliminated 401 K and vacation pay. Still welocome to take a vacation but it will be unpaid.

[hillbill]

What pay raise? I was reminded " I'm lucky to have a job" my response is same as always, I work to keep my job, but I don't do it outta the goodness of my heart. I expect to be dueley compensated.

Next Jan I'm getting a 2% increase, but health insurance is going up 5%. So I'm going backwards. 

CW

get used the health insurance thing, i been in the same boat for last several years. im afraid to even ask how much it will go up this year.

[mauser98us]

You could always go to work for the Gov't. They are hiring and at pretty darn good salaries as well. Also on the horizon,osama wants to federalize all private 401k and completely wipe you out,not that wall street has not done good enough of a job at it.

[Chilachuck]

20% pay cut this year. In constant value dollars, I'm making less than the minimum wage back when I started, 20 years ago. And the Fed wants to increase inflation.

[skarke]

I was informed last year that I would no longer recieve any pay raises for the remainder of my tenure with my company.  Mind you that, except for about 2 or 3 out of 350, I have been the most productive.  It resulted in my recieving good raises for years, now those are being withdrawn.

With our new pay scale, regardless of your performance rating or consistent success, high performers won't make any more salary than low performers.

From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.

[jimster]

I gave up 5% along with everyone in the company, the executives gave up a bit more.  They restored the 5% this last summer cause they finally made a profit, haven't really had a raise for a few years now, I just got back up to even. No hourly people lost money per hour, just lots got laid off, most are back now.  No Union where I work.

People are at the mercy of their employers. As time goes on employers have less and less mercy

Is that a typo TM7?  Did you mean to say...as time goes on employers have less and less "money"....?
If that's what you meant, I agree...our company went without profits for a couple years, they did some big cuts, they are still cutting at the salary mid level in management.  Not sure when the cuts will end, they might head up to a higher level next I think.  But at least now the place has been turning profits, and the goal is to try to get our manufacturing into one spot someday, so it's not so spread out at our location.  

I'm glad they are cutting back, we have been for several years, if we would not have done that we would have been wiped out, this place likes to run on cash, and has been for sometime, but the years of no profits drained a lot of that.  They can pay all the employees and vendors off in cash without the bank.  Non union there.  They tried to come in but the hourly people didn't want them.

We get fair pay, raises were always there whenever there was a profit, and bonuses only get paid if there is a profit.  So I guess it's up to us there to do our best to help them make money, always looking for a way to cut costs in my area. If the company is healthy so are we.  It's not a one way street, they don't owe us anything except a fair days pay for fair work. you don't give them that that will get rid of you.  They choose to follow seniority for layoffs for hourly most the time, they have exceptions...if someone is very VALUABLE to them they will stay and there is nothing anyone can do about it, they make those rules.  I don't have a problem with that myself, I'm salary and they can do whatever they want to us no questions asked, but some do have a problem with that...but you can't please everyone even if you have a union eh?  People complain and moan there too.

The company has to be healthy for people to stay there, and be happy and paid decent, when any business is always on the edge or in the red, you just don't have the money for a raise sometimes.  I don't know if unions force more pay out of companies when companies are not making a profit...but if they do it's not very smart, because it all will crash sooner or later. Maybe...just maybe...there were a few times when unions pushed for more money when they should have been more worried about the health of the company.  You can't force any more raises after the company is gone.  

anyway...no raises here...overall pay is down about 11 thousand per year since times were better there....but maybe it will come back slowly.  Hopin anyways.

[ironglow]

Yeah...unions are really bad though. Top 2% wealth class is cleaning up..good to see somebody is doing well....


..TM7
.

  It's the unions which helped greatly getting the country into this fix! Many states are about to go broke because of untenable pay raises to public employee unions and their extravagant retirement/healthcare programs the rest of us have to pay for..awarded to them by politicians the unions bought off.   
     You talk about the "top 2%"..how about a union toll taker on the NJ interstate collecting a $374,000 paycheck last year..union teachers running up million$$ of dollars in elective cosmetic surgery..often paid for by parents who can't afford  braces for their kids, teeth !      
  Spare your breath;..we don't need unions to lecture us on greed !
  
   BTW: Folks being hired by the auto makers these days don't seem to be jumping on a 'gravy train'....  
  
  This week the Fed prints $600 billion, devaluing our hard-earned savings and driving up prices, the messiah/king spends a few hundred million on a mission to the middle and far east, then comes home empty handed ..like a whipped puppy. ....And just yesterday, the stock market just took a huge dump.....
      How's the "hopey/changey thing working for you lately ?

[351 power]

when unions were at their best they were able to help their members to get a portion of the profits that business owners were receiving. workers provided the profits through their production levels. this grew the middle class for a strong economy as a whole. unions may have overdone their influence/demands to a degree, but the greed of the top level executives/salary earners is largely to blame for the current decline of the middle class. their own bottom line and their attention to the paying dividends to shareholders, etc., has caused them to put jobs outside the countries they plan to sell most goods/services inside of. like shooting your foot really. middle class strength/purchasing power is the only way to maintain an efficient domestic economy. unions may have a place in the not too distant future

[chefjeff]

3 percent

[ironglow]

when unions were at their best they were able to help their members to get a portion of the profits that business owners were receiving. workers provided the profits through their production levels. this grew the middle class for a strong economy as a whole. unions may have overdone their influence/demands to a degree, but the greed of the top level executives/salary earners is largely to blame for the current decline of the middle class. their own bottom line and their attention to the paying dividends to shareholders, etc., has caused them to put jobs outside the countries they plan to sell most goods/services inside of. like shooting your foot really. middle class strength/purchasing power is the only way to maintain an efficient domestic economy. unions may have a place in the not too distant future

    Is it just possible that it was the unions which drove manufacturing to other countries ? I have seen unions who, after being warned about a company pullout, refused a "final offer"..and the company moved out.  Sometimes folks just go on talking when they should be listening..
  The "middle class" , class system talk is the rhetoric used by p[rogressives in an attempt to "divide & conquer" the publice. Here in the USA, we do not like aristocracy, class or caste systems, since historically has been a device the "elites" have used to keep "certain people in their place".
  Yes, unions used to represent a higher percentage of workers than they do today, but the loss of membership has been primarily due to their own arrogance.
  Yes, unions should have their chance, but we don't need the stubborn and questionable arrogance of an SEIU...and they should have no more voice than the millions who work outside the unions.

[Graybeard]

I'm retired Federal Civil Service and don't even recall that we got a raise last year. The bad thing is I've been retired for 15 years now and it seems that my health insurance along goes up more each year than whatever small raise I get in my retirement pension.

Hey if you got to vote yourself a raise like Congress does you'd get a nice one each year also.

[luckydawg13]

going on 5 years now no raise but now i get to work nights 12am 8am yep get to be a weekend dad now to but i have a job

[Pass Lake]

From 1980 to 2005 more than 4/5ths of the total increase in American incomes went to the richest 1%.  In 1980 the CEO of the largest U.S. companies earned an average of 42 times as much as the average worker; in 2001 they earned 531 times as much.  The raises of government employees have been miniscule in comparision.

[Brett]

My personal experience and those of my immediate family's concerning unions has not been favorable.  I have been kept from getting jobs due to closed union shops, I have lost jobs when companies shut down or relocated rather than be unionized (The owners warned their employees that they would close if they voted in the union but they did it anyway).

My brother worked for General Dynamics, his union would walk out on strike every time that their contract came up for renewal making all kinds of crazy demands.  After weeks of being out of work without pay the union would cave and except some piddling raise and little or no change in benefits which would not come close to making up for his lost wages while he was out on strike.

Unions have helped drive many companies to relocate overseas.  Do you think that the Japanese auto makers could have taken over the US market without the help of the UAW when a UAW worker without a high school diploma gets payed $24/ plus benefits for screwing lug nuts on wheels with an air ratchet?  When a manufacturing plant can't afford to stay open and lays off all their employees how much help do they get from their beloved union?       

[Cheesehead]

+  3.5%

Cheesehead

[Empty Quiver]

Large enough that, gross earnings are down only 6k! Somewhat my fault, I wanted more time off this last summer. Overtime went in the dumper during the fall so...

I really feel the unions place was in getting OSHA started for the rest of us, and helped push average wages up. They have since gotten greedy, and the companies are equally to blame in tollerating their extorsion. Rather than deal with union labor they have moved overseas, they won't be coming back.

[351 power]

so often sweet packages are offered in other countries to entice companies to relocate. lots of times companies are in secure financial position but use these blackmail tactics to scare union or non union workers knowing that they stand to gain either way. if the top 1% are making more money they will buy a mercedes. if the middle class got a raise they might buy a chevy or a dodge. what's actually a better choice for the economy

[littlecanoe]

Pay varies based on opportunity and productivity.  However, during 2008, buying power dropped and doesn't seem to have come back to where it was prior to then.

[ironglow]

Littlecanoe;
  ...And it isn't coming back, with the $600 billion the Fed just printed and put into circulation..

  Just think about that, we were just taxed another $600 billion and no new tax bill was passed..but it will be coming out of our pockets and savings accts from now on...

  Really something when you consider just how deceitfully and crookedly governments can run things...and they don't even wear a mask !