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Interesting article here in WSJ.
It’s basically about how the intersection of once-low mortgage rates, once-high job offers (pandemic), and reduced-price gym memberships and meal kits — all of which are now faded out — have kept Americans stuck in their existence because of the cost of doing something else being too high, as exemplified in this paragraph:
Pessimistic Americans are driving from the same old homes to the same old jobs in the same old cars. The average age of cars and light trucks in the U.S. is at a record 12½ years, according to S&P Global Mobility. Kelley Blue Book reports new-vehicle prices have plateaued at 25% above prepandemic levels and inventory shortages persist for certain models, stalling some trade-ins.
The most interesting paragraph, re: job hopping, is a few notes down the article:
Jumping ship is usually the best way to earn more money, but job switchers’ wage-growth advantage over those who hang around is the smallest in three years at 0.4 percentage points, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. Wage hikes are harder to come by in many industries. Across 20,000 job titles on ZipRecruiter, the average advertised salary for most roles is less than it was last year.
I could see this. I browse Indeed daily and all those jobs seem like hourly wage work or commission-only sales jobs.
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