The Wall Street Journal reports that raw recruits at big tech, finance, and consulting firms are being offered six-figure starting salaries. This is making their less lucky colleagues who graduated a few years ago unhappy:
As wage inflation hits campuses during a roaring economic recovery and tight labor market, the next cohort of frosh workers may be greeted by grouchy colleagues—some just a few years older—who are jealous and concerned. Some say new hires who don’t know what it is like to make less than $100,000 could be entitled, or out of touch with those of more modest means.
ZOMG! They'll be out of touch with the folks who were forced (for a year or two) to live on (slightly) less than $100,000! They'll never know what it's like to scrimp and save!
Somebody please shoot me.
Well, those people need to get their ass up and work, as Earth Mother Kim Kardashian puts it, who thinks they're more entitled than complainers?
“Back In The Day” seems like an expression used by boomers to say “in the good old days” without sounding like your grandparents.
Yes. You caught us.
Has Nekoolul done a porno yet?
"Some say ... could be..."
The weasel words used since time immemorial to stoke outrage.
Maybe this is terrible, maybe it isn't.
Either way, if the argument against it is anecdote, grouchiness, and "Some say ... could be...", then WTF should I care? Clearly it is just NOT VERY IMPORTANT!
If you are running a company--especially a relatively small company--it's vitally important.
Ha. Back in the day we were lucky if we got to live in a passing Turk's slipper.
I’m one of those post-COVID new graduates that they are talking about. I never grew up with a ton of money so the six figures thing is strange. I would guess childhood environment sets your outlook on money more than anything else (that could be a good blog post/study?)
Not sure how it connects to cost of living, since in the bay where the six figure starting jobs actually are, housing is pricey. That’s a worn out talking point, but it would be interesting to see if wage rises are partially accounting for that (for instance, I’m in a 1 bedroom in a non-luxury building paying 2400 a month). There were alternate locations in the Midwest where the starting salary was mid 80’s to low 90’s, which might give an idea of the normal starting pay
Im probably turning a brief joking post into something more serious but hey, I don’t have a personal connection that I can tout when Kev posts Russia-Ukraine stories. Sue me
where can we serve the papers?
thanks for the post....
It's ok to have fun--but do squirrel away some money. If you up your 401K (or IRA), so that income is not taxed, the amount you put into savings will be greater than the drop in your take home pay.
And you may need to get a bigger place because friends and family will want to visit. 😉
Thank you for the good advice. I’m still navigating the world of savings and tax deferment and all that, but I’m not a big spender/shopper so squirreling away is sort of my default 😄
Bigger place is on the menu for sure since my girlfriend and I are feeling somewhat cramped as-is. I bet on “in-person work” resuming by the time I started but, as usual, betting against COVID is a losing bet
Thanks again 🙂
Reminds me of all the financial industry workers back in 2008-10 whining about how unfair it was that they might not get their performance bonuses even after their companies imploded under a pile of bad mortgage debt and were bailed out by the taxpayer.
i started my career as a degreed professional making $130 a week. that was a long time ago but it was next to nothing even back then. shortly after i started, i attended a budget hearing in the small w.va. town in which i lived and found out the lowest paid part-time municipal worker made substantially more than me.
That was back when working for the government (all levels) was a job everyone wanted. Like I wanted to be a UPS driver back then. 🙂
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