- Workers are getting pay hikes, but inflation sits at a 40-year high.
- A survey from The Conference Board finds people fear surging prices are overpowering their raises.
- Millennials are especially worried, in part because of their more precarious financial situations.
US workers are hot off their biggest pay bumps in two decades. Most fear inflation still has them beat, according to a survey.
Sixty-two percent of American workers "worry their paychecks won't keep pace with higher prices," according to a new survey from The Conference Board. That concern varies among generations. While nearly three-fourths of millennials are worried about inflation overtaking pay growth, 59% of Baby Boomers share the same concerns.
The Conference Board survey was made up of responses from over 2,600 US workers who were mainly professional and office workers. Among the survey questions, people were asked to share how much they agree with "I am concerned about whether my salary will keep up with the rising cost of living/inflation."
Rebecca Ray, executive vice president of human capital at The Conference Board, told Insider that it "makes perfect sense" for more millennial respondents to worry compared to respondents part of older generations. This is because, Ray said, millennials are earlier in their career than their older peers and could be "paid at lower levels than more senior folks with more tenure."
With this high rate of inflation, Ray said millennials "being at a, generally speaking, lower average compensation level and having less wherewithal to deal or to absorb the impact of inflation, that would naturally be a concern."
Ray said millennials "have struggled as a generational cohort to sort of get to the same place as the generations before them," such as for purchasing homes due to things like the burden of student debt the generation faces and lower salary rates when they entered their careers.
"I think everyone is concerned, but I think those who have the ability to better absorb inflationary pressures would have a lower level of concern," Ray said.
Fresh worry comes amid historic wage growth
The Employment Cost Index — a popular measure of wage gains — rose 4% year-over-year in the fourth quarter, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That's the fastest rate in data going back to the first quarter of 2002.
Private-sector employees enjoyed an even bigger raise. That group's ECI measure soared 4.4% over the same period, easily outpacing the second-highest reading of a 4% jump in 2003.
Yet for such strong overall growth, few workers actually felt any benefit. Employees in the leisure and hospitality sector were the only ones to see pay growth outpace inflation through 2021, according to government data. Their real wages soared more than 6% through the year, largely bolstered by the labor shortage. As businesses rushed to rehire, many were forced to raise pay to attract workers.
Wage growth in the professional and business services and transportation and warehousing sectors came the closest to equaling inflation. Conversely, inflation-adjusted wages fell more than 4% in the information sector, leaving such workers with significantly diminished buying power compared to what they enjoyed at the start of last year.
With some workers feeling the pain of higher prices and some workers looking to join the Great Resignation, there are things employers can do to help concerned employees and people looking to leave. Ray said one way employers can do this is by "being flexible about how and when bonuses are paid."
"So some companies are moving away from an annual bonus into quarterly bonuses," Ray said, "which I understand means that you have to rethink sort of your performance management process and how all of this would work, but it would put money into people's hands on a more regular basis."
Another key to worried workers and for workers considering quitting jobs is that businesses should take a look at whether they're offering pay at market rates, Ray added. That way, Ray said, organizations aren't "in a situation where someone has become so motivated to try to get a new job simply to make more money."