Sounds like a cost of living adjustment to me.

I’d also like to know where these surveys are being run, as the COL varies wildly between states.

So:

The average reservation wage of U.S. jobs seekers — the lowest annual pay workers would accept for a new job — climbed to a record high of $78,645 in July, up from $72,873 at the same time last year, according to the survey.

Combined with:

Yet the average full-time wage offer received in the past four months was $69,475, itself a marked increase from $60,764 last July.

So that’s a ~13.5% increase in full-time wage offers vs a ~7.5% increase in ask. This seems like a non-story then, yes? Inflation has pushed wages higher which has pushed expectations higher. However, the offer increase is higher than the ask increase so… Am I missing something here?

Also note, this is the amount minimum for someone willing to leave their current job. So that eliminates recently graduated or low skill non college workers from this equation.

Unsurprising. $78k/yr comes out to $2194/mo take home pay per Smartasset’s calculator. Average rent is well over $1k/mo with no signs of going down any time soon. Landlords frequently demand potential renters have an income of 3x the rent. Gotta live somewhere.

Apparently I’m stupid but I’m too tired to fix it rn so I will just leave my shame up here for all to see. My point is being alive is expensive and bad math or no I’m still not surprised to see this.

Edit again because I’m also too stupid to do a strikethrough correctly even with a formatting bar right there. FML and F this phone too, I’m going to bed