Inflation has caused numbers to rise on pretty much everything — except salaries.

According to recent surveys of U.S. employers, most businesses will be unable to provide raises that match the current level of 8.3% inflation, Business Insider reported.

Surveys by Salary.com, Payscale, and WorldatWork predicted salary increases between 3.8% and 4.4%., which is nearly half the current rate of inflation.

The discrepancy between pay and cost of living means most workers will see their earnings shrink this year, while still doing the same amount of work.

“I’m super concerned about real wage loss,” Kent Plunkett, CEO of Salary.com, told Business Insider. “There’s a lot of companies that haven’t woken up to what’s going on.”

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the first half of 2022 marked the biggest decline in real wages in over two decades.

Part of the problem is that most companies don’t factor in the rate of inflation when considering salary budgets, and workers are then stuck between a rock and a hard place to assess the best options to mitigate the rising cost of living.

Related: ‘None of Our Paychecks Are Keeping Up:’ 71% of Workers Say Inflation and the Cost of Living Are Outpacing Their Pay

Job switching is one viable option when seeking better pay as employers will likely offer a competitive salary with experience. However, with the current economic climate in flux, that option isn’t as promising as it was about a year ago during the Great Resignation.

Plunkett told Business Insider that a worker’s best bet is to ask for a raise now before companies finalize their budgets for next year.

“If you have an ask, you should make it now,” Plunkett says. “The earlier you can give visibility to your boss of what your ask is, the more they can fit that into their budgeting.”

Related: Inflation Jumps to 8.5% in March, Fastest Climb in 40 Years

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/436654