There’s a good chance the wages for jobs in your industry simply haven’t kept pace with the rate of inflation. It may be tough to get ahead financially if you work in these jobs.
FinanceBuzz recently conducted a study using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics to compare average wages for jobs 10 years ago to average wages for the same jobs today.
Calculating the difference meant we could determine which jobs pay their workers enough to stay afloat amid inflation — and which industries have failed to increase wages in step with inflation rates.
Wondering which category your job falls under? Read on to learn about the worst industries to work in if you want your paycheck to keep up with inflation.
Make Money: 8 things to do if you're barely scraping by financially 1. Secretaries: 30% salary increase
2013 salary: $38,250
2023 salary: $49,810 (+30%)
Difference from national inflation: -1%
Plenty of jobs have increased employees’ average salary in keeping with — or even faster than — the average national rate of inflation, which is 31% over the past 10 years.
Unfortunately, secretarial work isn’t one of them. Still, with an average salary increase of 30%, secretaries are likely coping better with inflation than workers in the rest of the industries on our list.
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2. Business operations: 28% salary increase
2013 salary: $69,030
2023 salary: $88,040 (+28%)
Difference from national inflation: -3%
Business operations is an umbrella term for a wide range of occupations, including project managers, management analysts, event planners, and compliance officers.
But no matter your job title, if you work in business operations, your salary has grown an average of just 28% — 3% lower than the average inflation rate.
3. Electricians: 27% salary increase
2013 salary: $53,560
2023 salary: $67,810 (+27%)
Difference from national inflation: -4%
Depending on the types of jobs you take on as an electrician, you might be used to performing high-stress work in potentially dangerous situations.
Unfortunately, your salary likely hasn’t changed enough in the last decade to keep you safe from the financial danger caused by high inflation.
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4. K-12 teachers: 26% salary increase
2013 salary: $56,802
2023 salary: $71,771 (+26%)
Difference from national inflation: -5%
Unfortunately, staying afloat by teaching is even less feasible now than it was in 2013: Average teaching salaries increased by 26% in 10 years, or 5% less than the national inflation rate.
5. Plumbers: 26% salary increase
2013 salary: $53,820
2023 salary: $67,840 (+26%)
Difference from national inflation: -5%
Plumbers get paid to deal with complex, messy piping problems the rest of us don’t want to handle. But with a salary that increased by 5% less than the overall inflation rate, people in this profession may have a hard time ensuring ends meet.
6. Insurance agents: 25% salary increase
2013 salary: $63,610
2023 salary: $79,700 (+25%)
Difference from national inflation: -6%
Selling insurance can earn an average of nearly $80,000 a year. But while that number is nothing to sneeze at, it also represents less purchasing power than the salary insurance agents would have earned 10 years ago.
Get Out of Debt for Good: Try these 6 clever ways to crush your debt 7. Accountants: 25% salary increase
2013 salary: $72,500
2023 salary: $90,780 (+25%)
Difference from national inflation: -6%
Accountants’ salaries have gone up by a full 25% since 2013, but that’s still six percentage points lower than the inflation rate.
8. Real estate agents, 24% salary increase
2013 salary: $58,900
2023 salary: $73,010 (+24%)
Difference from national inflation: -7%
Housing prices have risen and fallen to astonishing extremes since the crash of 2008. Real estate agents’ salaries have been a little more predictable. They’ve grown year over year, but not as quickly as inflation.
9. Marketers, 23% salary increase
2013 salary: $67,780
2023 salary: $83,190 (+23%)
Difference from national inflation: -8%
The average price of goods sold by marketers has gone up exponentially in the past 10 years, but the same can’t be said for marketers’ own salaries.
Break the Cycle: 8 moves to escape the paycheck to paycheck grind 10. Postal workers, 18% salary increase
2013 salary: $49,720
2023 salary: $58,660 (+18%)
Difference from national inflation: -13%
By all accounts, postal workers deal with an extremely high-stress work environment. Unfortunately, their average pay doesn’t come anywhere near compensating for the anxiety with a living wage.
Postal workers experienced the lowest salary increase of all the 37 common professions we analyzed for this study.
Bottom line
If you’re having a hard time saving money in this economy, your spending habits might not need to bear the brunt of the blame — especially if you’re in one of the industries we listed above.
Unfortunately, you may have to find ways to make extra money to keep yourself out of debt. Or maybe you should consider searching for a job with fairer pay sooner rather than later.
Money tips that can work for everyone
No matter what your bank account balance is, there's always an opportunity to optimize and improve your finances. Here's a quick checklist of things you can look at today.
Focus on paying off your debt . Debt can hold you back from making progress with your overall financial well-being. Aside from cutting expenses, there are tools that can help you pay off debt faster like balance transfer credit cards and debt counseling.
Earning extra income can give you breathing room. If finances are tight, earning some extra money to supplement your income can make a huge difference. A new job is one option to consider, but if you're not ready to make a big change or already retired, a part-time side job could be a better choice.
Cut your expenses. It sounds painful and so not fun, but it doesn't have to be. Take a look at your biggest expenses because that's where you'll probably find the biggest savings. For example, auto insurance rates have been soaring so shopping around for a new insurance company can be the fastest way to cut your bill. Also, look for ways to cut your grocery bill (despite rising inflation).
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