News & Trending Jobs & Career News

These 10 Jobs Are Lagging Behind Inflation

The cost of living has spiked dramatically over the last 10 years, and jobs in multiple industries are struggling to keep pace.

By Michelle Smith

Edited by Ellen Cannon

Updated Dec. 17, 2024

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.

Get paid up to $225 a month while watching viral videos

Instead of sitting around watching viral videos on YouTube, you could be getting paid actual cash taking surveys for InboxDollars instead.

It's simple. You sign up here and confirm your email. Then you watch videos and take surveys. Then you earn cash (yes, actual cash … not "points"). Log in during your spare time and see how you can earn up to an extra $225 every month.

BONUS: Free $5 when you sign up, confirm your email and phone.

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.

Who really has the cheapest auto insurance in your area? Check your zip code here.

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.

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.

Resolve $10,000 or more of your debt

Credit card debt is suffocating. It constantly weighs on your mind and controls every choice you make. You can end up emotionally and even physically drained from it. And even though you make regular payments, it feels like you can never make any progress because of the interest.

National Debt Relief could help you resolve your credit card debt with an affordable plan that works for you. Just tell them your situation, then find out your debt relief options.¹ <p>Clients who are able to stay with the program and get all their debt settled realize approximate savings of 46% before fees, or 25% including our fees, over 12 to 48 months. All claims are based on enrolled debts. Not all debts are eligible for enrollment. Not all clients complete our program for various reasons, including their ability to save sufficient funds. Estimates based on prior results, which will vary based on specific circumstances. We do not guarantee that your debts will be lowered by a specific amount or percentage or that you will be debt-free within a specific period of time. We do not assume consumer debt, make monthly payments to creditors or provide tax, bankruptcy, accounting or legal advice or credit repair services. Not available in all states. Please contact a tax professional to discuss tax consequences of settlement. Please consult with a bankruptcy attorney for more information on bankruptcy. Depending on your state, we may be available to recommend a local tax professional and/or bankruptcy attorney. Read and understand all program materials prior to enrollment, including potential adverse impact on credit rating.</p>

How to get National Debt Relief to help you resolve your debt: Sign up for a free debt assessment here. (Do not skip this step!) By signing up for a free assessment, National Debt Relief can assist you in settling your debt, but only if you schedule the assessment.

Try it

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.

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.

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.

Make Money: 8 things to do if you're barely scraping by financially

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.

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.

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.

Earn cash back on everyday purchases with this rare account

Want to earn cash back on your everyday purchases without using a credit card? With the Discover^®️ Cashback Debit Checking account (member FDIC), you can earn 1% cash back on up to $3,000 in debit card purchases each month!² <p>See website for details.</p>

With no credit check to apply and no monthly fees to worry about, you can earn nearly passive income on purchases you’re making anyway — up to an extra $360 a year!

This rare checking account has other great perks too, like access to your paycheck up to 2 days early with Early Pay, no minimum deposit or monthly balance requirements, over 60K fee-free ATMs, and the ability to add cash to your account at Walmart stores nationwide.

Don’t leave money on the table — it only takes minutes to apply and it won’t impact your credit score.

Apply for a Discover Cashback Checking account today

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.

More from FinanceBuzz: