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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 Sept. 6, 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.

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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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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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