Sep 4, 2018

Five jobs that stay ahead of inflation

Steve LeVine

Bank tellers have consistently beaten inflation. Photo: Bettmann/Getty

While wages have been almost flat since the financial crash for most unskilled jobs, raises have easily beaten inflation in a few occupations over the last three years, according to data provided to Axios by Glassdoor, the jobs search site.

What's happening now: Andrew Chamberlain, Glassdoor's chief economist, says that the crash was so severe that companies simply didn't have to raise wages as they hired workers, and that now there is a "hangover — companies are used to not raising wages." Inflation has eaten up most or all the increases that have come.

But here are five jobs that have consistently beaten the 7.8% of cumulative inflation since January 2015, per Chamberlain:

Bank teller: 18.5% cumulative pay increase since January 2015
Barista: 17.7%
Cashier: 16.2%
Pharmacy technician: 14%
Restaurant cook: 13.8%

One dynamic responsible for the pay surge for, say, bank tellers has been a hike in minimum wages to $15 an hour in places like Seattle. "That puts pressure on banks, because they definitely don't want to be seen as paying tellers a minimum wage," Chamberlain says.

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Five jobs that stay ahead of inflation

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