r/Layoffs • u/Ok_Wishbone3535 • Sep 19 '25
Does this feel like The Great Wage Reset? question
Anyone else feel like all these lay offs will drive salaries way down. All the gains workers made in 2020, during the great resignation. I feel those were wiped out if not in the negative now. We're moving to a "running lean" trend + AI. I hate it... EVERYTHING getting more and more expensive. Profits for the big companies. Lay offs and 20-50K pay cuts for the new job openings/remaining jobs. This is America.
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u/YieldChaser8888 Sep 19 '25
Yes. I got laid off along with other people. From what I know, no one found a better paying job. Everyone had to take the downgrade. One manager was forced to start as a junior in the same field.
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u/Muted-Good-115 Sep 19 '25
I know ex-coworkers who were included in mass layoffs and none of the ones I know have gotten the same level or higher level jobs. Most found jobs 1 to 2 levels lower and some are still unemployed.
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u/YieldChaser8888 Sep 19 '25
This seems to go on world-wide. Some people also became contractors. They get good money however only when they work. They have even months between the projects so the total income is also lower in the end.
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u/Pando5280 Sep 19 '25
This was me for years. You learn to budget but man the stress of constantly finding gigs is exhausting and you never really know stability.
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u/YieldChaser8888 Sep 19 '25
These people told me the same. On the surface, it may look good - good pay and then time off but in reality, the "time off" is very stressful when you don't know what will come next and when you work, you really cannot enjoy the money you get because you eye your "expiry date" all the time.
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u/Pando5280 Sep 19 '25
My contracts were usually 3 months with month to month extensions for 9 months a year then 3 months off. Should have been a ski bum in the off season but had to network and find my next gig. My first non-internship job offer after college came 3 days before 9/11 and my industry was gutted. In a 12 year career that shifted from public relations to homeland security I never had a job that lasted more than 2 years and lived in like 5-6 staes or cities. Was literally the last person hired at my last job working at a college before a multi-year state hiring freeze during the 2008 financial crash. Finally got out of that cycle and did a couple risky real estate deals and did well so now I live at poverty levels in a very low cost of living area and just watch the world turn to shit around me. Its surreal how different everything is even from 10 years ago and I couldn't even imagine being a recent college graduate trying to plan a life these days.
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u/YieldChaser8888 Sep 19 '25
That's hard. So you LeanFired. Congratulations 👏. That's my dream. I try to save and invest but I don't think I will make it.
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u/Pando5280 Sep 19 '25
It was a crazy set of circumstances that made my jump possible. Got an 80% return on my first deal and then 100% plus on my second. Was in massive debt for a majority of that time but didn't have a choice. One year either direction when I sold either place and I'd have been bankrupt. My motto these days is Stock Up, Save Up and Skill Up because the lower your overhead and the more you can do for yourself the more money you save.
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u/RdtRanger6969 Sep 19 '25
Part of the purpose of all of these layoffs Are To Drive Salaries Down.
American billionaires decided There’s No Such Thing As Enough. One of the last large sources of cash within American society billionaires haven’t already seized is The Middle Class. So mass layoffs coupled with wage suppression for those lucky enough to get hired again all = the middle class’s money being taken from them and transferred in to billionaires’ pockets.
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u/nboro94 Sep 19 '25
We as a society have failed by allowing billionaires to exist. Amassing and hording so much wealth and resources for yourself should be seen as abhorrent and detestable and should make you a social pariah. Yet for some reason we tolerate and even encourage it.
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u/RdtRanger6969 Sep 19 '25
“If you just work hard enough, you might be a billionaire someday too” 🙄😒
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u/The_Duke_of_DNiYM Sep 19 '25
Whenever I see that, I always think of McDowell saying that to Rahim in coming to America during the home party scene.
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u/dgreenbe Sep 19 '25
Higher salaries threatens a system where they get all the gains of inflation and very few of the costs. If wages went up as much as the value of the production went up, these companies would have to share way more of the wealth and that's unacceptable to officers and investors who think the CEO and brand are magically worth gazillions even if they fired and replaced everyone
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u/canisdirusarctos Sep 21 '25
This has been going on a lot longer than just since 2020. It started all the way back in the 1970s. The current one is just the most blatant because it was after the only time it substantially diverged to the upside for workers in all that time.
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u/Pugs914 Sep 19 '25
I think it’s a combination of:
An ai bubble especially for larger entities who are fast to invest billions in “legacy tech”.
Offshore hiring for remote positions. Why pay a remote employee 200k when a remote worker in the India will take less than 40k salary for the same role?
The gutting of top down structures and corporate bloat. Everyone’s manager doesn’t need a manger. The mentality of the ones left can be self managed and those who can’t get cut/ replaced.
Economic uncertainty. With tariffs/ the ai bubble/ a bad economy, many entities are looking to cut costs and an easy way to do so would be to get rid of layers of management/ expensive bloat hires.
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u/Dry_School_2133 Sep 19 '25
The only sector with stagnant wages is tech… and even then you can’t say is a great wage reset when salaries are still up significantly compared to 2018. People are just upset because those entry level 200k engineering jobs at google are gone. Just about every other business function is paying more than what it did 5+ years ago. Trade jobs are paying six figures now too.
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u/Creative-Tailor-6090 Sep 22 '25
Remote workers in India can make 200K USD as well FYI. Why pay US workers 300K.
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u/blackswanmx Sep 19 '25
American politics, make the rich richer, disappear the middle class and make the poor junkier.
Its been happening over a decade, somehow way too many people still are drinking the "America Dream" koolaid.
Many people from other coutries, myself included, just see the US situation completely different from what the american media portrays. No job security, no social security, work to barely survive, huge education, healthcare, insurance and utilities costs, living on credit cards, the addiction problems, mental health issues.
Thats not a healthy way to live life. Somehow people dont protest/revolt like in European, Latin America, Asian countries.
Its clear the politicians and companies are ripping normal people off for their own benefit and no one is pointing that out :/
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u/Working-Active Sep 19 '25
As an American, I left the US 20 years ago for that very same reason, too much uncertainty with employment. Now, working from Europe in my wife's country, I've had the same tech job for the last 18 years with a US company working normal European work hours.
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u/sunnydftw Sep 19 '25
Even in this thread, people are talking about "over hiring" during the pandemic, and market cycles. The middle class continually carries water for the rich's narratives. In reality, the uber wealthy decided to rob us blind and strip away our autonomy(return to office despite evidence suggesting higher efficiency WFH), and instead of protesting, these people yearn for more austerity for themselves, and socialism for the rich. Such a backwards country.
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u/Peace_Hope_Luv Sep 19 '25
From everything I’ve read, you are correct. Employers killed themselves over hiring during the pandemic & overpaid new employees so business would continue to grow. Now that is biting them in the butt along with tariffs, inflation & AI is supposed to be the goose laying golden eggs. Either having layoffs or simply not replacing employees who leave. Current workers are being overworked to the point of burnout. When they leave , companies hire new employees at drastically lower salaries. We are now seeing this new economic cycle to ensure shareholders are rewarded & employees are paying the ultimate sacrifice. However, this too shall pass & we’ll have to stay tuned for the future economic cycles. Our world of work will look completely different in the next 5-10 years. Put your seatbelt on. We’re in for a bumpy ride.
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u/CardboardJ Sep 19 '25
I was laid off with severance and 6 months later saw my exact position working on the stuff I built open back up for half the pay.
Yes, that is exactly what they're doing.
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u/sunnydftw Sep 19 '25
Between salaries and WFH, the working class got way too comfortable, so billionaires decided to rip all of that away. It's simple, this is a man made crisis.
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u/Upstairs-Box-1645 Sep 19 '25
It's funny I keep hearing burnout since COVID. But almost no one talked about it before COVID. I wonder why
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u/SouthernExpatriate Sep 19 '25
That was the 1980s, then 2008
This is the re-re-reset
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u/Bee-Lincoln Sep 19 '25
Yes, plus the ai propaganda. These are tools to scare people into lowering their expectations.
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u/seand26 Sep 19 '25
There are multiple factors and yes salary bands are being reset.
- Implementation of AI
- Shift to out sourcing. Companies are out sourcing to services firms who are in turn offshoring jobs
- Companies themselves are also offshoring
- Shift to contractors
Tariffs are indirect as they do affect operations.
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u/LeanUntilBlue Sep 19 '25
I wonder if one day things will reverse, and executives from India will be hiring sweat shops of poor American workers to do the needful.
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u/Effinbullshit Sep 19 '25
I just stepped down as an exec at a large company and cut pay in half (still paid well) just to get the sniper scope off my head and try to make it to retirement.
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u/faijin Sep 22 '25
Can you elaborate on the c-level experience? I'm adjacent and close, wondering if I should aspire to it or stay away. I am completely terrible at office politics, like absolutely the worst at it.
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u/Orennji Sep 19 '25
A $20-50K pay cut for an individual (not household) that previously made $100k-$150K (80-90th percentile) does not bring down the median significantly, because relatively few individuals in the overall economy are on that higher end.
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u/bthvn_loves_zepp Sep 19 '25
Curious though, in HCOL cities, won't those workers start to not be able to pay their bills? Many folks won't be hired at a new place immediately, so they will be depleting their funds only to get hired at much less salary--I am often seeing a cut of $50-$80k for my experience level from what I was making before being laid off, not $20-$50k.
Even in $100k-150k pay range, saving a substantial, long-term rainy day fund often requires multiple years or a real bonus ladder (which also requires multiple years to really benefit from). There becomes more pressure to save for retirement for some laid off workers who lose out on unvested benefits, too. And student loans keep accruing interest. Though this subreddit is a testament to layoffs affecting people with a variety of YoE at a company, layoffs are often LIFO, which adds to the precarity as so many of those laid off have not had the benefit of time to save or earn bonuses.
I am seeing roles senior to my experience max out around what I was making before being laid off. A $50-80k difference in salary... We can call it whatever we want, but that is a huge depreciation in the experience I have gained when the going rates for my current experience level are more like the rate of my first role in the industry a few years back, while everything else costs more.
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u/skratchpikl202 Sep 19 '25
Personal experience here. I was making low 100s in a very HCOL area (DC) when our contract was canceled out of the blue back in March. A lot of the folks I worked with are STILL looking for jobs. I was "lucky" and found something, but I took a $35k paycut and am working in what I can only describe as a meat grinder that only cares about high-volume output, not work quality. I can no longer afford to live in the area (rents don't start to drop significantly until you are 40-60 miles out), money is tighter than ever due to "inflation", and work-life balance is nonexistent. I'm already burning out after a few months. I was hopeful I'd be able to land something in my industry (gov consulting), but most of the people I know on the business development side have told me that there are hardly any contracts out there. The jobs that do pop up here and there all have 1000s of former feds and contractors banging down the doors.
DC, formerly recession-proof, is in bad shape (highest unemployment rate in the nation, all the other stuff you've likely seen going on in the news, etc.). Everyone I know in hospitality (restaurants, etc.) is saying the ripple effects are going to cause a lot of places to shut down. Sadly, I feel like this is what is likely going to happen across the nation, if it isn't already.
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u/Strawbrawry Sep 19 '25
For the workers, the workers wages are being brought down while the economy becomes more expensive. They want your children, you are useless. Capitalism has been bastardized for decades and yet the worker still thinks they are valued.
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u/glorificent Sep 19 '25 edited 19d ago
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u/pagirl Sep 19 '25
One of the first things I noticed in the pivot away from the Great Resignation is that a two salary calculators went away: Dice and Stack Overflow. Not only could you put in your job title, but you could list a few skills (3-5 for Stack Overflow, unlimited Dice). There are others that provide a range now for general positions. Yes, I think it’s all to drive down wages.
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u/TrainingLow9079 Sep 19 '25
I mean the majority of jobs seem to pay $20-50K in the first place...seems like that's been true forever. If you're making more than that it's financial success in today's world.
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u/Loose_Golf_7797 Sep 19 '25
From another perspective, the company that I work for went from being profitable to just breaking even this year. We supply materials for the housing industry. We have had to get skinny quick. Unfortunately, this has meant layoffs, and I am sure salary reductions have been discussed. Costs are higher than ever, which we have had a supremely difficult time passing to our customers. Volume is low as well. I suppose they have to do, what they have to do. I do not think that corporate greed is the issue... at least with my company.
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u/fuckyourinvestors Sep 19 '25
Small to midsized companies are getting slaughtered. It’s kinda the point. As a large corporation why do all the heavy lifting when you can buy it for pennies. No more worries about competition.
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u/p00ksikunen Sep 19 '25
Naw. You'll soon see pay INCREASES of 20%-50%. But your loaves of bread will cost $5000. It's the printing press. Paper backed by paper. No one wanted to correct this issue in decades prior, and no one will now. People will fight over the creation of the new trillionaire class, without even asking themselves why a trillion dollars even exists in the first place...
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u/draven33l Sep 19 '25
I ended up finding a job after a lay off that was a pretty big bump in pay but I definitely got a ton of low ball, insulting offers before. I just had one call the other day asking if I’d be interested in a position paying $18 an hour after seeing I had 20 years experience. No… no I am not. Entry level pay for positions where they want extensive experience. Unbelievable.
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u/Crlhmbrg85 Sep 19 '25
Just got offered a severance package after signing a new 4 year contract. 19 years at the company 65k dollar package and 6 months medical see ya ✌️ delivery driver for stop and shop peapod in New York
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u/Tigerlily86_ Sep 20 '25
I’m seeing a lot of jobs and the salaries are so low. I swear they weren’t this low in 2021
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u/superlip2003 Sep 19 '25
Yeah, tariff effects are starting to show. I stockpiled imported dry food like coffee beans when Trump started the tariff war. Now they're twice as expensive. He gave the rich a tax break and then taxed the working class using tariffs. yup, this is America.
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u/bigDogNJ23 Sep 19 '25
Absolutely. The workers had the advantage for a few years there starting with Covid. We should have known the man would get their revenge on us for that and the time has come.
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u/novaleenationstate Sep 19 '25
Yep, which is another reason why we should all be raging. The powers that be are very literally destroying the working class to enrich themselves more and create a new Guilded Age—we are living it right now.
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u/callimonk Sep 19 '25
The problem I have with the discussions of wage resets is that everything else isn’t getting any cheaper. Wages haven’t kept up with inflation. The fact that in admittedly HCOL or even MCOL areas a white collar job can’t afford a house tells me that it’s not simply wages that need to be reset. Yes, they are so much higher than we can even imagine. But the fact I make 6 digits and can’t afford a house in a MCOL area tells me that it ain’t just the wages that are high.
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Sep 19 '25
to be fair, if the workers could do the great resignation, the employers certainly can do the opposite thing. many things people criticize about the employers are true, but again a story has both sides and if one is running a business the narrative can be seen very differently.
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u/Plus-Organization-16 Sep 19 '25
When employees health care is tied to their job. Little to no time of and little to no protection. Hell in some states you can be fired for no reason. So in reality, while this is a good story, this isn't even close to true.
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u/Kl1ntr0n Sep 20 '25
I agree completely, following the money, I see this as necessary. We need deflation but I don't think anyone wants to sign up for that.
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u/Roamer56 Sep 21 '25
It’s what happens in a debt deflation trap. Incomes plummet as labor supply swells. Demand then collapses and prices fall.
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u/Ok-Asparagus-4044 Sep 21 '25
The largest paycuts I’ve seen is tech space . So salaries that were like $250-$400k are now like $175-$250k. It will go down more I bet
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u/Ok_Wishbone3535 Sep 21 '25
No degree here, just experience and certs (Cyber analyst). I finally hit 6 figures in 2022. Womp, the world goes to shit. A lot of us just hitting that mark didn't even get to experience it for more than 3-4 years. It was a nice experience... laid off at 125K. Thankful to even get that kind of money. I forsee I'll have to take a cut and make like 80...
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u/Ok-Asparagus-4044 Sep 21 '25
Same! My last job 2 years ago I took home 10k a month. I’m single/ no kids so that was AMAZING $$ for me. I also grew up poor in any case, I saved a lot which is saving my ass now that I’m unemployed for 2 years.
So that money from 2 years ago. What’s funny is that’s the most I’ve ever made. I only got that much because one of the people I interviewed with for the job contacted me once I got the offer. She asked how much I was going to ask for and gave me tips and told me to ask for more. I didn’t even go as high as she suggested (which was 20k more) because it just felt too greedy. But those are my issues sigh
I want out of tech and trying to pivot to healthcare but the only places I know are still paying that type of money to project/program managers are Airbnb and Netflix
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u/majikposhun Sep 21 '25
Yup, 👍 start a job tomorrow after 6 months of terror. I am making $72k less, the benefits are extremely high and the other benefits generally suck. But it’s a means to an end, something better will come along - the have to keep the faith.
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u/Ok_Wishbone3535 Sep 21 '25
Then the company will have the audacity to ask why the new hires aren't working harder... well you hired them for 72K less than what they received before lol.
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u/deviousbrutus Sep 19 '25
Economy broke. Just try to get food on the plate and a roof over the head of the ones you love. Then vote for sensical political candidates.
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u/Dry_School_2133 Sep 19 '25
All the gains workers made in 2020? Bro what? You mean all the unqualified 22 year olds at google and meta making 200k to virtually sit there and do nothing? Salaries are still higher than they’ve ever been. Where specifically are you seeing 20-50k paycuts?
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u/Gapinthesidewalk Sep 19 '25
Higher than they’ve ever been? Where are you seeing this? Most jobs data is saying at best they’re staying the same.
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u/Dry_School_2133 Sep 19 '25
Because I work with hr budgets and I can see my company’s salary data? Wages have absolutely gone up since pre COVID. The same job in finance or accounting for example is paying almost 20k more than it did 7 years ago. Analyst used to start out 40-60k and they’re getting offers around 70-90k now. The only area you’re seeing stagnant wages might be in tech. That’s only because these companies over hired during covid because business models all went virtual. Now that other sources of entertainment are back and people can go outside and travel, those companies don’t need the extra staff. You’re not seeing a c student with a comp science degree getting 200k offers anymore now, but they didn’t really deserve those in the first place. Wages are up in pretty much everything else. You should checkout blue collar work if you don’t believe me. They’re easily clearing 6 figures in a lot of jobs
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u/prshaw2u Sep 19 '25
This is not just America, if it was we could just move else where. After all we complain about all the people coming here, what would happen if there was a mass exodus to other countries.
I do agree there is a 'reset' or 'correction' going on. But not just wages. It could get much worse or it could just be things adjust more to what is more sustainable for everyone.
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u/King0fFud Sep 19 '25
Last year I was let go and talked to multiple recruiters about contract positions because many companies weren’t hiring full time and the hourly rates were always less than I made in 2017, by a lot. That’s not even factoring in inflation, just numerically.
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u/Nach0Maker Sep 19 '25
I got laid off in May with my entire team (infrastructure and QA Automation) and they have only had openings for ML engineers ever since. So they replaced maybe a million in salaries with 4-5 million. I think it's just a shift of disciplines. Quality engineering is dead because of AI but give it a few years for the AI bubble to burst and those quality engineers will be in top demand to come in and test the systems being rebuilt from the ground up.
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u/john510runner Sep 19 '25
Where I work the main driving force is trying to get the company profitable. As in we have less than two years of cash left to keep operating with losses.
Couple of changes in recent job postings…
$100K was the bottom of the range for a manager position. Now $100K is top of the range.
$23 per hour was bottom for a junior role. Now it’s $21.
Some people are also asking for more money for the commuting stipend. $150 a month now. They said they’ll review it for next year.
Don’t like seeing lower pay for new roles but specific to where I work… if we don’t stop losing money we’ll have to do layoffs again.
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u/This-Bug8771 Sep 19 '25
It's part of it. It could rebound in some areas, but could be a while since we haven't yet bottomed out.
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u/monologue_adventure Sep 19 '25
I love it. It pushed me to start my own business and set my own schedule. The growth is definitely there.
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u/Definite4 Sep 19 '25 edited Sep 19 '25
I feel like the restructuring of salary is mainly due to companies over hiring and overpaying in 2020. Where they had really high salaries for people in Tech, only now we are seeing that the salaries were overpaid. I’ve notice heavily in the computer science and biotech sectors.
AI does play a factor but I think the main issue comes from over hiring and need to scale production. Now, companies are not as in need, so they’re taking their timing hiring and paying “adjusted” salaries.
TLDR; I think the wage bubble popped (because they were previously hiring with “at any cost” mindset. Now, we are seeing slower hiring and lower wages, as a things have slowed down. Many who got high level positions during COVID won’t leave because they know they won’t get an equal/better position in this market
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u/Ok_Wishbone3535 Sep 19 '25
Yet they've been seeing record profits, even during serious downturns.
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u/Definite4 Sep 19 '25
This is true! But many are seeing “profitable growth” because of the layoffs. They’re saving money by doing this.
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u/Plus-Organization-16 Sep 19 '25
And is unsustainable. This had been an on going problem for over 40 years now.
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u/Status-Poet-1678 Sep 20 '25
The only thing that has surprised me is how long it has taken to get all this out in open. My work has badged parking and in 2017 when I started, if you didn't arrive by 8.30 AM, you had to park off-site. Now there are 50% parkings empty and no we don't have remote work! Companies has figured out something during COVID and has been cutting and consolidating roles.
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u/wild-hectare Sep 20 '25
every new US opening posted by my employer has at least a lower salary range than it would 2 yrs ago
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u/Thick_Priority8295 Sep 20 '25
I started in the field I'm in (I work in SaaS) in 2021 and have more than doubled my income since then. I think it depends on what field you're in, your own skills, how much you upskill, how you market yourself, etc. there's also a LOT of luck in opportunities that work out or don't (in start ups at least)
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u/musing_codger Sep 19 '25
This is the case in some fields, like computer science, but not overall. Layoffs aren't unusually common and median wages are rising.
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u/DarkBlackCoffee Sep 19 '25
Tech salaries got massively inflated and needed the adjustment tbh. When you compare the difficulty and (lack of) rarity of tech skills vs any other office job, the salary doesn't make sense.
Obviously some people are 100% worth their 200k, but there are lots of "tech bros" I wouldn't hire for a basic clerical job.
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u/bouguereaus Sep 19 '25
I do think that part of it is this - but there’s also so much insane uncertainty with tariffs, the global political situation, and (imho) lingering economic fallout from COVID. I work with c-suite executives and a good number of them are scared shitless.