Wages aren't keeping up with costs, and this argues that's by design — bad news for workers, especially Gen Z and hourly staff.

• Homes cost about 10x income in big cities today versus 3.5x in 1980, so the same job that once bought a house can barely cover rent.
• The Fed deliberately keeps mild inflation going by printing money to avoid a crash, but that steadily eats away at what your paycheck buys.
• More of the wealth workers create is going to owners and shareholders, as automation, offshoring, and giant companies weaken workers' bargaining power.
• Companies are cutting middle managers and running skeleton crews, killing promotion paths and forcing millions to juggle two or more jobs to get by.
• Doing good work often just gets you more unpaid tasks, while phones, Slack, and monitoring software mean you're never truly off the clock.

Outlook: Costs are expected to keep climbing and wages to keep stalling unless the underlying system changes.