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Lowest average wage workers are willing to accept reaches new heights: New York Fed survey

The average minimum salary most workers are willing to accept for new job is now over $73,000

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New Yorkers are demanding more for their labor.  

The lowest average wage U.S. adults are willing to accept for a new job has gone up by over $700 since July, according to the most recent data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s Center for Microeconomics SCE Labor Market Survey.  

Now, the lowest average wage adults are willing to accept for a new post is $73,667. This is up from $72,873 in July, with the increase the most pronounced for survey respondents younger than 45.


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Meanwhile, the average annual salary for job offers has gone up to $61,187 from $60,310 from July, according to the survey.  

The average acceptable minimum salary increase is the highest ever reported by the SCE Labor Market Survey since 2014.  

Survey crafters also found that the respondents’ satisfaction with compensation, benefits and promotion opportunities at their current job has improved since July.  

The higher standard workers have for minimum salaries comes as the country grapples with inflation as well as a with a worker shortage stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic.  

More than 47 million workers quit their jobs last year as part of what some have dubbed The Great Resignation, with many choosing to leave their place of employment and search for opportunities for better work-life balance and better pay.  

The pandemic-era quit rate in the U.S. peaked last November with at 4.5 million opting to leave their current job, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the highest level ever recorded in a month since 2000.  

Published on Dec 20,2022