US workers seeking record wages to consider new jobs, New York Fed says – Reuters

“The so-called average reservation wage was $81,822 as of March, up substantially from the $73,391 seen in the last report in November of 2023, the regional Fed bank said, drawing on data compiled from in its regular Survey of Consumer Expectations. The New York Fed said that rise was driven by men, respondents over the age of 45, and those without college degrees.”

Makes sense that workers want to make more and employers want to pay them less. But the econ notion of an “average reservation wage” may be off the reservation in real life. Know many people in high-cost Northern Virginia for whom $15/hour — $30,000 a year — would be a raise: a food worker, a warehouse worker, a farm worker, a personal care worker… If higher-earning workers up their income expectations, the average would rise even if the lowest wage workers lack the leverage to raise their wages.

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