Starting the race $6,000 ahead

This article is a great example of why I am so very, very glad that I did not take one of the other jobs I applied for (although none were offered - bums!) because all of them paid at least $6,000 less than the job that I have now. Basically it means that since I am in fact very well qualified and have great experience, nobody will again try to hock that kind of starting pay at me. =) Also, it makes it look as though I am worth a lot more, since obviously somebody else was willing to pay that much to get me.

These data confirm that people essentially cannot close the wage gap by working their way up the company hierarchy. While they may work their way up, the people who started above them do, too. They don't catch up. The recession graduates who actually do catch up tend to be the ones who forget about rising up the ladder and, instead, jump ship to other employers.

This is something that really bugs me about my current job. Basically, there's no room for advancement. My supervisor advanced one level, but that was after many years here, and they should really have given her some kind of Director title or something. And in our little group, one of my other coworkers has been here for years and is very experienced, yet has the same title as me. And the pay is commensurate - we get a 3.5% raise every year, and it seems to me that any more would be like squeezing blood from a stone. They'll just tell you there is no room in the budget or whatever, and you go on getting your 3.5%. I highly suspect that my starting pay is a lot higher than this coworker, because she didn't come in with her degree. So they probably started her at peanuts, and now she is still at peanuts, adjusted for inflation. If I stayed here, my actual pay would basically be the same, after inflation, for FOREVER. Right now I'm making good money, but this salary wouldn't support children or a house, and the only way to actually get ahead salary-wise is to leave.