My son and his friends age 27. These young peolple have college degrees and when they do find jobs they are in the high twenties to low thirties. You can not pay back a college loan and live on your own at that price. He has changed jobs once since college to take a job that was really in his field of interest. That was two years ago and he had to take a salary decrease and move out of state to do that. Just this month he made a stand at work and told them that they were not paying him a wage that he could afford to live on. They finally bellied up to the bar and gave him a raise.
At Christmas he interviewed with a company while he was 'home'. He had had preliminary phone interviews and submitted writting examples before this 'in person' interview. He drove 220 miles round trip for the interview. They advertised a starting salary and stated in the phone interview that it could be more, depending on experience and qualifications. There would be a set bonus for moving expenses but not a reimbursement of all expenses. When he went to interview all went well. Four days later her was emailed with an offer of the originally posted salary with no moving expenses. He was totally disgusted as his field of expertise and experience is not enty level. He was not even going to respond but in the effort to 'burn no bridges' he did call and tell them that he needed more in order to make the move. They came up two thousand and added 800 for moving. The total offer was still in the low thirties.
Long story short my son is trying to have a career not a job and that is hard to come by these days. The result of all of this was that he gathered his thoughts and went into his boss and put it all on the line. They did come up with a meeting of the minds but it was back and forth for over a week. He has had great annual reviews and positive comments from the CEO and was on the Deans' List every quarter in college. He had to fight for every penny while the folks who have been there for years continue to keep their high salaries. They start the young people out at low money and use the economy as a reason not to give them a living wage all while keeping the bloated salaries at the top.
The starting salaries stay low as the cost of fuel, food and insurance rise. It is a never ending battle for these young people.
Edited to add that I know he is lucky to have a job but don't tell him that. He does not want to hear it. We have told him that and reminded him that you never leave a job before you have another one. Hard words to hear when you feel like you are being taken advantage of.
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