<p>This motivated me to find an inflation calculator on-line. My first salary at a small specialized firm in the 70s was $15,000, increased to $18,000 upon admission to the bar. According to one inflation calculator, in 2010 dollars that’s equivalent to $49,500 that increased to $59,000. One quarter of my salary went to student loans, one quarter went to rent, one quarter went to other bill payments and one quarter (about $50 a week, if I remember correctly) went to everything else. Eventually I moved in-house & up the chain, and have worked on some pretty exciting projects. Let’s just say that I’m satisfied with my current compensation.</p>
<p>Until I used the inflation calculator, I wasn’t thinking about the context for new grad’s salary expectations. I think it’s amazing that my kid acknowledges that his starting pay (assuming he’s lucky enough to find a job) might be in that same $50K to $60K starting range. With this perspective, my experience makes me slightly more optimistic for his future.</p>