The Middle-Class Squeeze: What the Hell Is Happening?

The Middle-Class Squeeze: What the Hell Is Happening?

I was born in 1976, on the day President Carter was elected. A child of immigrant parents who came here seeking the American Dream, I grew up with one message drilled into me: work hard, get an education, and you’ll never struggle like we did. My parents grew up poor in a Western European farm village, where secondary school was the highest level of education they could attain. They wanted more for us, so they left everything behind to build a better life in America.

And I followed the plan.

I excelled in school, graduated 5th in my high school class, and went on to university with dreams of becoming a doctor. That dream was short-lived (a topic for another post), but after some uncertainty, I found my way into economics—a natural fit for someone who loves math. The new dream was to become a big-time stockbroker. That didn’t stick either, but luckily, I stumbled into a career that blended two things I loved—fashion and math. Hello, corporate retail!

Retail led to consulting, where I helped implement software solutions for people who did the job I once had. It felt like a natural evolution—taking my industry knowledge and using it to improve processes and systems. And for a long time, it worked. Until it didn’t.


The Consulting Industry Is Changing (And Not for the Better)

In 2019, for the first time in my life (and I had been working since I was 13), I was laid off. I had been on the bench for too long with no new assignment in sight. Consulting firms have always had a bench policy, but traditionally, you had months to find a new role—not weeks. The company couldn’t afford to keep me, so I was out.

It took over a year to find another job, and when I did, it was for less pay. At the time, I didn’t think much of it because I was desperate for a steady income. But fast forward to last year, and I was laid off again—for the second time in five years. This time, the policy was even more brutal:

Find a new assignment in three weeks, or you're out.

Let me be clear: three weeks is not enough time to find a meaningful new assignment, especially while still working full-time on an existing project. It’s nonsense. Companies have long profited off their consultants, billing clients 2-3x what they pay employees. They used to account for bench time. Now, they just push people out.

And don’t even get me started on this return-to-office bullshit.

Consulting has always been a work-from-home job—unless you were on-site with a client. That was one of the few perks of the industry, given the exhausting travel. Now, companies are forcing consultants into offices 2-3 times a week for no logical reason. News flash: consulting was remote before it was necessary during the pandemic. Why are we pretending otherwise?


The Middle-Class Pay Cut: A New Normal?

So here I am, two months unemployed, and I get an offer.

It’s $23,000 less than what I was making.

And it requires me to go into an office multiple times a week.

So, let me get this straight: companies think it’s okay to pay me less than I was making six years ago while also increasing my monthly expenses (gas, commute, meals, etc.). Where is the logic in that?

The cost of living hasn’t gone down—it’s skyrocketed. Housing, healthcare, groceries, everything costs more. And yet, middle-class professionals are being told to accept lower salaries?

What is happening?

I have a theory.

Corporate America is increasingly outsourcing IT and consulting work to offshore firms that pay their employees far less. To compete, US companies are slashing salaries here, too. It’s not the only factor, but it’s definitely widening the wealth gap.

Why aren’t we coming together and fighting back, demanding what we deserve? Has no one ever considered unionizing and standing up for our rights as employees?

The pay cuts, the layoffs, the return-to-office nonsense—it’s all about power. The less security we have, the more control they have.

So, I ask: Is anyone else going through this? Because I refuse to believe I’m the only middle-class, middle-aged American watching their earning power shrink while their expenses explode.

If this is our new normal, we need to start fighting back.

Let’s talk about it.

The Not So Common Gal

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