Perhaps the phrase "six-figure salary" has caused wage stagnation.
Once a manager, for example, hits their personal goal of "six-figures", they feel they have hit an important milestone. So they are content year after year to privately make $100,001 but publicly/subconsciously use the misleading phrase of "six-figures". A manager's salary is implicitly the upper bound of their subordinates' pay so the whole work-force suffers.
If the goal is inspire a higher paid workforce, let's stop with the "six-figures" vagueness and use concrete income milestones (e.g., $250k a year, $10k a week, etc.) instead.
I've never heard of a manager who is content with $100,000 and does not immediately wish for the position a couple rungs up up on the ladder where they can make $150,000 or $200,000. Nobody is content with stagnant wages, management or labor, especially when costs are constantly increasing.
I don't know anyone who's content to just make the same amount of money (at least those earning say less than $200k). That money usually starts going to things like a bigger house, fancier vacations, better schools for the children, nicer cars etc.
Once a manager, for example, hits their personal goal of "six-figures", they feel they have hit an important milestone. So they are content year after year to privately make $100,001 but publicly/subconsciously use the misleading phrase of "six-figures". A manager's salary is implicitly the upper bound of their subordinates' pay so the whole work-force suffers.
If the goal is inspire a higher paid workforce, let's stop with the "six-figures" vagueness and use concrete income milestones (e.g., $250k a year, $10k a week, etc.) instead.