The idea that wages get “stuck” might sound like something your boss muttered after the holiday party, but it’s the reason your last raise didn’t cover the rent hike. In plain terms, sticky wages are what happens when your salary doesn’t adjust fast enough to inflation—so every unexpected price jump quietly eats a bigger slice of your paycheck. The numbers are messier than a whiteboard after the sprint planning meeting, but the bottom line is the same: when prices rise faster than wages, workers shoulder the cost, not the economy. What’s interesting isn’t that this happens—it’s how little we talk about it outside the spreadsheets. Workers feel the pinch immediately, but the policy responses are always five quarters behind. That lag is where things get awkward: bosses haggle over tiny merit increases while economists debate whether anyone even notices the gap. Technical Overview These specs are garbage. Not just because they’re unreadable — though that’s bad enough — but because t...