Gasoline costs will wipe out raises, study says

Monday, October 10, 2005
By Patricia Sabatini, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Brace yourself -- this is going to hurt.

Workers can expect an average pay raise of about 3.7 percent his year, but because of sky-high gasoline prices, they'll pour all but a smidgen of that extra cash down the gas tank commuting to work according to an analysis by Salary.com.

Calculating the toll of higher gas prices in 88 cities nationwide, the Needham, Mass., compensation software and data firm found that workers making the average annual salary of just above $40,000 last month were spending 3.3 percent of their paychecks gassing up for work.