I’m a retired engineer, started working in 1989. I spent 5+ years at my first job before they offered money to quit. I started my service job after about 6 months I used as a vacation with a promotion and a 40% raise. 3 years later I started at my last job, they wanted engineers to start so the raises matched salary increases of new hires. I retired on disability in 07, I maxed out the disability insurance with my January raise, retired in March.

A friend started at our first job. He was making half my salary when I retired even though he was making 30% more when I quit.

I think some companies are like my last one, posting the replacement cost to employees, this is great for “skilled” employees. It’s horrible for the unskilled staff. The cleaning crew didn’t turn over much until the third round of pay cuts. They found the minimum required to get people to accept the job. I guess that’s capitalism but I didn’t like it.