Why Your Salary May Have Taken A Hit...And You Never Even Noticed

Unless your raises over the last several years have outpaced inflation, your paycheck may not be stretching as far as it used to. PayScale.com recently released a new PayScale Real Wage Index showing "real wages" (wages adjusted for inflation) are down almost 7 percent since 2006 in the U.S.

PayScale Real Wage Index: National (US) by Quarter

PayScale Real Wage Index / Via payscale.com

PayScale Real Wage Index

The PayScale Real Wage Index uses the Consumer Price Index (CPI) to factor inflation into The PayScale Index (which tracks nominal wage growth) and looks at the buying power of wages for full-time private industry workers in the U.S.

Even if your pay has increased, that higher paycheck doesn't necessarily mean that you have additional buying power. Wages have increased 8.2 percent across the U.S. since 2006. And, depending on your job, industry and location, wages may have increased even more, but inflation could be taking a big bite out of your pay.

So, what does that mean for you? It means it may be time to ask for a raise.