I’m not the person you replied to, but I’ll take a stab.

@cmbabul stated in GP that they hand out raises for exceptional work of no more than 3% per year.

So, to recap in a piecemeal fashion, we’re talking about:

• at best 3% in a year, lower is possible
• for what is deemed exceptional, so by no means guaranteed

You saw this and ran with it. While doing so, you changed the premise to:

• guaranteed 3%
• everyone
• every year

On top of that, presumably, because inflation currently exceeds 3% and has well exceeded 3% for almost the last three years, you changed the premise somewhat more into a career’s length timeframe.

The average inflation rate for the last 50 years is 3.8% per year,

Even when looking at a break-even inflation rate for the last 30 years, we’re looking at 2.40%, so we’re talking about a .60% pay increase. No wonder that this doesn’t impress @bunchofnumbers.

Never mind all that, though. I’m more interested in why you decided to change that premise.