White-Collar Jobs Face ‘Shrinkflation’ in AI Era as Pay Holds Steady but Benefits and Flexibility Erode

White-collar job “shrinkflation” refers to employers keeping nominal salaries broadly unchanged while cutting health insurance, flexible spending accounts and remote-work options, and assigning more duties to remaining employees. Former Glassdoor chief economist Aaron Terrazas said salary alone can no longer measure a job’s true value when benefits, time and workload are all being repriced.

TechNews cited a KFF survey on April 21, 2026, showing that annual premiums for employer-sponsored family health coverage reached $26,993 in 2025, up 6% year on year. That exceeded wage growth of 4% and inflation of 2.7%. Separate Robert Half data showed that fully remote positions fell from 15% of new job postings in the fourth quarter of 2024 to 11% in the fourth quarter of 2025, underscoring the simultaneous erosion of benefits and flexibility.