Chances are, you've already heard that the labor market is a mess right now. Companies are watching millions of their employees walk away in droves, leaving employers and recruiters scratching their heads in confusion and wondering how to fill all the empty positions.

For decades, many workers have felt they are being mistreated with poor wages, long hours, heavy workloads, unrealistic expectations, and skyrocketing levels of stress. After all, there’s only so much a person can take, so many decided to stand up for themselves and look for better opportunities elsewhere. In fact, the mass exodus of employees leaving their jobs after Covid broke out called the Great Resignation shows that workers truly have the upper hand.

Almost 69 million people quit, were laid off, or discharged in the US last year alone, with 47.4 million leaving their jobs voluntarily. If you’re wondering what were the reasons they felt pushed over the edge, a recent Pew Research Center survey found the main ones. It turns out that low pay, lack of opportunities for advancement, and feeling disrespected at work were their top motivations to quit.

Their survey also found that those who left and found a new job are more likely than not to say their current employment has better pay, more opportunities, more work-life balance, and flexibility.

While everyone wishes to be paid fairly for their work, a study found that when it comes to comparing paychecks with other workers, things remain a mystery. Research from Payscale reveals that employees tend to believe they are underpaid when apparently they are not. Their analysis was conducted using over 383K responses to their online survey where respondents had to provide their salary, job title, and demographic information.

Workers also had to answer several questions about how their pay compares to other employees, whether they plan to actively seek new employment in the next six months, and evaluate whether pay determination at their organization is a transparent process. To say the least, the results came as a surprise — employees have no idea whether or not they get a fair salary.

More than a half (57 percent) of people who are paid at market said they are underpaid, and 42 percent of people who are paid above market believe it as well. However, this false impression makes them consider looking for better opportunities elsewhere. According to Payscale, the biggest problem is that most companies don’t engage in pay communications and pay transparency, which means that a lot of their effort to provide proper pay goes unnoticed.

However, employees also tend to underestimate what others are earning in similar jobs at other companies, one study finds. "Workers wrongly anchor their beliefs about outside options on their current wage. In particular, low-paid workers underestimate wages elsewhere," the researchers wrote. They added that if workers were better informed about the wage disparities, at least 10% of jobs in low-wage firms would not be viable at current salary rates.

This might hold people back from seeking better-paid jobs or starting conversations about higher earnings for their current roles. "When it comes to asking for a raise, it's crucial to define the value one is adding to the company, the reasons for a raise (inflation, extra responsibilities, is it a competitive salary within an industry), and be able to communicate this," Evelina Vilke, a career coach, job search strategist, and personal branding expert, told Bored Panda in a previous interview.

She explained that "lack of willingness to address employees' requests and have discussions around pay rise from senior management demotivates staff and potentially can create a toxic working environment."

"One of the reasons why people want to change jobs is to get a pay rise," Vilke added. "Sadly, it's still much easier to secure a new role with a significantly higher salary than to get the same pay rise at the organization where a person worked for an extensive period of time. Hopefully, leadership training programs will change this, and more CEOs will understand that employees are the ones that make their company a success."

But while we wait for the company owners and department heads to put in the effort to understand their staff's wants and needs, we can at least try to poke fun at our unfortunate situation. We just hope that this compilation of funny pictures and jokes courtesy of Underpaid Employee will help you unwind and let out a few genuine laughs.