Sticky wages are more than a disgusting check you receive from your employer - employees are likely to not want to take a job for less money than one they worked previously. Sticky wages are one of the reasons that recessions can last a long time, sort of like the 'Great Recession' of the recent past. Even though the recession is officially over, high employment still exists, and a number of economic indicators still are at shaky levels. Anecdotally, there are many examples of people who took lower paying jobs in order to get back to work, however the official data shows that wages stayed flat or even rose, even throughout the recession.