Do the math. Getting a pay increase on par with inflation is not a pay increase, it's to keep your pay the same on paper. It's required in many countries, so it's not due to the employers' benevolence. Add to that the soaring transport costs to get to the office, the food prices going up, energy prices, interest rates, rent, fuel etc. You'll hopefully see that most people aren't getting raises, they're losing money every year. At the same time, their teams are being downsized or partly outsourced due to the aforementioned price increases, and the ones who are left have to pick up the slack. Corporations and their owners, however, are doing better than ever.

It's as if there's people you don't know who haven't been getting the raises you're talking about while they continue to accept bullshit from their jobs while they slowly become unable to leave their apartment due to both financial and mental issues accruing over years.

I hear your experience as well. I know there's people who aren't in that boat. I don't think that invalidates my position though.

Well, yeah. If you don't get any raise while cost of living keeps inflating, then they're actually paying you less than they did the previous year. Number can go up while quality of life goes down.

The attitude of: burn yourself out at work hoping for rewards that they stopped giving out decades ago, is the terrible mindset. You had to actively step in to fix an abysmal hiring salary for someone on your team, which your employer wasn't going to do without being forced. I bet your employer counts that as a raise, so their next one will be a pittance.