[bsder]

> since pay and promotion seems to follow percentage increments year to year

So ... leave?

Put a couple years of FAANG on your resume to bootstrap and then bail out to the job that pays correctly. That's what everybody has to do to keep their salary from lagging.

If the analysis only includes those who haven't bailed at least once, it's for sure going to have lagging salaries.

A more interesting question would be what those who bailed and then came back to Google are making.