With much of the U.S. economy driven by consumerism and the market on an upswing, are companies looking to raise wages to increase buying power? "I actually don't think so. The middle class has been constrained. Salaries have remained the same or actually gone down in the past 10 years," said Bruce Rader, an assistant professor of finance at Temple's Fox School of Business. "Hopefully, with a little bit of inflation, it will give some incentive to raise wages. I think that would have a profound effect on the overall economy."