No, there is definitely such thing as wage inflation.
You should probably go put your resume on LinkedIn to put some pressure on your employer to pay you more.
The term "wage inflation" is as fake and bullschitt a term as "systemic racism." You don't even know the definition of the word "Inflation."
(For the FEW adults here, Inflation is defined as too many dollars chasing too few goods. It is a MONETARY pheonemon and has everything to do with the make up of M1 money supply.)
Your wages aren't set in stone, in this economy someone will pay you more than you are currently making.
As a matter of fact, throughout my entire life, I've managed to EARN more money each year, not from being a dick and demanding it but from making myself more valuable to the different employers. Substitute teaching is not my main career, (which by the way is none of your fcking business.) And substitute teaching, like regular teaching is set at the county level. Some counties pay more; some pay less.
You just have to pick yourself up by your bootstraps and quit pretending you owe your employer any debt of gratitude.
Demanding unearned wage raise is NOT picking oneself up by one's bootstraps. It's just a whiny, left wing ENTITLEMENT. If I needed to make more money, I could move back to Orange County (Orlando, mostly) and work EVERY day in schools that mostly reside in ghetto neighborhoods. (I've worked a bunch of them when I used to live there.) Or I could EASILY take on a Permanent Sub position. In the two counties I'm certified, there are HUNDREDS of real teaching positions that have not been filled. Without having to take the test outs and certify in those fields, I could easily get permanent sub status and get almost twice the money. Or if I REALLY hated myself, I could just test out on any number of items and certify as a regular teacher and make the regular money with my Bachelor's degree. Certainly, I have enough experience in classroom management. Several principals have already offered me the job if I decided I wanted to do that.
Thing is, I don't need the money that much. I'm not complaining about the money I make. I do this because I enjoy the work, (probably because Florida's public schools are the best in the country and our kids are actually learning something here, even in the idiot Broward County schitholes.) I like the atmosphere, not just academic, but the superior class of teachers, most of which look really happy to be doing that kind of work.