That said, much has changed since the late 1980s when inflation hovered around 4%. That rate is almost twice what people now are used to, and all segments of the economy will have to adapt. Getting a pay raise was less critical when inflation was 1% or 2%. Employers got used to giving smaller increases. The last time inflation was high, unions negotiated annual cost-of-living raises built into the pay of many workers. Now most will need to demand it for themselves. For workers who don’t — or can’t — negotiate raises that keep pace with inflation, their real compensation will shrink each year as their pay is worth less. Even if you do get a decent raise, those increases generally come just once a year, while inflation happens continuously, eating away at your buying power.

Companies won’t get off easy either. They’ll face higher costs for labor, rent and the goods they use. They will need to increase their prices more frequently, which risks alienating their customers. It puts smaller firms at a disadvantage, shifting demand to large companies with fatter profit margins that can afford to absorb some of the inflation so that they pass on less of the pain to the consumer.

Inflation will be a bigger problem for small business than it was in the 1980s because big firms dominate the market now — odds are your local mom-and-pop hardware store is already barely hanging on against Home Depot. The online marketplace that brought prices down by increasing transparency will continue to make it harder to raise prices above competitors, which will be another strike against small companies.