Real Wages Much Lower Than They Were Four Decades Ago

Wages need to rise to keep up with inflation, especially since the value of the dollar has been trashed:

 

Dollar from 1913.gif Median Wages Have PLUMMETED Since 1969
But Michael Greenstone and Adam Looney of the Hamilton Project  document (hat tip Ezra Klein) that real median earnings for men declinedbetween 1969 and 2009: 

 

hamilton1 Median Wages Have PLUMMETED Since 1969
And wages have only kept droppingsince 2009. 

In addition – when those who have only part-time work are taken into account – we have depression-level unemployment.

As Klein notes:

When you take all men, not just those working fulltime, into account, the slight decline in the above graph becomes a plummet of 28 percent in median real wages from 1969 to 2009.

 

hamilton2 Median Wages Have PLUMMETED Since 1969
The bottom line is that – due to idiotic government policy – most of the jobs being created are part-time and low wage jobs.

Category: Think Tank

Please use the comments to demonstrate your own ignorance, unfamiliarity with empirical data and lack of respect for scientific knowledge. Be sure to create straw men and argue against things I have neither said nor implied. If you could repeat previously discredited memes or steer the conversation into irrelevant, off topic discussions, it would be appreciated. Lastly, kindly forgo all civility in your discourse . . . you are, after all, anonymous.

6 Responses to “Median Wages Have PLUMMETED Since 1969”

  1. FT Alphaville » Further reading says:
    August 9, 2012 at 3:30 am

    [...] Where are median wages compared to 1969? Way [...]

  2. ex1 says:
    August 9, 2012 at 6:17 am

    You have to adjust for the demograpics mix, it has shifted.

  3. JoseOle says:
    August 9, 2012 at 8:19 am

    One would also ideally account for the fact that non-cash compensation, primarily health benefits, have increased as a % of total compensation.

  4. W at Off-Road Finance says:
    August 9, 2012 at 9:24 am

    Aside from the methodological comments others have already made, that looks more like full timers are going sideways. Which doesn’t strike me as unreasonable.

  5. Moopheus says:
    August 9, 2012 at 9:36 am

    Leaving aside the men-only thing in the numbers, the second chart more clearly shows the effect of rising income inequality than anything else–note the increasing spread between the average and the median, particularly over the last 30 years, when the value of the dollar has been relatively stable. During the 50s and 60s, they tracked closely, then began to diverge. Who cares about the value of the dollar in 1913? It’s totally irrelevant. Would you say that the standard of living of the average worker is better now than then?

  6. ironman says:
    August 9, 2012 at 12:38 pm

    For those looking for more data, here you go!

    Men, Women, Income (looking at average income from 1947 through 2010)

    Men, Women, Income (Part 2) – looking at the number of men and women earning incomes, and also their median incomes!