Life in NYC making $8/hour in the 1970s

[HockeyMom]

I worked in Manhattan as a secretary and commuted from Queens. My daily cost for that was around $1.00 a day. I lived in a one bedroom, Queens apartment building with a doorman, lobby with sofa and chairs, for $200 a month including utilities. It had AC and a building parking garage with laundry facilities. WHAT would that cost today? $8/hour wages? Doubt that would happen, anywhere in the country in 2013.

The company I worked for gave FREE health insurance to all employees, including any scripts written by a doctor. Free contraception was a given but since the corporation actually manufactured them, RELIGIOUS OBJECTION?????? OTC things they made, I could just go to the employee store and TAKE what I needed.

While I certainly wasn't rich, I did not worry about paying my rent or EATING. In fact, I could still save enough money to go on vacation once a year on a cruise or to Europe. Remember, this was living in NYC on $8/hour.

Could ANYONE, ANYWHERE in the country, let alone in NYC, do any of this on $8/hour even as a single person in 2013? What is the problem???? The problem is that WAGES. let alone the MINIMUM WAGE, have not kept up to the COL. The Republicans and their corporations want the 1% to make even more money so the increased COL doesn't affect them in the least. Everyone else can just suffer. More money for US.

When I was a child back in the 50s, I can remember my pediatrician having a conversation with my Mom. He said that eventually there will be no more Middle Class, only the Poor and the Rich. I will never forget what he said even as a young child. Yes, he was prophetic. We are seeing right now the destruction of the Middle Class with the growing ranks of the Poor, and the Rich.

How do we stop this for our children and our grandchildren? I do not know.

[shenmue]

1. True

I remember being in an argument not too long ago, with a guy who said the minimum wage was a job-killer. I wanted to knock his lights out, because I actually started working back when it was under $4.

[frazzled]

2. I paid $68 a month for my Manhattan apartment in the early 1970s

(and it was in what is now SoHo; it was also rent-controlled). I don't recall what I made, but it couldn't have been much at all: I was straight out of college, and worked for a non-profit, an organization that funded literary magazines.

If they raised the minimum wage to $15 an hour, I bet you could still not afford that same apartment in Manhattan today. Not that it was a nice apartment (a third-floor walkup; and the neighborhood wasn't all fancy schmantzy back then by any means). I figure if you make $15 an hour, you should probably be paying at most $1200 a month (in reality $800). Are there apartments for $1200 a month in NYC these days? You'd have to have a roommate or two incomes to afford a modest one bedroom in these times.

I never really felt poor back then either; but then again, we were still very counter-culture back in those days, so we really didn't want much materially anyway. We were rich in experiences and friends.

[FarCenter]

3. $1 in 1970 has $6.02 in 2013 buying power. So $8 / hour would be $48.16 currently.

1972 = $5.59
1974 = $4.74
1976 = $4.10, so $8 / hour would be $32.80 currently.
1978 = $3.58
1980 = $2.83, so $8 / hour would be $$22.64.

There was huge inflation during the Carter Administration.

http://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm

[jaysunb]

8. I still have my WIN button (whip inflation now) from

the Ford Administration. I still don't understand why Carter continues to be blamed.

[FarCenter]

9. Inflation was worst under Carter, although it was bad during the entire '70s.

Mainly due to the Vietnam War and two oil shocks.

[jaysunb]

28. You're right, but it was raging when Carter took

office. I just hate to continue hear the blame being laid on Carter.
And btw, I tried to sell my "WIN" button on E-Bay a few years ago....no takers.

[Major Nikon]

46. Actually it was due to fucked up monetary policy which started under Nixon

If not before.

The belief at the time was that growth considerations trumped all others, including inflation. The idea was that growth would overcome all other monetary considerations so they kept flooding the treasury with dollars. To a lesser extent the problem was exacerbated by Nixon's fucked up oil and price control policies.

The problem was they reached a point at which printing more money did not result in more growth and inflation became untenable with no easy solution. Fed Chairman Arthur Burns recognized the problem, but Nixon strongarmed him into keeping the taps running in order to secure his reelection.

The problem didn't actually see a correction until Paul Volcker (appointed by Carter) tightened the money supply and (intentionally) drove the country into recession. This was actually part of what torpedoed Carter's reelection bid, but Paul Volcker is the one who fixed stagflation and Saint Ronnie got the credit even though he had zip to do with it. Saint Ronnie actually threatened Volcker in much the same way Nixon threatened Burns, but Wal-Street knew better and actually forced Saint Ronnie to reappoint Volcker(a Democrat).

The short version is Nixon gave us stagflation and Carter fixed it. Carter, rather than Saint Ronnie deserves the credit for the economic boom of the 80's.

[uponit7771]

49. Nixons gold standard started it, it was a horrible thing for Nixon to do then he left office with an

...economic mess for Ford to finish and Carter to clean up.

Sounds familiar IMHO... something conservatives do a lot

[CreekDog]

21. Right wing talking point, "There was huge inflation during the Carter Administration"

there was inflation throughout the 70's and at the beginning of the 80's.

but you're so bent on pinning this to Carter...well...it's as if you feel the same way about Carter as the other Democrats you talk about here.

[FarCenter]

23. Inflation rose from 5.91 to 14.76% during the Carter Administration.

It was the longest, and highest sustained rise in inflation of any administration.

Note that the impact is worst during the time inflation is rising, since wages and interest rates do not keep up, and wage earners buying power and retirees investment incomes do not keep up.

Stagflation was an ugly experience.

1980 13.91 % 14.18 % 14.76 % 14.73 % 14.41 % 14.38 % 13.13 % 12.87 % 12.60 % 12.77 % 12.65 % 12.52 % 13.58 %
1979 9.28 % 9.86 % 10.09 % 10.49 % 10.85 % 10.89 % 11.26 % 11.82 % 12.18 % 12.07 % 12.61 % 13.29 % 11.22 %
1978 6.84 % 6.43 % 6.55 % 6.50 % 6.97 % 7.41 % 7.70 % 7.84 % 8.31 % 8.93 % 8.89 % 9.02 % 7.62 %
1977 5.22 % 5.91 % 6.44 % 6.95 % 6.73 % 6.87 % 6.83 % 6.62 % 6.60 % 6.39 % 6.72 % 6.70 % 6.50 %
1976 6.72 % 6.29 % 6.07 % 6.05 % 6.20 % 5.97 % 5.35 % 5.71 % 5.49 % 5.46 % 4.88 % 4.86 % 5.75 %
1975 11.80 % 11.23 % 10.25 % 10.21 % 9.47 % 9.39 % 9.72 % 8.60 % 7.91 % 7.44 % 7.38 % 6.94 % 9.20 %
1974 9.39 % 10.02 % 10.39 % 10.09 % 10.71 % 10.86 % 11.51 % 10.86 % 11.95 % 12.06 % 12.20 % 12.34 % 11.03 %
1973 3.65 % 3.87 % 4.59 % 5.06 % 5.53 % 6.00 % 5.73 % 7.38 % 7.36 % 7.80 % 8.25 % 8.71 % 6.16 %
1972 3.27 % 3.51 % 3.50 % 3.49 % 3.23 % 2.71 % 2.95 % 2.94 % 3.19 % 3.42 % 3.67 % 3.41 % 3.27 %
1971 5.29 % 5.00 % 4.71 % 4.16 % 4.40 % 4.64 % 4.36 % 4.62 % 4.08 % 3.81 % 3.28 % 3.27 % 4.30 %

[CreekDog]

30. you only want to talk about the Carter administration

you singled it out. you just can't resist. you can't even bear to say that it was the 1970's in general or the mid 70's and the late 70's, because then you can't keep running against Carter.

[Nye Bevan]

32. To be fair, at least he didn't bring up the Rabbit Incident.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Carter_rabbit_incident

[CreekDog]

33. But you did

And who better to call attention to it than you?

[Nye Bevan]

36. How about Jackpine Radical?

He beat me to it by over three years.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x8077561

Or was that a rhetorical question?

[CreekDog]

42. Right.

It's not like they defend conservatives and criticize liberals ideologically from the right.

[Skip Intro]

39. Yikes!

That pretty much settles that, eh?

[Skip Intro]

40. Oh my God, dude, wtf are you doing?

Why do you attack people like that?

Don't you know what an ass you're being?

Or is that the point?

[CreekDog]

43. I thought you were busy working on your family tree

...trying to connect it to Stone Mountain.

[CreekDog]

48. you seem to think one can't be direct with one poster for fear of offending them

while at the same time, you have no issue with being downright offensive to nearly the entire membership.

strange values, strange values.

[davekriss]

4. $8/hr in 1975 is equivalent to about $35/hour today

To be fair, the question to ask is whether or not $35/hr can provide the same lifestyle experienced then. That's $72,000 per year. I think you can still get a nice 1 bedroom in Queens for about $2000 per month (with garage - e.g. see Parker Towers). That's about 33% of gross pay. Back in 1975 the rent was 15%. There is no doubt that quality of life is eroded.

[PoliticAverse]

5. Note that $8 in 1975 would be the equivalent of about $34.73 today.

( http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl?cost1=8&year1=1975&year2=2013 )

The $200 rent is equivalent to about $868.20 today.

( http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl?cost1=200&year1=1975&year2=2013 )

BLS inflation calculator: http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl

The minimum wage in 1975 was $2.10

( http://www.dol.gov/whd/minwage/chart.htm )

[HockeyMom]

6. You are all forgetting

that I was a 20 something SECRETARY. I didn't have a college degree, or highly specialized skills. How many secretaries today would be making $72,000 a year? That alone shows how much wages have declined in relation to the COL. Proves my point.

[SheilaT]

7. I'll admit that I'm astonished at what you were making back then.

I was making around half that, living in the Washington, DC area. Which was reasonably affordable back then. But still, you were amazingly well paid. And good for you.

[FarCenter]

10. Weren't typing and stenography highly specialized skills?

I took typing in high school in 1960-61. Gary and I were the only two boys in the entire class. It subsequently proved to be a very useful class.

And New York was an unusual place then. In '60, over half of all PBXs in the Bell System were installed in Manhattan south of 59th Street. I remember visiting Charlotte, NC in the late '60s and the AT&T Long Lines building of a few stories was the tallest in town.

If you look at a picture of downtown Detroit and take out the Ren Center and a couple of obviously new buildings (casinos?), you have a skyline of one of the largest US cities in 1970.

[HockeyMom]

11. My daughter as a teacher, or tutoring, $12/hour NYC

Has a college degree, certification, and private schools or tutoring, want to pay her $11 or $12 an hour. That is absolutely HORRIBLE. She knows how much I made back then. Plus, 6 years ago I made that working in a Non Profit Group Home for the MR/DD population which required no college degree.

PROFITS are are driving DOWN wages.

[FarCenter]

15. You had in-demand skills; she doesn't.

Of the 1,650,000 bachelor's degrees conferred in 2009–10, the greatest numbers of degrees were conferred in the fields of business (358,000); social sciences and history (173,000); health professions and related programs (130,000); and education (101,000). At the master's degree level, the greatest numbers of degrees were conferred in the fields of education (182,000) and business (178,000).

http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=37

Can't find the data now, but I recall reading that about 3 times as many BEd degrees are being granted as there are openings for teachers. So unless you have some inside track (a friend or relative in the business?), getting a job as a teacher can be really tough.

The oversupply is also indicated by more MEd than BEd degrees being granted. It indicates that unemployed bachelor's degree holders are going for the master's degree to improve their chances.

Some relatives are teachers -- they hate their jobs and can't stand the kids these days.

[HockeyMom]

20. Changing DIAPERS is a skill?

Pushing wheelchairs? Spoon feeding? Forget 40 years ago. I did these things 7 years ago and was paid same as these for profit schools want to pay teachers.

[FarCenter]

22. I was thinking of your 1970s compensation level, not 2007.

But there are probably more people who want to teach than change diapers, push wheelchairs, and spoon feed.

[Doremus]

37. My first pt secretarial job in 1972 as a hs senior paid $2/hr.

After high school I took a ft secretarial job for $2.75. This was in Ohio, so cost of living was less, but nevertheless your $8/hr wage was fantastic.

I know what you're saying tho. My father was the sole breadwinner in the 70s and on his >$20k salary he was able to pay the mortgage, groceries, clothing, insurance, utilities, incidental medical expenses, car expenses, annual vacation AND put my 2 brothers through college AT THE SAME TIME and still have a savings account.

Aren't we the stupid fools.

[El_Johns]

12. $8 was good money in 1970. Minimum wage was $1.60 -- and still worth more than today's MW.

Today's MW would need to be $9.63 to have the same buying power (& still would have less for things that have way outstripped the inflation rate, such as housing, health care, and college).


http://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm

[meaculpa2011]

13. I had a one bedroom in a building like...

the one you describe back in the mid 70s. It was in Queens within walking distance of the subway.

$275 per month and the LIRR rattled the windows every two minutes.

[meaculpa2011]

14. Doing a quick calculation...

my salary was about $8 per hour back then.

My wife was a NYC teacher making $7,700 per year.

[rug]

16. I bet you weren't in the dreaded two fare zone.

I lived in Sunnyside.

[HockeyMom]

47. No

Elmhurst right on Queens Blvd. The subway was right in front of the building. It was not rent control, but rent stabilized building.

[Boom Sound 416]

17. To buy in Manhattan

1,000 bucks a sq ft please.

[meaculpa2011]

18. Ya know what?

We lived in a one-room walk-up on the 4th floor on East 78 Street for $195 until 1975.

Looked at a one-bedroom co-op on East 79th.

My reaction: "Who's crazy enough to pay $19,000 for an apartment?"

[Boom Sound 416]

19. Ha

We looked at an alcove studio in 2007. 400 sq ft. 400 big ones.


And that was consistent around the island all the through two bedrooms

[Ace Acme]

27. $19,000? Crazy, right. Especially since it was only worth about $18,200--right? nt

[moondust]

24. Minimum wage

should have been tied to cost of living decades ago, for one thing. NJ and MA recently did this, at long last.

[geek tragedy]

25. $8/hour in 1975 = $34.73/hour today

Also, NYC was cheaper relatively back then because it was not considered a particularly desirable place to live--wide swaths of it anyways.

[Laelth]

26. Agreed. Wages are a big part of the problem. k&r n/t

-Laelth

[haele]

29. People forget, businesses used to pay well for good employees.

And if the OP was a secretary for an executive or even a senior manager, $8.00 an hour would be a normal wage - because it would be expected she'd have to dress for the part, and good office clothes suitable for someone who would also act as a receptionist for a big-wig are never cheap.
There's also a big difference between what most people think is a secretary, and what a secretary actually was during that period of time. Secretary pool is usually comprised of clerk/typists and the occasional fill-in receptionists, and they would not be making that $8.00 an hour. Secretary pool wages were probably around $2.00 - $5.00 an hour.

My mom was a secretary at UW back in 1972, she was making $4.50 an hour overseeing a pool of 4 clerk/typists for the Geology department and was responsible for supporting four tenured professors. When I was in my senior year of high school back in 1997, I worked part time as a file clerk for $1.85 an hour. Full time file clerks were making $2.10 - $2.50.

Fast forward to today - most secretaries are considered glorified clerk/receptionists, managers are supposed to do their own communications, and business casual has pretty much become the uniform for the worker-bees of a company. Labor is not valued as highly at the offices because tasking is supplemented by technology to become "more productive" and personal interactions are few and far between - so why would someone pay equivalent to 1970 wages for the same basic work category? Labor costs are expensive when you're looking at the quarterly bottom line...

Haele

[rgbecker]

31. One word: RENT

Do your arithmetic on real estate and rents.

[Brigid]

34. Your pediatrician missed his calling.

He should have been teaching economics.

[TeamPooka]

35. In an episode of Mad Men Peggy takes another job for $19K a year. I saw a stat online that said

that $19K salary in 1967 is equal to a $131,000 salary today.

[Decaffeinated]

38. I'm reminded of...

We can't bust heads like we used to. But we have our ways. One trick is to tell stories that don't go anywhere. Like the time I caught the ferry to Shelbyville. I needed a new heel for m'shoe. So I decided to go to Morganville, which is what they called Shelbyville in those days. So I tied an onion to my belt. Which was the style at the time. Now, to take the ferry cost a nickel, and in those days, nickels had pictures of bumblebees on 'em. Gimme five bees for a quarter, you'd say. Now where was I... oh yeah. The important thing was that I had an onion tied to my belt, which was the style at the time. You couldn't get white onions, because of the war. The only thing you could get was those big yellow ones...

[HangOnKids]

44. Of course, that has so much relevance

Keep pressing on.......

[Tuesday Afternoon]

41. DU Rec

[Egalitarian Thug]

45. Well the first thing you might try is to stop "mis-remembering" who did this.

It was 1968 when the Democratic Party made their priorities completely clear. This nation has been looted by a thoroughly bi-partisan effort put forth on behalf of this nation's owners.

There are no good guys in this game anymore, assuming that there ever were. The republicans are foul to the point of involuntary regurgitation, and the Democrats only add some baking soda to delay the reaction. Go back as far as you like, this is not new at all.