Have Earnings Actually Declined?

[cynatnite]

snip:
It has been widely observed that over the last several decades wage earnings for the median full-time American male worker have stagnated. For example, in 2009 the median full-time male worker aged 25-64 brought home $48,000—roughly the same as in 1969 after adjusting for inflation.

snip:
Three shifts in the employment landscape are largely responsible for the decline in full-time employment. First, men with jobs are less likely to hold full-time jobs. In 1970, 86 percent of jobs held by prime-age male workers were full-time jobs, compared with 81 percent today. Second, between 1970 and today, the share of men without any earnings at all increased from 6 percent to 18 percent. Third, 2.2 percent of these prime-age men now live in institutions—primarily prisons—and no longer appear in most labor-market statistics.

snip:
The below figure plots the median earnings based on all males aged 25-64, along with the more conventional plot that is based only on those men aged 25-64 that happen to work full-time.

This analysis suggests that earnings have not stagnated but have declined sharply. The median wage of the American male has declined by almost $13,000 after accounting for inflation in the four decades since 1969. This is a reduction of 28 percent!



http://www.brookings.edu/opinions/2011/0304_jobs_greenstone_looney.aspx

[sarcasmo]

1. Our countries downward spiral continues.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

2. For who?

[xchrom]

3. Recommend - current 'declining unemployment'

Cheer leaders rarely take facts like these into account.

[ProSense]

4. Why are they showing a chart just for men? n/t

[Viking12]

8. Just a guess...

But I suspect the percentage of women in the workforce has changed significantly enough that no accurate comparison is possible. Just a guess, though.

[annabanana]

5. "median earnings" is an AVERAGE...no?

It could be one gazillionaire and a million peons.

[rgbecker]

6. Actually, No. Median is the 50th of 100, or 500th of 1000.

The middle earner of the group. If you are the "Median" earner, half of everyone else earns more and half earn less.

Average or "Mean" is as you said...Add em all up and divide by the total number counted.

[Stinky The Clown]

7. Tracking our slow, painful, inexorable, ongoing, continuing march to the bottom

Even as the rich get richer and the even as the government aids and abets that transfer of wealth.

We
Are
Well
And
Truly
Fucked

[Hannah Bell]

9. men's wages have taken the hardest hit, particularly low-income/low-education men & minority men.

i find this interesting as the pattern is typical of the "ghettoization" process.

increases in women's wages haven't taken up the slack.

destruction of male earning capacity contributes to destabilization of families, increased crime, etc.

[Curmudgeoness]

And to make matters worse, this does not take into account

all the things that are taken from paychecks today that were not taken out in the past. Health insurance was usually covered without employee contributions. Pensions were company sponsored, but today you have to contribute money to a 401(k) or other instrument before you ever get the check. This was money that was in our father's pockets.

[underpants]

10. We are living in Milton Friedman's world and, predictably, the masses suffer

Keynes was rejected by all sides about the time that Reagan took over and the results are the reason the people who represent the rich liked him so much.