Oh, How the Wages Have Fallen

[marmar]

via truthdig:



Oh, How the Wages Have Fallen
Posted on Jul 8, 2010


Most Americans have caught on by now that the economic implosion that rocked the national and global economy over the past two years hasn’t meant good things for their personal finances. But when it comes to paycheck patterns, it turns out that wages have been on the decline for much longer than that—try a decade, for example. —KA

MarketWatch:

Median weekly wages, when adjusted for inflation, fell slightly for both high school and college graduates from 2000 to 2009, according to a recent analysis by the Economic Policy Institute, a Washington think tank.

“The story is often told that college graduates have done well and everyone else has not. But that’s not true,” said Josh Bivens, an economist at EPI.

For high school graduates, median inflation-adjusted wages were $626 per week in 2009, compared with $629 in 2000, according to EPI. If you assume a worker gets paid for a full year, that adds up to $32,552 in 2009, down from $32,708 in 2000.

Read more

http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/oh_how_the_wages_have_fallen_20100708/?ln

[inna]

1. real wages decreased over last 30 years

• Average hourly wage in 1972, adjusted for inflation: $20.06.• In 2008: $18.52.

[Sherman A1]

3. Great Chart!

Thanks for posting!

[mdmc]

6. 1

[ThomWV]

11. Source?

[inna]

13. Bureau of Labor Statistics

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Employment Statistics, Average Hourly Earnings in 1982 Dollars. Converted to 2008 dollars with CPI-U.
http://extremeinequality.org/?page_id=8

[ParkieDem]

15. One thing that this shows ...

.... is our addiction to oil and how crucial it is to our economy.

In so many annals of economic statistics, which trace wage growth, productivity, inflation, etc., over the past 50 years, one year stands out as the big dividing line: 1973. It's almost as if you could say "Before 1973, things were good. After 1973, things were bad."

Well, what happened in 1973? The OPEC oil embargo, which sent prices from $3 per barrel to $12 per barrel almost overnight.

[indepat]

16. Let's hurry to complete the Gipper's deification process for he is the architect of the trickle-down

voodoo economics that brung us all this as a dash of lagniappe. :P

[snot]

19. Great chart, thanks! Source?

[Sherman A1]

2. and this is on top of workers getting screwed for the

last 30+ years.

[malaise]

5. Here's why

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOP2V_np2c0&feature=player_embedded


I posted this earlier in the week.

[disillusioned73]

8. That was fantastic, thank you

[angel823]

17. wow

just, wow.

[HughBeaumont]

4. It's worse than people think.

Real Wages Have Not Risen Since 1979

And because of this, no one can save any money. They have to go into debt to buy necessities.

[disillusioned73]

10. Bookmarked, thank you

[inna]

14. Great blog.

:thumbsup:

Reactionary neoliberal economic policies have been in effect for about 30 years, and this neoliberal onslaught against labor has only escalated because of the financial crisis (i.e., disaster capitalism in action + unprecedented concentration and power of finance capital).

Surplus supply of labor and "traumatized worker" effect serves their goal: maximize profits and increase exploitation.

[INdemo]

7. A decade? Hmmm........

Seems like that is about the the time the Supreme Court decided we needed a real change for the good of our country (economy) and appointed the idiot,the corporate puppet as President.
Since then we have gone down hill and we have never recovered..We have lost jobs that wont come back but corporate profits keep going up and up..
As long as we allow the corporate power group to control our country nothing will change..

[xchrom]

9. how the mighty have fallen. nt

[Romulox]

12. And yet the President is still surrounded by an echo-chamber of outsourcers, "free traders"

and what we used to call "supply siders". Notice that we're still waiting for the stimulus spending to "trickle down"?

There is no mistake as to the cause and effect of neo-liberal economics and the obliteration of American workers' previously taken-for-granted standard of living. There's no confusion or even concern for the fallout of such policies--merely excuses.

Economics isn't a science; it's ideological cover for man's will to greed. :hi:

[slipslidingaway]

18. knr nt