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The chart says "Note: Inflation-adjusted annual average growth using income after taxes, transfers and non-cash benefits." Does that include employer-paid healt

The chart says "Note: Inflation-adjusted annual average growth using income after taxes, transfers and non-cash benefits." Does that include employer-paid health insurance? I assume that is part of what is meant by "non-cash benefits". If so, the reality is even more desperate than the already shocking graph. Because that health insurance is a big chunk of money, especially as a percentage of income, and the employee never sees a dime of of it. It's not available to pay rent because it's going straight into medical care. Not that it's not valuable, health insurance is extremely important. But the take-home paychecks of workers in the lower-income range are actually going down.

gehwartzen 9y ago
Good point. The other thing I often hear from people that don't view this as a problem (not suggesting this is you OP)is that, yes, its true that, the income of the top 1 percent has grown but so has the income of everyone else (save for the bottom 5%) just not at the same rate. Your standard of living has increased slightly over just maintaining (matching inflation). Personally I think its still a problem because like it or not humans tend to get upset when there is perceived (and in this case real) injustice in the distributions of productivity gains despite not strictly being worse off. I notice a lot of this in the hierarchy working at F100 company. The higher up you go the more managers pat themselves on the back for the productivity gains seen at the company. For them increasing productivity is a mater of the size of the bonus. For those on the production floor working harder/smarter becomes a mater of having a job or not.
SilasX 9y ago
Exactly. Consider the extreme case where your employer is your doctor (ick, but bear with me). They give you free doctor services for being an employee. "You got a 20% raise this year, because this year I 'billed' you $15k for the medical services and comped it, while last year I 'billed' you $5k and comped it. (Cash salary of $45k.) Yes, the service was physically the same but we wrote it down as being worth a lot more!" Did you really get a raise? You don't know, because that "fee" is almost entirely unhinged from actual market dynamics. That's an extreme version of the current situation, but illustrates why it's not the same as increased real compensation.

gehwartzen 9y ago

Good point. The other thing I often hear from people that don't view this as a problem (not suggesting this is you OP)is that, yes, its true that, the income of the top 1 percent has grown but so has the income of everyone else (save for the bottom 5%) just not at the same rate. Your standard of living has increased slightly over just maintaining (matching inflation). Personally I think its still a problem because like it or not humans tend to get upset when there is perceived (and in this case real) injustice in the distributions of productivity gains despite not strictly being worse off. I notice a lot of this in the hierarchy working at F100 company. The higher up you go the more managers pat themselves on the back for the productivity gains seen at the company. For them increasing productivity is a mater of the size of the bonus. For those on the production floor working harder/smarter becomes a mater of having a job or not.

SilasX 9y ago

Exactly. Consider the extreme case where your employer is your doctor (ick, but bear with me). They give you free doctor services for being an employee. "You got a 20% raise this year, because this year I 'billed' you $15k for the medical services and comped it, while last year I 'billed' you $5k and comped it. (Cash salary of $45k.) Yes, the service was physically the same but we wrote it down as being worth a lot more!" Did you really get a raise? You don't know, because that "fee" is almost entirely unhinged from actual market dynamics. That's an extreme version of the current situation, but illustrates why it's not the same as increased real compensation.