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> In the U.S., for example, income of production workers today, adjusted for inflation, is essentially at the level it was around 1970. I have a legitimate que
by methodover 9y ago
> In the U.S., for example, income of production workers today, adjusted for inflation, is essentially at the level it was around 1970.
I have a legitimate question about the usefulness of this statistic.
Everyday living has dramatically improved since the 1970s. There's been massive improvements in medical care, for starters. Communication and finding information has never been better thanks to computers, the Internet, search engines, wikipedia, etc. Entertainment has never had more options, and the options have never been this good. There's smartphones, of course: They made the internet accessible everywhere, and provide a platform for some incredibly useful apps (e.g., Uber/Lyft). There's been dramatic innovation since 1970, including: microwaves, GPS, home video, text messaging, MRIs, HIV treatment, smoke detectors, and on and on and on.
These technological improvements are not reflected in income statistics, but they're extremely important to every-day living.
Are there statistics that try and encapsulate technological improvement along with the normal measures of economic improvement? It's totally possible that wages are stagnant, but you get triple the utility out of your money than you would've in the 1970s.
- rbranson 9y agoI'd argue that there were even larger lifestyle improvements during the industrial revolution period before 1970 and real wages also grew substantially.
- methodover 9y agoOh that's a really good point! All the more reason why I'd be interested in some statistics around this point.
- randcraw 9y agoI think the prevailing view on living standards is that they're no longer rising for those who enter the workforce at the bottom. If your parents can send you to college, you'll probably do well. But If not, since tuition costs have skyrocketed in the past 20 years, you'll no longer able to send yourself to college, so your prospects will be limited. Likewise, for those at the bottom of the job market, employers offer far more modest benefits to further your development (like tuition reimbursement), thereby closing yet another door to upskilling and advancement.
- methodover 9y ago> I think the prevailing view on living standards is that they're no longer rising for those who enter the workforce at the bottom. Hmm, how is "living standards" defined exactly? It seems like many of the technological advancements of the last 40 years have become cheap and affordable by almost everyone. Even smart phones are relatively inexpensive and widely used. 64% of individuals making less than $30k a year own a smart phone, for example [1]. Life seems to be getting better for all income levels. Though, this isn't easy to track statistically. The citation I was originally responding to (an article on stagnating income vs inflation [2]) uses CPI as the measure of inflation. But the CPI only tracks the prices of basic commodities like food and fuel. It misses a huge part of our lives. 1. http://www.pewinternet.org/fact-sheet/mobile/ http://www.pewinternet.org/fact-sheet/mobile/ 2. https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=eUHS https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=eUHS
- mythrwy 9y agoWe can watch youtube on our phones now, which is slick, but for many of us, forget buying a house. That is what is different between now and 1970.