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I 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

I 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