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Is that 50 years on top of ~40 years with stagnant wages? I don't think there is time for that. > Real wages in the United States, have stagnated since the mid

Is that 50 years on top of ~40 years with stagnant wages? I don't think there is time for that. > Real wages in the United States, have stagnated since the mid-1970s contrary to expectations that real wages should raise in line with increases in productivity. Between 1973 and 2013 productivity in the United States grew by 74% whilst compensation for workers grew by 9% in the same period. The stagnation of real hourly wages has resulted in a Middle-class squeeze as increases in inflation and the cost of living exceeds the growth of real wages for members of the middle and lower classes.

twoodfin 9y ago
This assertion doesn't pass the smell test, unless you believe that the median working-age US household by income had a worse standard of living in 2013 than it did in 1973. In reality, the distribution of employment income has shifted from cash wages to expanded benefits. There has been substantial growth in two-earner households which indeed puts downward pressure on individual wages but increases household income and wealth. Productivity gains have resulted in much cheaper goods in a variety of sectors, leading to a couple of decades of historically low inflation. We've also had big demographic shifts in immigration and aging over 40 years that make point-to-point comparisons potentially misleading.
- _Tev 9y ago
  > This assertion doesn't pass the smell test, unless you believe that the median working-age US household by income had a worse standard of living in 2013 than it did in 1973. Actually you are the first one I see to dispute this. Do you base these smell tests/beliefs in any public data? I would like to see the source to have something to dispute this frequently stated claim.
  - twoodfin 9y ago
    Let me reverse this: What do you think was better about life for the median working-age US household in 1973? Their house was smaller. Their car was less safe, less reliable and guzzled gas. They had no internet, no mobile phones and only 3 television networks. Eating at a restaurant was a monthly indulgence at best. Air travel was a luxury. Their children could expect to have seven fewer years of life, and were markedly less likely to go to college. Think about how much someone would have to pay you to live a 1973 lifestyle, and it should be obvious why claiming there have been 40 years of “stagnation” is nonsense.
    - _Tev 9y ago
      Nice strawman. Discussion was about real wage growth (vs. productivity gains). Quality of life != wages And FYI many people view U.S.quality of life as garbage, so maybe there really is not much growth to brag about.

twoodfin 9y ago

This assertion doesn't pass the smell test, unless you believe that the median working-age US household by income had a worse standard of living in 2013 than it did in 1973. In reality, the distribution of employment income has shifted from cash wages to expanded benefits. There has been substantial growth in two-earner households which indeed puts downward pressure on individual wages but increases household income and wealth. Productivity gains have resulted in much cheaper goods in a variety of sectors, leading to a couple of decades of historically low inflation. We've also had big demographic shifts in immigration and aging over 40 years that make point-to-point comparisons potentially misleading.

_Tev 9y ago
> This assertion doesn't pass the smell test, unless you believe that the median working-age US household by income had a worse standard of living in 2013 than it did in 1973. Actually you are the first one I see to dispute this. Do you base these smell tests/beliefs in any public data? I would like to see the source to have something to dispute this frequently stated claim.
- twoodfin 9y ago
  Let me reverse this: What do you think was better about life for the median working-age US household in 1973? Their house was smaller. Their car was less safe, less reliable and guzzled gas. They had no internet, no mobile phones and only 3 television networks. Eating at a restaurant was a monthly indulgence at best. Air travel was a luxury. Their children could expect to have seven fewer years of life, and were markedly less likely to go to college. Think about how much someone would have to pay you to live a 1973 lifestyle, and it should be obvious why claiming there have been 40 years of “stagnation” is nonsense.
  - _Tev 9y ago
    Nice strawman. Discussion was about real wage growth (vs. productivity gains). Quality of life != wages And FYI many people view U.S.quality of life as garbage, so maybe there really is not much growth to brag about.