That study that CrazyBear linked to definitely shows that when you removed immigrants and retired people, income growth looks much better: median income grew by

That study that CrazyBear linked to definitely shows that when you removed immigrants and retired people, income growth looks much better: median income grew by 29% instead of 9%. So the fact that we have more immigrants and and retirees live longer definitely has a negative impact on median income growth number without really impacting the average American. The bad news however is that most of the growth in family median income is not because wages are going up: it's because there are more two income families. I don't think it's bad that more women are working now and that they're making more money but I'm not sure it's really making us richer. What's missing from this study is any attempt to quantify the "free" labor that women were doing by being home for the kids and taking care of the house. If the extra money being brought in is simply going out to pay for childcare and a maid, we're really running in place, just faster.