3 ms·

My parents had it rough, being born in 1929, they didn't really have a "good year" until 1946, the first year after the war. Then, there was a small recession c

My parents had it rough, being born in 1929, they didn't really have a "good year" until 1946, the first year after the war. Then, there was a small recession caused by the war ending which didn't clear until about 1949. But, the house they lived in when they first married could be rented for $10 USD (in 1951 I think). The 50s allowed them to get a mortgage and get in a house of their own, and start the savings treadmill... Minimum wage was $0.75 per hour ; so in terms of hourly work, the house could be rented for 13 hours of labor (excluding taxes). If you figure $1200/month for typical rent (this is low) that means the equivalent of earning $90-100 per hour in wages, or $180k-200K per year. Quite a difference!

dragonwriter 3y ago
> But, the house they lived in when they first married could be rented for $10 USD (in 1951 I think). The 50s allowed them to get a mortgage and get in a house of their own, and start the savings treadmill... > Minimum wage was $0.75 per hour The general federal minimum wage didn't exist yet, that $0.75 cent minimum wage was for a limited subset of workers (basically, those either directly engaged in interstate commerce in the narrow sense or in manufacturing for it). When a broader minimum wage was introduced, it was at a lower rate than the then-current rate for that subset, as was also the case when the general minimum wage was introduced a fee years after that. So. its misleading to compare the general federal minimum eage that exists today with the narrow one in 1951 as if they were equivalent in setting the floor for all labor.
- shrubble 3y ago
  I don't the know the number of hours in 1951 that make up a year's worth of work (today we use 2000 as the usual number of hours), but 1951 US Census data seems to approximately bear out what I wrote: https://www.census.gov/library/publications/1952/demo/p60-010.html https://www.census.gov/library/publications/1952/demo/p60-01... : "The average person's income was up by 10 percent between 1950 and 1951, according to estimates released today by Roy V. Peel, Director, Bureau of the Census, Department of Commerce. For all persons 14 years old and over receiving any money income, the average (median) income was estimated at $2,200 in 1951 as compared with $2,000 in 1950. The median income of men, which has been rising steadily since the end of World War II, showed a record postwar gain in 1951. The 1951 median of $3,000 was about $400 above the 1950 estimate, and the proportion of men receiving incomes or $5,000 or more rose to 14 percent from 11 percent during the year."

dragonwriter 3y ago

> But, the house they lived in when they first married could be rented for $10 USD (in 1951 I think). The 50s allowed them to get a mortgage and get in a house of their own, and start the savings treadmill... > Minimum wage was $0.75 per hour The general federal minimum wage didn't exist yet, that $0.75 cent minimum wage was for a limited subset of workers (basically, those either directly engaged in interstate commerce in the narrow sense or in manufacturing for it). When a broader minimum wage was introduced, it was at a lower rate than the then-current rate for that subset, as was also the case when the general minimum wage was introduced a fee years after that. So. its misleading to compare the general federal minimum eage that exists today with the narrow one in 1951 as if they were equivalent in setting the floor for all labor.

shrubble 3y ago
I don't the know the number of hours in 1951 that make up a year's worth of work (today we use 2000 as the usual number of hours), but 1951 US Census data seems to approximately bear out what I wrote: https://www.census.gov/library/publications/1952/demo/p60-010.html https://www.census.gov/library/publications/1952/demo/p60-01... : "The average person's income was up by 10 percent between 1950 and 1951, according to estimates released today by Roy V. Peel, Director, Bureau of the Census, Department of Commerce. For all persons 14 years old and over receiving any money income, the average (median) income was estimated at $2,200 in 1951 as compared with $2,000 in 1950. The median income of men, which has been rising steadily since the end of World War II, showed a record postwar gain in 1951. The 1951 median of $3,000 was about $400 above the 1950 estimate, and the proportion of men receiving incomes or $5,000 or more rose to 14 percent from 11 percent during the year."