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Citation? Median earnings is less than that. And median household income is only marginally more. the U.S. Census Bureau estimates that the median annual earn

Citation? Median earnings is less than that. And median household income is only marginally more. the U.S. Census Bureau estimates that the median annual earnings for all workers (people aged 15 and over with earnings) was $51,370; and more specifically estimates that median annual earnings for those who worked full-time, year round, was $63,360. According to the CPS, the median household income was $70,784 in 2021. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_income_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_income_in_the_United_... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Household_income_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Household_income_in_the_United...

cwbuilds 2mo ago
That's income, not disposable income. It's also median, instead of mean. It's also wrong. Median income in the UK is £39,039 which is about $49,500.. You linked to the US Wikipedia page twice. OECD is the source for disposable income. US: https://oecd-better-life-index.truth-and-beauty.net/countries/united-states/ https://oecd-better-life-index.truth-and-beauty.net/countrie... UK: https://oecd-better-life-index.truth-and-beauty.net/countries/united-kingdom/ https://oecd-better-life-index.truth-and-beauty.net/countrie...
- alistairSH 2mo ago
  Yeah, OECD is saying the mean disposable income is the US is almost the same as median household income. Either some of the numbers are wrong, or your (OECD’s) use of mean is misleading… the mean of Bezos’ and my disposable incomes is a very large and mostly useless figure.
  - dragonwriter 2mo ago
    Mean personal disposable income being comparable to median household income isn't too surprising and doesn't necessarily indicate any error. Mean is much higher than median, individual is much lower than household, disposable is much lower than total. You are comparing numbers that are different in all three axes (in ways which do not point in the same direction), so really any relationship between them would be plausible without detailed knowledge of the exact distribution of all the relevant components.
  - cwbuilds 2mo ago
    They're completely different metrics. If you want to compare median income: UK - $49,500 (https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/personalandhouseholdfinances/incomeandwealth https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/personal...) US - $83,750 (https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MEHOINUSA672N https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MEHOINUSA672N) I'm struggling to understand what you're trying to prove other than that you don't understand statistics.
    - alistairSH 2mo ago
      Point is the median person earns about the same as the mean disposable income. So the mean disposable income isn’t telling us too much about the quality of life, or financial state, of a typical American. From what I’m seeing, it’s just reflective of our increasing income disparity. Taken to an absurd degree… the mean of my income and Jeff Bezos’ income tells is nothing about my income beyond “much less than Jeff”.
      - cwbuilds 2mo ago
        Okay, well the ratio of mean disposable income for the US to the UK is 1.59:1, while the ratio of median income is 1.69:1 So your preferred metric for quality of life actually shows a greater disparity between the two countries..

cwbuilds 2mo ago

That's income, not disposable income. It's also median, instead of mean. It's also wrong. Median income in the UK is £39,039 which is about $49,500.. You linked to the US Wikipedia page twice. OECD is the source for disposable income. US: https://oecd-better-life-index.truth-and-beauty.net/countries/united-states/ https://oecd-better-life-index.truth-and-beauty.net/countrie... UK: https://oecd-better-life-index.truth-and-beauty.net/countries/united-kingdom/ https://oecd-better-life-index.truth-and-beauty.net/countrie...

alistairSH 2mo ago
Yeah, OECD is saying the mean disposable income is the US is almost the same as median household income. Either some of the numbers are wrong, or your (OECD’s) use of mean is misleading… the mean of Bezos’ and my disposable incomes is a very large and mostly useless figure.
- dragonwriter 2mo ago
  Mean personal disposable income being comparable to median household income isn't too surprising and doesn't necessarily indicate any error. Mean is much higher than median, individual is much lower than household, disposable is much lower than total. You are comparing numbers that are different in all three axes (in ways which do not point in the same direction), so really any relationship between them would be plausible without detailed knowledge of the exact distribution of all the relevant components.
- cwbuilds 2mo ago
  They're completely different metrics. If you want to compare median income: UK - $49,500 (https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/personalandhouseholdfinances/incomeandwealth https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/personal...) US - $83,750 (https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MEHOINUSA672N https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MEHOINUSA672N) I'm struggling to understand what you're trying to prove other than that you don't understand statistics.
  - alistairSH 2mo ago
    Point is the median person earns about the same as the mean disposable income. So the mean disposable income isn’t telling us too much about the quality of life, or financial state, of a typical American. From what I’m seeing, it’s just reflective of our increasing income disparity. Taken to an absurd degree… the mean of my income and Jeff Bezos’ income tells is nothing about my income beyond “much less than Jeff”.
    - cwbuilds 2mo ago
      Okay, well the ratio of mean disposable income for the US to the UK is 1.59:1, while the ratio of median income is 1.69:1 So your preferred metric for quality of life actually shows a greater disparity between the two countries..