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Before the inevitable globalization, free trade, and we-should-get-rid of-the-minimum-wage arguments erupt, please keep in mind that the article is talking abou

Before the inevitable globalization, free trade, and we-should-get-rid of-the-minimum-wage arguments erupt, please keep in mind that the article is talking about, and the second chart (the wage one) is showing, average annual changes by percentage. So this applies to ALL jobs (including yours, Dear Reader) not just the usual suspects of manufacturing and low-skill jobs. So ask yourself: how much has my pay gone up in the past year? How about in the last 5 years?

dnautics 13y ago
but it's gone up right? Why hasn't that been enough? Last year as a (relatively poor) postdoc, I made 40k/year. But if my grandfather had made 40k at age 31 he'd have been a happy camper. remember, macroeconomics says that because of the phillips curve, inflation is a way to goose employment (because of sticky wages) in other words, the purpose of the policy of inflation is to screw laborers out of the real value of their labor.
- tostitos1979 13y ago
  I don't understand your argument. 40K in today's purchasing power buys you 1/20 of a house in San Jose. It is about real wages not nominal wages. And I think for many people in the middle class, we might be earning less than our parents did in their 20s and 30s (in real wage terms). Addendum: what's more ... if someone in your pervious generation had a PhD, they likely would be able to get tenured jobs at Universities. That is a bit harder these days.
  - dnautics 13y ago
    that's exactly my argument. These are all consequences of policies, not economics.... And, while research science may be a odd case, I am definitely making less than my dad did at my age.
- gaius 13y ago
  In what year was your grandfather 31?
  - dnautics 13y ago
    early 1940s
    - gaius 13y ago
      $40k was a lot of money then! http://www.thepeoplehistory.com/1940s.html http://www.thepeoplehistory.com/1940s.html In 1940 a new house cost $3,920.00 and by 1949 was $7,450.00 In 1940 the average income per year was $1,725.00 and by 1949 was $2,950.00 I bet he'd have been pleased :-)

dnautics 13y ago

but it's gone up right? Why hasn't that been enough? Last year as a (relatively poor) postdoc, I made 40k/year. But if my grandfather had made 40k at age 31 he'd have been a happy camper. remember, macroeconomics says that because of the phillips curve, inflation is a way to goose employment (because of sticky wages) in other words, the purpose of the policy of inflation is to screw laborers out of the real value of their labor.

tostitos1979 13y ago
I don't understand your argument. 40K in today's purchasing power buys you 1/20 of a house in San Jose. It is about real wages not nominal wages. And I think for many people in the middle class, we might be earning less than our parents did in their 20s and 30s (in real wage terms). Addendum: what's more ... if someone in your pervious generation had a PhD, they likely would be able to get tenured jobs at Universities. That is a bit harder these days.
- dnautics 13y ago
  that's exactly my argument. These are all consequences of policies, not economics.... And, while research science may be a odd case, I am definitely making less than my dad did at my age.
gaius 13y ago
In what year was your grandfather 31?
- dnautics 13y ago
  early 1940s
  - gaius 13y ago
    $40k was a lot of money then! http://www.thepeoplehistory.com/1940s.html http://www.thepeoplehistory.com/1940s.html In 1940 a new house cost $3,920.00 and by 1949 was $7,450.00 In 1940 the average income per year was $1,725.00 and by 1949 was $2,950.00 I bet he'd have been pleased :-)