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The Median Earnings for Full Time Workers page was quite sad for America. Language Other than English Spoken at Home was quite surprising for me. I had no idea

by debacle 12y ago

The Median Earnings for Full Time Workers page was quite sad for America. Language Other than English Spoken at Home was quite surprising for me. I had no idea it was that high. I don't understand how the employment numbers can be that bad. 35% unemployment - that is mostly impacted by people rearing children and college age folk, I hope.

zhemao 12y ago
A significant portion of that age group is still in school, hence not employed nor unemployed. They should really just show the unemployment rate, not the employment rate. But yeah, the median income drop and poverty rate increase is pretty sad.
- svachalek 12y ago
  True. But another significant portion is considered "unemployable" or "disheartened" which makes unemployment numbers misleading as well.
- danieldk 12y ago
  I wonder about the median income. Another statistic says that more people have at least a Bachelor degree. Consequently, more people start working at a later age, reducing the median income. On the other hand, new employees with a degree should earn more. It would be interesting to know the interaction between the two.
  - VLM 12y ago
    "On the other hand, new employees with a degree should earn more." Its the other way around, if the jobs don't change but the number of degrees granted increases, then assuming degree holders cluster at the higher end, building downward would have to result in average salary of a degree holder decreasing over time. Another interesting statistic is lifetime income. If you have a job that does not require a degree, and spend 10% of your working life earning a degree instead of earning income, your lifetime income will be about 10% lower. Its actually worse because starting wage for a coffee barista or waiter is the same, but presumably toward the end of your career you'll make more at a better job, but a degree holder will have retired for years 36-40 whereas a non-degree holder will continue to earn income for the full 40 years at the higher 36-40 yr rate. You'd see this a lot more in the trades, obviously 4 extra years of union master payscale is worth more than 4 extra years of journeyman.
VLM 12y ago
Engineering estimate of college age folk is 20% have a degree and a degree (optimistically) takes 4 years out of the 16 year interval is a quarter, so the contribution due to school is about 5% not employed. The stats really are that bad.
azurezyq 12y ago
I'm living in California. California has a considerable amount of Spanish speaking hispanics for historic reasons. For greater SF/LA areas, actually non-native English speakers communities are growing very fast due to hi-techs and relatives immigrants. Just to mention a few: Monterey Park, 20% whites, 66.9% asians (50% Chinese). Milpitas, 20% whites, 62.2% asians. Cupertino, 30% whites, 63.3% asians (20% Chinese, 20% Indians) Just been to Monterey Park in LA area two weeks ago, and found I can live there naturally even if I can not speak an English word. At the contrast, I think that city would be a bit harsh for non-Chinese speakers...
- dragonwriter 12y ago
  > I'm living in California. California has a considerable amount of Spanish speaking hispanics for historic reasons. More for geographic reasons. The Hispanics that are here for historic reasons (e.g., descendants of Californios) largely speak English.
- jdmichal 12y ago
  As another point of reference, one could live in certain parts of Miami their entire life without speaking a word of English, and have minimal (if any) friction. Forget about "spoken at home", we're talking "spoken everywhere" here.

by debacle 12y ago

zhemao 12y ago

A significant portion of that age group is still in school, hence not employed nor unemployed. They should really just show the unemployment rate, not the employment rate. But yeah, the median income drop and poverty rate increase is pretty sad.

svachalek 12y ago
True. But another significant portion is considered "unemployable" or "disheartened" which makes unemployment numbers misleading as well.
danieldk 12y ago
I wonder about the median income. Another statistic says that more people have at least a Bachelor degree. Consequently, more people start working at a later age, reducing the median income. On the other hand, new employees with a degree should earn more. It would be interesting to know the interaction between the two.
- VLM 12y ago
  "On the other hand, new employees with a degree should earn more." Its the other way around, if the jobs don't change but the number of degrees granted increases, then assuming degree holders cluster at the higher end, building downward would have to result in average salary of a degree holder decreasing over time. Another interesting statistic is lifetime income. If you have a job that does not require a degree, and spend 10% of your working life earning a degree instead of earning income, your lifetime income will be about 10% lower. Its actually worse because starting wage for a coffee barista or waiter is the same, but presumably toward the end of your career you'll make more at a better job, but a degree holder will have retired for years 36-40 whereas a non-degree holder will continue to earn income for the full 40 years at the higher 36-40 yr rate. You'd see this a lot more in the trades, obviously 4 extra years of union master payscale is worth more than 4 extra years of journeyman.

VLM 12y ago

Engineering estimate of college age folk is 20% have a degree and a degree (optimistically) takes 4 years out of the 16 year interval is a quarter, so the contribution due to school is about 5% not employed. The stats really are that bad.

azurezyq 12y ago

I'm living in California. California has a considerable amount of Spanish speaking hispanics for historic reasons. For greater SF/LA areas, actually non-native English speakers communities are growing very fast due to hi-techs and relatives immigrants. Just to mention a few: Monterey Park, 20% whites, 66.9% asians (50% Chinese). Milpitas, 20% whites, 62.2% asians. Cupertino, 30% whites, 63.3% asians (20% Chinese, 20% Indians) Just been to Monterey Park in LA area two weeks ago, and found I can live there naturally even if I can not speak an English word. At the contrast, I think that city would be a bit harsh for non-Chinese speakers...

dragonwriter 12y ago
> I'm living in California. California has a considerable amount of Spanish speaking hispanics for historic reasons. More for geographic reasons. The Hispanics that are here for historic reasons (e.g., descendants of Californios) largely speak English.
jdmichal 12y ago
As another point of reference, one could live in certain parts of Miami their entire life without speaking a word of English, and have minimal (if any) friction. Forget about "spoken at home", we're talking "spoken everywhere" here.