Depressed Wages
May 25th, 2007 at 1:43 pm by Susie
Wall St. Journal article (subscription only):
American men in their 30s today are worse off than their fathers’ generation, a reversal from just a decade ago, when sons generally were better off than their fathers, a new study finds… The findings suggest “the up escalator that has historically ensured that each generation would do better than the last may not be working very well,” says the study, which is scheduled for release today. The study was written principally by John Morton of the Pew Charitable Trusts, which is leading the series, called the Economic Mobility Project, and Isabel Sawhill of the Brookings Institution. Other participating think tanks are the Heritage Foundation, American Enterprise Institute and the Urban Institute.
In 2004, the median income for a man in his 30s, a good predictor of his lifetime earnings, was $35,010, the study says, 12% less than for men in their 30s in 1974 — their fathers’ generation — adjusted for inflation. A decade ago, median income for men in their 30s was $32,901, 5% higher than 30 years earlier. Ms. Sawhill said she isn’t sure why men’s wages have stagnated. “It seems there’s been some slowdown in economic growth, it’s possible that the movement of women into the labor force has affected male earnings, and it’s possible that men are not working as hard as they used to.” [...]
The report also found that between 1947 and 1974, productivity, or output per hour, and median family income, adjusted for inflation, both roughly doubled. Between 1974 and 2000, productivity rose 56% while income rose 29%. Between 2000 and 2005, productivity rose 16% while median income fell 2%, challenging “the notion that a rising tide will lift all boats,” the report says. Ms. Sawhill said several factors could explain the divergence: a growing share of income going to the highest-paid workers, or to profits; an increased share of labor compensation going toward benefits such as health care; or a decline in the number of wage earners in the typical family.
Not working as hard? Uh huh. I’m having to restrain myself from being vulgar.
Rule No. 1: It’s never management’s fault. Duh!
“it’s possible that the movement of women into the labor force has affected male earnings, and it’s possible that men are not working as hard as they used to.”
I guess I should be glad it’s not just women’s fault, although I’m willing to bet that women have destroyed morale and that’s why men can’t work as hard.
Um. Maybe all the extra cash to pay those mid-level folks has been siphoned off and diverted up to the top to pay the CEOs and ex-CEO’s severance/retirement packages?
Ask the WSJ reporter how much Dow Jones’ top managers will get as buyouts if the sale of the company to Murdoch goes through. Then ask him/her how much the reporter expects to get.