yes, the u.s. national wage index was about $6k in 1970 and about $70k in 2024, which is the last year the social security administration has reported the wage index
This doesn’t seem like a good representation, I think it has capital gains wrapped in.
This source looks like it takes just the wages people are being paid, and it goes from $4.44 an hour in 1979 to $20.03 in 2024.
I remember checking a year or two ago that the median worker earned around $45k, with a bunch of financial sleight-of-hand making up the dofference between this and the per capita GDP.
fair, and the inflation number also includes a bunch of financial sleight-of-hand. i don’t think it includes healthcare, education, and housing, which have all grown significantly faster than the baseline inflation.
Oh well I’m sure that salaries also rose by 9x in that time, right?
yes, the u.s. national wage index was about $6k in 1970 and about $70k in 2024, which is the last year the social security administration has reported the wage index
This doesn’t seem like a good representation, I think it has capital gains wrapped in.
This source looks like it takes just the wages people are being paid, and it goes from $4.44 an hour in 1979 to $20.03 in 2024.
I remember checking a year or two ago that the median worker earned around $45k, with a bunch of financial sleight-of-hand making up the dofference between this and the per capita GDP.
fair, and the inflation number also includes a bunch of financial sleight-of-hand. i don’t think it includes healthcare, education, and housing, which have all grown significantly faster than the baseline inflation.