Posted on 05/13/2023 10:52:11 PM PDT by Tired of Taxes
Since the 1980s, the economy has changed in ways that are simply difficult to describe. The real impact of inflation and wage stagnation isn’t apparent unless you dig deeper into the numbers. That’s precisely what a recent college grad did when her mother commented on the idea that young workers “expect too much.”
“I think boomers can’t conceptualize this [struggle] because they never had to fight for jobs,” said Cat, a 21-year-old college student. She recently took to TikTok to explain why older workers might find it difficult to empathize with the economic struggles of younger people after a discussion with her mother about mismatched expectations. The video has been viewed 2.2 million times as of May 12.
Cat says her mother made $36,000 a year as an entry-level bank teller in 1980. Meanwhile, the average entry-level worker in America now makes $55,260 a year, according to her calculations. However, when adjusted for inflation the entry-level salary in 1982 — about $33,700 — was closer to $102,200 in today’s dollars.
Effectively, a recent college grad is making half as much as his or her parents did if they graduated 40 years ago. This is also true for low-income workers. The federal minimum hourly wage in the U.S. was $3.10 in 1980 and just $7.25 today. These workers may have doubled their income over 40 years, but it’s apparent the cost of living has accelerated more quickly.
-(SNIP)-
“Boomers had the door wide open and then slammed and barred it behind them,” said one angry commenter to Cat’s video.
(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...
https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/files/docs/publications/bls/bls_2075_1980_1.pdf
Simple search. She's just another stupid tard spouting BS.
Dream on
“That is generally very true. But, like you, I know lots of my kids friends in their early to mid 30s and most are doing well and have good established careers, are buying houses, and starting families.”
No one’s getting married. Hardly anyone has a house. I know a couple who are lawyers they owe â ridiculous amount on their loans and they can’t dream of having her take care of their kids tgey have to farm them out Their house in this suburb in a small southern city is 4 times as much as my father paid for an 8,00 sq foot house on the Gold Coast of LI, NY in 1970 which is now over 3 mil tgan taxes are 35,000 per year.
I paid a total of 12,00 for tuition room and board for a good skill establishing degree in a school which is now $38,000 per year tuition. That’s $2,200 to $180,000
Every kid born this year will owe 250,000 for tge debt we boomers allowed to get to 33 trillion
It’s going to take a boomer -Trump- to get us out of this mess we allowed.
Kids are screwed right now.
What are people smoking here?
I couldn’t find work for two years under Carter.
Boomers grew up in a country that was still a majority White and Christian, so obviously they had it “better off” than kids today.
Agreed. That wasn’t an entry-level teller’s salary. Also, inflation was a serious problem in 1980. Plus, boomers had higher IQs and deeper, more coherent educations than sorry young adults today.
The daughter is clueless. (But who’s surprised about that?)
Amen to the 36k in the 80’s . Min wage was about $6,500 a year. Entry level bank tellers were probably making about 5.56 according to us stats. Which would be around $11,500.
I can remember in 1980 lines would be almost a mile long to apply for a handful of job openings at local factories. Now how many temp store closures due to staff issues.
Maybe I shoulda just been a bank teller all those years.
In 1980 I was a purchasing agent for a name brand life insurance company. I think my boss’ boss made about $36,000
LOL. I had the same thought: If bank tellers were making $36K in 1980, we all would’ve wanted to be bank tellers.
Thank you for your service.
Her mother is fos so no surprise that Cat is too. Pour my coffee, Cat. Lofl!
I'd say she was full of shit. My first job out of high school in 1965, was as an Office Clerk for the county I lived in...Social Services. It wasn't called that back then. It was actually the Child Welfare Department. After taxes, I would bring home less than $50 a week, and I had to pay $100 room and board a month.
In early 1980, I was working for another Social Services Department in a different county in New York State, that I had previously moved to with my two sons, and then husband. I divorced in 1979. After initially working as a Clerk in the Medicaid Department, with promotions, I was eventually promoted to a Food Stamp Examiner position, interviewing potential clients. My pay at the time was approximately $6,500.
In the fall of 1980, I took a position as Correction Officer with NY State. My salary doubled to $12,000. After a year, it went up to $14,000. I couldn't believe how lucky I was to be able to make that kind of money with two kids to support. In 1989, after 9 years, I made Sergeant. I'd taken the test in 1983, but because they gave extra points on the test to minorities, my score of 92 was set aside so they could promote people who had gotten a lower score. That's why it took them so long to reach me on the list. Once they got their quota of blacks and hispanics, they went back to the top of the list. I lost seniority time, and salary by their actions, and would have been able to take the Lieutenant's test that was given, had I been promoted when I should have been. By the time the next Lieutenant's test rolled around, I was close to retiring, and wouldn't have taken the promotion anyway, because it would have meant going downstate, working crappy shifts, and having to commute on my days off. It wasn't worth the inconvenience. I retired from that job in 2003. I believe I was making approximately $65,000 when I retired. I had 33 years of service total in the NY State Retirement System.
LOL!! You chose poorly.
Yeah, this generation she’s in is worse off. Because they don’t know jack and as stupid as a tree stump.
“to explain why older workers might find it difficult to empathize with the economic struggles of younger people”
“Empathize”? Give me a break!
Someone should introduce this idiot child to welfare cheese and generic supermarket cans saying simply, “corn.”. Every generation has hard times. it takes an ignoramus devoid of the capacity for rational thought to believe otherwise.
After I graduated from college my take home pay was $79.44 a week.
I remember having to get in line in the middle of the night HOPING to buy gas before they ran out. No one kept their engine running because of the gas shortage and it was below freezing.
Food on the shelf had multiple layers of price tags because the prices went up and up while it was sitting on the shelf. It wasn’t uncommon for the price to double before it was sold.
We wore coats and gloves inside our trailer because we couldn’t afford to heat it.
One more thing: why are they saying it’s so difficult to get a job? I see signs everywhere saying help wanted. And every shop and restaurant is understaffed. One fast food restaurant has a sign asking customers to be patient because they can’t get people to work.
The young people who complain sound like they have easy lives. They just don’t realize they do.
Yes, it seems like a lot of college grads want to live the same lifestyle they lived in high school, not realizing their parents didn’t live that lifestyle straight out of college.
And the $36k 1980 is baloney—starting pay for an entry level teller *now* is $14 to $15/hour (but no college degree required).
Here is an interesting article that has a chart of average annual salaries for college grads from 1960 to 2014 in both real and adjusted dollars.
-PJ
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