Posted on 01/11/2020 5:13:34 AM PST by karpov
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During the first 11 quarters of the Trump Presidency, wages for the bottom 10% of earners over age 25 rose an average 5.9% annually compared to 2.4% during Barack Obama’s second term, according to the latest demographic data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Wages for the middle two quartiles increased 3.2% compared to 2.2% and 2.7% between 2012 and 2016. Wage gains for the top 10% have held steady at about 3%.
Less educated workers have also seen the strongest gains. Wages have risen at a 6.1% annual clip for workers over 25 without a high school degree and 3.9% for those with some college—both about three times faster than during the second Obama term. Wage gains have also accelerated though to a lesser degree—to 3.2% from 2.2%—for college grads.
Irony alert: Socialism-loving young people are getting the biggest pay raises. Wages have increased on average 5.8% annually for teens, 4.4% for 20 to 24-year-olds and 4.8% for 25 to 34-year-olds during the Trump Presidency. Maybe as their incomes rise, more millennials will question the tale of woe and revolution that Bernie Sanders is selling them.
As for inequality, the Gini coefficient that measures the income gap has been declining among folks who earn a paycheck. Rising wages have lifted millions of Americans out of poverty and off the government dole. The poverty rate for blacks (20.8%) and Hispanics (17.6%) is the lowest on record.
Forty million fewer people last year lived in households receiving government assistance than in 2016, and the food-stamp rolls have shrunk by 9.5 million over the past three years. Reduced government dependence is a social good far beyond the lower costs to taxpayers. More important are the benefits in self-sufficiency and the contributions to the community that flow from that.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
I went to college in 1978. I knew about the 70s. The lines at gas stations. The inflation. Jimmy Carter. The US had passed it’s good days and was obviously in decline.
The Reagan election in 1980 opened my eyes and showed me that it didn’t have to be that way.
I think it will take two terms, but the young SJW of today are likely to eventually figure out that President Trump is a good guy and that he’s doing them a huge favor.
Until young people see a rise in their standards of living, they won’t appreciate anything. For that matter, Trump shouldn’t count on support from anyone who hasn’t seen a rise in their standards of living.
I recall Margaret Thatcher putting it to Parliament on just this very topic
(esp. around 2 minutes in)
The left will be crowing about inequality no matter what!
So, the move to $15 minimum wage appears to be having an effect.
Democrats think they have the low income people in their hip pockets and could care less about the middle class except for the tax money they take to buy stuff for their real voter base,illegals.
HOORAY Chief. Thank you, sir.
Hooray for President Trump. His policies are moving our economy from Wall Street to Mainstreet.
“So, the move to $15 minimum wage appears to be having an effect.”
Here in Sacramento it has been partially responsible for the closing of 10 restaurants so far.
I don’t know if you can find a level of ‘standard of living’ for these young people.
They seem to think that spending $1000 for a PHONE & hundreds of $$$ a month to use it is more important than paying their rent & their student loans.
Their priorities for what is important & necessary is totally upside down. Collecting a paycheck for sitting at a desk & using the company computers for personal reasons or talking on their precious cell phones is their definition of ‘having a job’.
I agree many young people don’t have the same work ethic as older workers, but they also don’t have the same bills - many accept they’ll never have children or own homes - or even cars. I see many of the horrible work habits you describe in certain older workers - usually those with obsolete job skills who were shed by other employers, to be hired at my workplace by friends.
Phones today are miniature computers, and they also replace cameras for which people spent a pretty penny in the past. I think people dedicate far too much money towards some, but in my experience they can be used to make money as well; selling items on websites now requires little more than a cellphone.
A decent standard of living (in my old-fashioned NJ sense) would be one that allows a student to pay for most or all of college as he/she goes (working full-time, since “full-time” for college is only 12 credits or more), leaving some money for room & board and maybe an older vehicle. Not complete independence, but learning how to get there...
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