Posted on 10/25/2014 6:11:19 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
The Social Security Administration has just released wage statistics for 2013, and the numbers are startling. Last year, 50 percent of all American workers made less than $28,031, and 39 percent of all American workers made less than $20,000. If you worked a full-time job at $10 an hour all year long with two weeks off, you would make $20,000. So the fact that 39 percent of all workers made less than that amount is rather telling. This is more evidence of the declining quality of the jobs in this country. In many homes in America today, both parents are working multiple jobs in a desperate attempt to make ends meet. Our paychecks are stagnant while the cost of living just continues to soar. And the jobs that are being added to the economy pay a lot less than the jobs lost in the last recession. In fact, it has been estimated that the jobs that have been created since the last recession pay an average of 23 percent less than the jobs that were lost. We are witnessing the slow-motion destruction of the middle class, and very few of our leaders seem to care.
The "average" yearly wage in America last year was just $43,041. But after accounting for inflation, that was actually worse than the year before...
American paychecks shrank last year, just-released data show, further eroding the public’s purchasing power, which is so vital to economic growth.
Average pay for 2013 was $43,041 — down $79 from the previous year when measured in 2013 dollars. Worse, average pay fell $508 below the 2007 level, my analysis of the new Social Security Administration data shows.
Flat or declining average pay is a major reason so many Americans feel that the Great Recession never ended for them. A severe job shortage compounds that misery not just for workers but also for businesses trying to profit from selling goods and services.
Average pay declined in 59 of the 60 levels of worker pay the government reports each October.
And please keep in mind that "average pay" is really skewed by the millionaires and billionaires at the top end of the spectrum.
Median pay in 2013 was just $28,031.02. That means that 50 percent of American workers made less than that number, and 50 percent of American workers made more than that number.
Here are some more numbers from the report that the Social Security Administration just released...
-39 percent of American workers made less than $20,000 last year.
-52 percent of American workers made less than $30,000 last year.
-63 percent of American workers made less than $40,000 last year.
-72 percent of American workers made less than $50,000 last year.
I don't know about you, but those numbers are deeply troubling to me.
It has been estimated that it takes approximately $50,000 a year to support a middle class lifestyle for a family of four, and so the fact that 72 percent of all workers make less than that amount shows how difficult it is for families that try to get by with just a single breadwinner.
The way that our economy is structured now, both parents usually have to work as hard as they can just to pay the bills.
But there was one group of Americans that did see their incomes actually increase last year.
Those making over 50 million dollars had their pay increase by an average of $12.8 million in 2013.
For everyone else, the news was not good.
And of course this is a trend that has been going on for a long time.
Posted below is a chart that comes from the Federal Reserve. It shows how real median household income in the United States has declined since the year 2000...
Meanwhile, the cost of living has continued to rise at a steady pace.
Needless to say, this is putting a tremendous squeeze on the middle class. With each passing day, more Americans are losing their spots in the middle class and this has pushed government dependence to an all-time high. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 49 percent of all Americans now live in a home that receives money from the government each month. This is completely and totally unsustainable, but our long-term economic problems just keep getting worse.
Our politicians have stood by as millions upon millions of good paying jobs have been shipped out of the country. Millions of other middle class jobs have been lost to technology. This has resulted in intense competition for the middle class jobs that remain.
And at this point we are even losing lots of lower paying retail jobs. For example, it is being reported that Sears plans to close 110 more stores and lay off more than 6,000 workers. Sears says that the report "isn't accurate", but it isn't denying that stores will be closed either...
In an email to USA Today, Sears spokesman Howard Riefs said the store count and closures "isn't accurate,'' but did not provide store closures or layoff numbers.
"As we stated in our (second quarter earnings report), we disclosed that we would be closing unprofitable stores as leases expire and in some cases will accelerate closings when it is economically prudent. And that we would consider closing additional stores during the remainder of the year,'' Riefs said. "Make no mistake, we believe the store will continue to play an integral role in our transformation, however, if a store is not generating a profit, it is straightforward that the store should be considered for closure."
No matter how many stores Sears does end up closing over the next few months, the truth is that our economy is a complete and total mess at this point.
Our politicians and the mainstream media are trying to put a happy face on everything, but the cold, hard numbers prove that we are not anywhere close to where we were prior to the last recession.
Because it is so difficult to find a good job in America today, I often recommend to people that they should consider starting their own businesses.
But thanks to the bureaucratic control freaks in the Obama administration and in our state governments, small business ownership in America today is at an all-time low. It is almost as if they don't want the "little guy" to win. Every avenue of prosperity for the middle class is under assault, and there does not appear to be much hope that this will change any time soon.
And the truly frightening thing is that this is about as good as things are going to get for the middle class. We are rapidly approaching the next major wave of our long-term economic decline, but that is a topic for a future article.
Thanks Obama!
ain’t socialism grand!?
/s
For later.
“We are witnessing the slow-motion destruction of the middle class, and very few of our leaders seem to care.”
Destruction of the middle-class is, and always has been a main tenet of Progressives.
Raise the minimum wage to $34.68 per hour!
(Notice the 68 cents added to the 34 dollars. It now seems scientific, and not arbitrarily pulled out of my ....)
It will get worse as more and more young Americans waste years in schools/universities/colleges and tons of money, in worthless pseudo education that does nothing to make the users of those systems, valuable in the job market.
Too many high school grads and college grads have zero math skills, zero English skills, zero communication skills with adults, and zero problem solving skills. Often, they have terrible interpersonal skills/behaviors with those who could or do hire them.
The good universities like Stanford are identifying excellent students with excellent skills and work habits in the middle schools. These young people are invited on a regular basis to visit these universities and see where they might fit in.
This sad situation is getting worse each day with the so called core concept and the bs left wing required courses in Colleges.
Out here on the left coast, companies like Google are identifying future hires in middle school and high school. These young people have excellent command of English and great math skills in spite of the miserable teachers they have had. Google has noted that SAT scores are not that predictive for good future hires. Expect Google and similar companies to identify the up and coming young people by their middle school years and hire them as interns instead of 4-6 years of wasted college with Instant Unemployment Degrees.
The guys/gals with good mechanical skills, instead of wasting a ton of money on college/left wing courses, will attend trade schools, do internships and get good jobs. Often the companies that hire them will pay them to continue to learn what is new and important to them. Or they will start their own repair/maintenance/construction businesses and do very well.
Worse after the elections, when he will have more flexibility for executive amnesty and other games.
Group insurance will get hit by NoCare regulations and more
Those figures are austounding. I knew many were having problems making ends meet and now I can see why in graphic details.
Of course some are missed in the numbers i.e. those working for cash. I had some tree work done here and the guy only wanted cash or check made out to someone else. I am sure it never found its way onto the income statement but I am not the IRS. Also, as someone pointed out, the income figures do not include the bennies or “entitlements”. They add up but again do not put one into the rich category. Lastly, don’t over look how the income bands are narrowed due to the fact most do not pay income tax.
Now I see why the Clinton people were looking into the idea of income imputing on the value of owning a home and paying no rent i.e. estimating what it would cost to rent and adding that to one’s income.
The end is coming quickly now, comrade.
This has been going on since LBJ started the War on the Family. Take a look at these graphs:
http://web.stanford.edu/class/polisci120a/immigration/Median%20Household%20Income.pdf
Up until 1964 when the Demonrats set out to Destroy the Family and the Middle Class, The Middles Class was thriving and growing strong, a single income household was the norm, and just about everyone with a normal job was able to live comfortably and buy their own home. This didn’t sit well with the totalitarian crowd and the money changers, so what happened in 1964 that turned it around? When you honestly answer that question you will have no other conclusion except they are just plain EVIL.
So now ask yourself why Every ‘Financial” site or publication IGNORES this, when it is right in front of them??
Educational attainment is a rough proxy for
1) IQ,
2) diligence, and
3) acquired skill.
It’s no surprise that graph plays out as it does.
Guess what...get a second job. We all had second jobs years ago....and we didn’t have a free baby sitting service aka head start and all the other programs.
any multi year chart should convert the dollar amounts to ounces of gold. this would reflect the buying power change and real value change in earnings
IQ has nothing at all to do with education. In fact for IQ to be accurately measured the test can’t rely on information that can be learned.
IQ is a measurement of the ability to understand. IF one has a higher IQ they would be able to achieve a higher education level, but the IQ was there before the education.
A rather stupid person can attain an advanced education if they work hard enough, or they are ‘helped’ along.
Soon as the MSM see this, we will be overwhelmed with articles about McWages, McJobs, working poor...
the MSM will not talk about this, because we are in the Era of Obama. They will only talk about these trends, if a Republican president is elected in 2016.
Homelessness is another problem which does not get reported on in the Era of Obama. Homelessness is only reported on when we have a Republican president.
They are doing everything they can to get those people from India because they will work a lot cheaper than your kids will
It is so bad, many of those programmers have formed unions all over the country...
Early life exposure to an educational environment can actually increase IQ. But I was making no claim that having a higher education increases IQ. It does, however, fairly strongly correlate with it—which was my point.
Sure, there are lots of dull PhDs in education, but not too many stupid PhDs in physics—and the overall average correlation is still fairly strong.
This is the digression of America... In another decade or two the United States won’t just resemble a third world country, they will be a third world country thanks in large part to the Democrats and Obama. The people of the United States need to turn things around to preserve the middle class which is obviously disappearing with every day that passes and the Democrats have any power whatsoever.
While the number of billionaires grows each day...Used to be that a millionaire was the big thing...Now days, a million dollars is nothing...And with that in mind, what in the world is 30,000 a year for wages???
I just hired my First Employee after over 30 years in business. His Salary is $60K and it COSTS me a MINIMUM of $85K, now to all those wishing to be an “Employee” try to put yourself in my position, if my employee does not produce DOUBLE his SALARY in PROFIT ($120K) for ME the Employer, I DON’T NEED HIM!
I disagree with that, big time...
There aren't any benefits and entitlements any more...Pensions are gone...
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