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.
There has to be a limit...And there used to be with anti-trust laws...
Look at the Kraft company...They have bought up so many competing products in so many areas that there is no possibility of competition...
Time Warner and Comcast...Who are you going to bargain with for a cheaper cable connection...
In my town, one car dealer has bought up all the various car dealerships of all the brands and the ones in the nearest towns...You think you are going to negotiate with someone for a better price???
All the manufacturers belong to unions...NOT labor unions...Manufacturer unions...All the landlords belong to unions...The big box stores belong to their own unions...
In my area one gas station owner bought up most of the gas stations in this city and most of those going 70 miles north...They control the gas prices for everyone...
All this commercial and industrial unionization has led to the disgusting wage structure that is going on in the U.S. right now...
The result is the rich get very rich while the former middle class turns to the gov't for assistance...And with those with the money paying off the politicians, it's an ugly picture...
There is no substitute for a willingness to work hard and put in a lot of hours and do the inconvenient tasks that others won’t do such as travel.
So True
Work should start at a very Young AGe, I had a Job at 10 delivering Newspapers on my bicycle, I had a Job in Junior High at a Deli, I worked almost full time through High School, moved out at 17 and went to work full time at a warehouse, then Truck Driver, When we were 19 my buddies and I went to Colorado and worked on an Oil Rig, traveled half the country working in the oil field, Hardest Work I have ever done in my Life!! I would encourage any fit 18 yr old to give it a shot in the Oil Field, My buddy earns $150k if he sleeps on the Job running a wireline crew.
With the exception of the Oil Field Jobs, most if not all of those jobs we did Growing up as teenagers are now filled by mostly Illegal Aliens and adult illiterate peasants from the third world. These are all Entry Level Jobs, and are supposed to condition you for REAL LIFE, they are not intended to be a Way of Life.
There are still many opportunities for young people, it is just harder now since they abandoned Teaching, and Teaching Trades and Skills back in the 80’s, in the 70’s we had full on State of the Art Machine, Auto, Wood, Printing,... SHops in Every High School and Junior hIgh School. ANd if you would have brought Condoms to my Elementary School the Parents and Teachers would of instructed us in the Boy Scouts to String you up by the Flag Pole.
What OUR GOVERNMENT has done to this country in the name of Diversity(DIVIDED), and Multiculturalism and then Free Trade, not to mention the out and out theft of value of the American Dollar and Massive Debt is Deplorable and Treasonous, The Suppression and outright destruction of the Middle Class was intentional, as ALL Welfare States end up doing, They will ALL BURN IN HELL
So true. All that you said. Slavery is what it is alright. I saw a post of some Silicon Valley company that made $200 million last quarter but pays their foreign employees $1.21 an hour. Is that capitalism? Sounds more like pure greed to me. Somebody on here will call me a Marxist though for saying that. We have gone from the CEO making 6 times the average employee to 60 or 600 times. That is nothing but greed. Nobody is worth that. If the CEO thinks he is indispensable he needs to try getting things done by himself.
When you read a book you owned it. It was like work accomplished but all the bulk is such a waste really.
No, not much is built to last. Not much anyone can afford that is. I try to buy good or not at all.
I hire professionals (Engineers etc) by the job flat rate
Basically I sell their skills ... when you get old you know lots of people ... my profit is from the raw materials used (buy low sell high) just add value with the hired brain power.
TT
ps I really don’t like Lawyers (cept my Son... he’s ok)
The Zero-hedge article is intended for folks that are more interested in a good doom'n'gloom charge than they are in just knowing what's going on.
Doomers want to think that wages are down so they usually cite numbers reported to tax-collectors like maybe, the IRS or the SSA. Most folks are good at finding ways to report low incomes to tax-collectors even while they can report high incomes to banks and credit agencies. That's why incomes listed by the BEA or the Fed come out a lot rosier.
You and me both. I don't get it -- those of us who are responsible and do what we SHOULD DO in providing for our families, don't live beyond our means (we live a very modest lifestyle, very modest home, drive older cars, don't run up debt) and we save for our future yet we're the ones DENIED the benefits of living responsibly!
Makes you say WTF?!
My charming and delightful wife keeps reminding me that we live debt free and don't have to worry about financing our "lifestyle" and that neither one of us would want that kind of debt hanging over our heads that so many of our friends have.
Part of me knows she's right, the other part of me just keeps asking "why don't I just live it up like they do and not give a damn?"
On a happier note, my oldest son just this afternoon got his acceptance letter from Western Illinois University -- one of the top universities in the country for Law Enforcement. Amidst the celebration that we'll have here tonight when he gets home and finds out he was accepted at his #1 choice will be his mother and I starting to figure out how we're going to help him pay for college.
I work out of the house now (18 years). The only good thing about working for a large company was I could lean my head against the wall while taking a leak.
When people began staying home and not voting they let the left take over, and no one can be blamed for that except for the stubborn jackasses who decided they didn’t like the Republican, so they wouldn’t vote.
Now that they are reaping the consequences of their stubborn behavior and lack of voting.....then they want to blame the corporations that took over. If you don’t like what is happening get involved and change it.
Don’t buy cable if you think it’s too expensive, we speak with our money and our vote.
Bookmark
These are the jobs the rats tout as them creating.
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