The Myth of Stagnant Wages

Fraud

I have worked in the software industry for 17 years - giving up the best years of my life working 70 hours a week building an industry for other people to work in. I make less now than when I started. Meanwhile prices have gone up 64%. And the industry is trying to push wages down through mass immigration. REAL wages have been falling for decades. Congress however, gets a $5000-per year automatic cost of living increase EVERY YEAR. If people don't have money to spend, the economy isn't going to do well. We need to pay people MORE not LESS.

Bobo of CA @ Jul 01, 2009 14:23:00 PM

This article is a total joke

Wages here in my small town have been flat for the last 30+ years or in fact are less than in the 70's for some jobs. The union at the city's largest employer got weakened and then cheap immigrant labor had no problem working for low rates which to them was 3 times what they were making in their home countries. I guess now it doesn't matter because the ponzi scheme that is our economy is crashing down.

Tom of MN @ Feb 21, 2009 02:33:13 AM

Supply Side Economics

If supply side economics was so good for the working class then why have we had to have stimulus checks in 2001, 2003, 2008 to prop up a faltering economy? That is proof positive that the working class (bulk of consumers) is not earning a living wage. There is no respect for a person who works hard and at the bottom of the economic food chain. Case in point: Now days a journeyman machinist with countless hours of tech school training and highly skilled and capable of generating a lot of money for the employer is offered a measily $12 bucks per hour. They were earning that in 1980! People are learning the reality of it- you can make just as much waiting on tables. People working hard work in harsh environments and having shortened lives and; breaking down their bodies are done the unjustice of having to work until they die and not being paid a fair wage for an honest hard-day's work. Education is invaluable to higher wage jobs but some people are just better suited for working with their hands (and backs) than holding a degree and pushing a pencil, if everyone got a degree that would produce a glut in those jobs and drive the wages down also. I say give labor it's due, regardless of what you do for a living, that is the only way to maintain our standard of living and not turn the U.S. into a third-world country. I think we need a resurgence of the unions- and in the white-collar fields this time as they are getting screwed as well.

Greg of IL @ Feb 13, 2009 17:03:31 PM

"Wages should be constantly rising" is the real myth

It appalls me the number of respondents on this blog complaining that "my wages have not risen from 5 years ago till now".

The question becomes..."Why should it?"

If you've been given increased responsibility...that's one thing. But I betcha a vast majority of these complainants do the same jobs they did 5 years ago. With the same responsibilities as 5 years ago. And the same accountability as 5 years ago.

And thus the same PAY...as 5 years ago.

Why do we Americans cling so tenaciously to the MYTH of "same job same job rewarded with neverending rising wages"??

Curtis of MN @ Jan 24, 2009 15:38:12 PM

not a myth

I haven't had a raise in 8 years and 3 years ago I had a 10 % pay cut

Chris Hogan of MI @ Jan 08, 2009 12:33:22 PM

um, just a few months late i guess?

"wouldn't there have been a tremendous political backlash by now?" (nice foresight, JP)

My company froze its '09 pay for every last soul. Plus our benefits cost more. And I'm lucky -- my friends and relatives are getting their hours cut or even laid off. Man, I WISH my wages were stagnant. Happy depression everyone.

Hindsight B. 2020 of OH @ Jan 07, 2009 17:04:33 PM

Substitution bias?

You mean switch to spam if the price of steak goes up? Or to bicycles if the price of oil increases?

John of AL @ Jan 02, 2009 09:23:01 AM

Go to College and Quit Complaining

"2) Men who go to college are making more than they did in 1973. Men who don't have any college make less."

I did - my wages doubled - easy to make student loan payments with 2x income too.

Dan of NE @ Dec 31, 2008 17:15:56 PM