Dave Farber
2018-09-15 19:01:51 UTC
Date: September 16, 2018 at 3:14:50 AM GMT+9
Subject: [Dewayne-Net] Census Bureau Reveals Grim Facts about Real Earnings of Men
[Note: This item comes from friend David Rosenthal. DLH]
Census Bureau Reveals Grim Facts about Real Earnings of Men
By Yves Smith
Sep 14 2018
<https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2018/09/census-bureau-reveals-grim-facts-real-earnings-men.html>
By Wolf Richter, a San Francisco based executive, entrepreneur, start up specialist, and author, with extensive international work experience. Originally published at Wolf Street
Women werenât so lucky either. But who got the spoils?
On the surface, the annual household income data released by the Census Bureautoday, looks mediocre. But beneath the surface, it looks grim â grim for whom? Ha, weâll get to that.
Now the grim news: bitter reality for men.
But itâs not great for women either: For women who were working full-time year-round in 2017, median wages (income obtained only from working) declined 1.1% on an inflation-adjusted basis to $41,977 â from a record in 2016 of $42,448.
So a hiccup perhaps in a well-deserved series of increases going back to 1960. The female-to-male earnings ratio remained at the record level of 80.5%, first achieved in 2016, up from the 60%-range before 1982.
Men have suffered the brunt of the real-wage repression over the past four decades, obtained in part via inflation, an insidious process where wages inch up, but not quite enough to keep up with the Fed-engineered loss of purchasing power of the dollar â a process Wall Street economists praise with conviction.
In addition, even a slight but systematic and purposeful miscalculation of the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which is used to adjust this inflation-adjusted income data â for example a percentage point or less each year â is cumulative; and over the span of four decades, the real-real earnings decline is large. Wonder why many men are frustrated?
So who got the spoils?
⢠Earnings
⢠Unemployment compensation
⢠Workersâ compensation
⢠Social security
⢠Supplemental security income
⢠Public assistance
⢠Veteransâ payments
⢠Survivor benefits
⢠Disability benefits
⢠Pension or retirement income
⢠Interest
⢠Dividends
⢠Rents, royalties, and estates and trusts
⢠Educational assistance
⢠Alimony
⢠Child support
⢠Financial assistance from outside of the household
⢠Other income
âHousehold incomeâ is measured on a pre-tax basis. But it does notinclude noncash benefits, such as food stamps, subsidized housing benefits, or healthcare benefits â a hefty amount for executives at big companies.
While household income includes income from investment (items 10, 11, 12, and 13 in the list above), it does notinclude capital gains and other forms of capital appreciation of any kind, from portfolio gains and home-price appreciation to stock options.
[snip]
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-------------------------------------------Subject: [Dewayne-Net] Census Bureau Reveals Grim Facts about Real Earnings of Men
[Note: This item comes from friend David Rosenthal. DLH]
Census Bureau Reveals Grim Facts about Real Earnings of Men
By Yves Smith
Sep 14 2018
<https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2018/09/census-bureau-reveals-grim-facts-real-earnings-men.html>
By Wolf Richter, a San Francisco based executive, entrepreneur, start up specialist, and author, with extensive international work experience. Originally published at Wolf Street
Women werenât so lucky either. But who got the spoils?
On the surface, the annual household income data released by the Census Bureautoday, looks mediocre. But beneath the surface, it looks grim â grim for whom? Ha, weâll get to that.
Now the grim news: bitter reality for men.
But itâs not great for women either: For women who were working full-time year-round in 2017, median wages (income obtained only from working) declined 1.1% on an inflation-adjusted basis to $41,977 â from a record in 2016 of $42,448.
So a hiccup perhaps in a well-deserved series of increases going back to 1960. The female-to-male earnings ratio remained at the record level of 80.5%, first achieved in 2016, up from the 60%-range before 1982.
Men have suffered the brunt of the real-wage repression over the past four decades, obtained in part via inflation, an insidious process where wages inch up, but not quite enough to keep up with the Fed-engineered loss of purchasing power of the dollar â a process Wall Street economists praise with conviction.
In addition, even a slight but systematic and purposeful miscalculation of the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which is used to adjust this inflation-adjusted income data â for example a percentage point or less each year â is cumulative; and over the span of four decades, the real-real earnings decline is large. Wonder why many men are frustrated?
So who got the spoils?
⢠Earnings
⢠Unemployment compensation
⢠Workersâ compensation
⢠Social security
⢠Supplemental security income
⢠Public assistance
⢠Veteransâ payments
⢠Survivor benefits
⢠Disability benefits
⢠Pension or retirement income
⢠Interest
⢠Dividends
⢠Rents, royalties, and estates and trusts
⢠Educational assistance
⢠Alimony
⢠Child support
⢠Financial assistance from outside of the household
⢠Other income
âHousehold incomeâ is measured on a pre-tax basis. But it does notinclude noncash benefits, such as food stamps, subsidized housing benefits, or healthcare benefits â a hefty amount for executives at big companies.
While household income includes income from investment (items 10, 11, 12, and 13 in the list above), it does notinclude capital gains and other forms of capital appreciation of any kind, from portfolio gains and home-price appreciation to stock options.
[snip]
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