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Posted: 5/13/2017 7:42:22 PM EDT
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Over the past four decades, young American workers saw their average incomes decline by 5.5 percent after adjusting for inflation, according to new figures (pdf) published Wednesday by the U.S. Census Bureau. In 1975, workers aged 25 to 34 had a median personal income of $37,000 in modern dollar terms. In 2016, that number was down to $35,000.

Earnings have declined despite the fact that today's young people are better educated than 40 years ago. Thirty-seven percent of young people had a bachelor's degree last year, compared to 22.8 percent in 1975.

For a man in the labor force aged 25 to 34, the typical income declined from $46,000 in 1975 to $40,000 last year.

....
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Link Posted: 5/13/2017 7:44:52 PM EDT
[#1]
Link Posted: 5/13/2017 7:48:14 PM EDT
[#2]
More people competing for the same jobs.
Link Posted: 5/13/2017 7:48:46 PM EDT
[#3]
That's what happens when the highest job you aspire to is "work at Gamestop."
Link Posted: 5/13/2017 7:49:20 PM EDT
[#4]
That article reads like they reposted a webpage from the Bureau of Labor through an extra chromosome filter.
Link Posted: 5/13/2017 7:53:16 PM EDT
[#5]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
Perhaps because a lot more of those 25 to 34 year olds wasted 4-6 years in college instead of getting into the workforce early, working hard, and becoming successful.
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My brother is 34 and he works at Google making bank.
Link Posted: 5/13/2017 7:54:35 PM EDT
[#6]
Well I doubt you are getting the same amount of actual work done per hour from the jobs millennials do these days compared to the jobs the boomers had to do back then.
Link Posted: 5/13/2017 7:55:13 PM EDT
[#7]
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Quoted:


My brother is 34 and he works at Google making bank.
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It's a law of averages. 
Link Posted: 5/13/2017 7:56:22 PM EDT
[#8]
Link Posted: 5/13/2017 7:56:45 PM EDT
[#9]
"Earnings have declined despite the fact that today's young people are better educated than 40 years ago."



They're highly edjumacated, but  not properly educated in ways necessary to earn a good living for themselves apparently.
Link Posted: 5/13/2017 7:57:29 PM EDT
[#10]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
Perhaps because a lot more of those 25 to 34 year olds wasted 4-6 years in college instead of getting into the workforce early, working hard, and becoming successful.
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Perhaps it is because they don't make $25 per hour working on an assembly line in a union plant with a high school education.
Link Posted: 5/13/2017 7:58:40 PM EDT
[#11]
I'm curious how this factors in with "standard of living".
Link Posted: 5/13/2017 7:59:54 PM EDT
[#12]
Earnings have declined despite the fact that today's young people are better educated than 40 years ago.
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Not in my experience.

Hell, I'm a millennial and even I recognize that a high school dropout from 1980 is more likely to be better educated than a recent college grad. At least the dropout can read something aloud with proper inflection and not speak to customers like a retard.
Link Posted: 5/13/2017 8:00:29 PM EDT
[#13]
In 1975 i was earning $3.40 an hour. But gas was 39 to 69 cents a gallon, and a case of Old Style beer was $3.98, smokes where 35 cents a pack. The average 3 bd rm raised ranch home in Chicago was $20,000 You do the math.
Link Posted: 5/13/2017 8:00:33 PM EDT
[#14]
All I can say is, "No shit, Sherlock." Our parents did better than we do, with less education.

Thanks, NAFTA-supporting motherfuckers.
Link Posted: 5/13/2017 8:00:54 PM EDT
[#15]
Double tap.
Link Posted: 5/13/2017 8:01:07 PM EDT
[#16]
Supply and demand. We've imported a shitload of a "workers" for no fucking reason.
Link Posted: 5/13/2017 8:01:31 PM EDT
[#17]
Link Posted: 5/13/2017 8:07:10 PM EDT
[#18]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
In 1975 i was earning $3.40 an hour. But has was 39 to 69 cents a gallon, and a case of Old Style beer was $3.98 smokes where 35 cents a pack. The average 3 bd rm raised ranch home in Chicago was $20,000 You do the math.
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This man gets it.

Figure you buy a pack of smoke at starting wage, 8.25 is it? You worked almost 2/3 of an hour to pay for them.
Link Posted: 5/13/2017 8:10:47 PM EDT
[#19]
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Quoted:
Perhaps because a lot more of those 25 to 34 year olds wasted 4-6 years in college instead of getting into the workforce early, working hard, and becoming successful.
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 In what jobs? What careers are they neglecting?
Link Posted: 5/13/2017 8:12:26 PM EDT
[#20]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:


On average, a degree will make you about $17k more per year than not having a degree. They pay for themselves, and the opportunity cost, in a few short years. All data I can find points to this.

Income gap study
Lifetime earnings
Unemployment and earnings by education level

Do you have anything to back up your claims, or are you just being edgy?
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$17,000 per year, discounted to the present with a 4-6 year initial $0 cash inflow, and $60,000-$100,000 cash outflow.

Say you could make $30,000 per year, and it takes 4 years to graduate, you're looking at $180,000-220,000 cash difference to make $17k more per year 5+ years into the future. Time value of money, net present value may not be worth it, depending upon what rate you use to discount the cash flows.
Link Posted: 5/13/2017 8:14:43 PM EDT
[#21]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
Supply and demand. We've imported a shitload of a "workers" for no fucking reason.
http://www.immigrationeis.org/sites/default/files/images/charts/immigration_into_us_1.gif
View Quote


Lots of things at play.

We're increasing supply of unskilled labor with migrants, higher supply and the migrants don't increase demand for labor, so it reduces wages.

We're reducing demand for American labor with high taxes and overbearing regulation.

More women in the work force increases labor supply, reducing wages.

The US basically had an economic monopoly after WWII with Bretton Woods and the war crushing industry of pretty much every other industrial country. Compared to the rest of the industrial world, American wages should go down a bit in the decades following WWII.
Link Posted: 5/13/2017 8:17:49 PM EDT
[#22]
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Quoted:

Perhaps it is because they don't make $25 per hour working on an assembly line in a union plant with a high school education.
View Quote


Yup, try getting a job without some form of post highschool education. Your choices mostly involve the phrase 'would you like fries with that?'
Link Posted: 5/13/2017 8:19:10 PM EDT
[#23]
In 1975 I was working part time for minimum wage. 
Link Posted: 5/13/2017 8:22:08 PM EDT
[#24]
Link Posted: 5/13/2017 9:00:17 PM EDT
[#25]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:


Yup, try getting a job without some form of post highschool education. Your choices mostly involve the phrase 'would you like fries with that?'
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Even if it is factory work, it is not going to be building station wagons in Detroit for high pay and good benefits (including a pension). It is probably going to be $15 per hour with shit benefits.
Link Posted: 5/13/2017 9:00:44 PM EDT
[#26]
Remember that high schools virtually shame kids into going to college, even if it is for a general studies or liberal arts degree. And in my city, GM and chemical plant jobs dominated the workforce until recent years. HS grads made 25$+/hr with great benefits. Those thousands of jobs are gone. Also, ANTIFA crowds and all.

Attachment Attached File
Link Posted: 5/13/2017 9:04:08 PM EDT
[#27]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
Perhaps because a lot more of those 25 to 34 year olds wasted 4-6 years in college instead of getting into the workforce early, working hard, and becoming successful.
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[cough] Bullshit [/cough]
Link Posted: 5/13/2017 9:06:25 PM EDT
[#28]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:

Perhaps it is because they don't make $25 per hour working on an assembly line in a union plant with a high school education.
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Which is actually something we should celebrate.
Link Posted: 5/13/2017 9:07:06 PM EDT
[#29]
We had to make more money because we were married, not living in Mom's basement, and most of us had a kid or two to feed as well.   Don't get me started on how today's education compares to 1975.
Link Posted: 5/13/2017 9:10:41 PM EDT
[#30]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
We had to make more money because we were married, not living in Mom's basement, and most of us had a kid or two to feed as well.   Don't get me started on how today's education compares to 1975.
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You made more money because you worked jobs that don't exist anymore.

Manufacturing is damn near dead in america. It's built the american dream and it will crush it.
Link Posted: 5/13/2017 9:15:04 PM EDT
[#31]
Boomer hate thread









Link Posted: 5/13/2017 9:16:18 PM EDT
[#32]
Yeah a lot of those degrees are junk. I just graduated in the stem field. The job I just started at pays me right around 72k after incentives kick in. All my friends who got stem degrees are landing jobs in a similar pay bracket. I laugh at the rest of the people I know who didn't bother to figure out the return on their investment and are going to be stuck doing shit for shit pay, and then end up with the same job they would have had before going to college anyways.
Link Posted: 5/13/2017 9:18:53 PM EDT
[#33]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
Perhaps it is because they don't make $25 per hour working on an assembly line in a union plant with a high school education.
View Quote View All Quotes
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Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
Quoted:
Perhaps because a lot more of those 25 to 34 year olds wasted 4-6 years in college instead of getting into the workforce early, working hard, and becoming successful.
Perhaps it is because they don't make $25 per hour working on an assembly line in a union plant with a high school education.
Where I work people with high school diplomas make 25 per hour after 2 years. Union gigs are great here.
Link Posted: 5/13/2017 9:19:17 PM EDT
[#34]
Unpossible.  PhDs say wages keep up with inflation.  If they are wrong, central bank owners are pocketing the difference to the tune of billions.  

It's not like the Fed has admitted that issuing a debt-based, at-interest currency to society imparts gains to the issuer or anything.  Nope, they never said that.  It's a conspiracy.

Not a chance.

Just wait until all these trillions get into our hands. Suddenly the wheelbarrow is more valuable than the cash.
Link Posted: 5/13/2017 9:19:43 PM EDT
[#35]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
Perhaps because a lot more of those 25 to 34 year olds wasted 4-6 years in college instead of getting into the workforce early, working hard, and becoming successful.
View Quote
Interestingly, compensation for management has increased. Simply one group realizing they could increase their own paycheck by cutting someone else's. Also, many jobs that once only required a HS diploma now REQUIRE that college degree.
Link Posted: 5/13/2017 9:20:10 PM EDT
[#36]
Does the fact that the government has been grossly underreporting actual inflation for like 20-30 years have any mathematical impact on comparing costs in 1975 vs today?
Link Posted: 5/13/2017 9:20:32 PM EDT
[#37]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
Boomer hate thread

http://i.imgur.com/aqs0aUD.jpg
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I wish I could like this.

And I wish I had a dollar for every entry level job that requires 3-5 years of direct, relevant and recent experience.
Link Posted: 5/13/2017 9:21:22 PM EDT
[#38]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
Well I doubt you are getting the same amount of actual work done per hour from the jobs millennials do these days compared to the jobs the boomers had to do back then.
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Ummmm, bullshit. Maybe the boomers really were just thieves.
Link Posted: 5/13/2017 9:23:06 PM EDT
[#39]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
More people competing for the same jobs.
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Wait till automation is in full force and frees all them up to do bigger things.  Like cashier, cook, CEO. Definitely.
Link Posted: 5/13/2017 9:26:24 PM EDT
[#40]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:


On average, a degree will make you about $17k more per year than not having a degree. They pay for themselves, and the opportunity cost, in a few short years. All data I can find points to this.

Income gap study
Lifetime earnings
Unemployment and earnings by education level

Do you have anything to back up your claims, or are you just being edgy?
View Quote
The creation, and continued existence of nonsense majors is proof enough.
Link Posted: 5/13/2017 9:26:38 PM EDT
[#41]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
In 1975 i was earning $3.40 an hour. But has was 39 to 69 cents a gallon, and a case of Old Style beer was $3.98 smokes where 35 cents a pack. The average 3 bd rm raised ranch home in Chicago was $20,000 You do the math.
View Quote
What changed ?
Link Posted: 5/13/2017 9:26:45 PM EDT
[#42]
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Quoted:
Where I work people with high school diplomas make 25 per hour after 2 years. Union gigs are great here.
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My pension from my union job, that I got with just a hs diploma, pays me the equivalent of about 75% more than that. I'm not complaining.
Link Posted: 5/13/2017 9:27:38 PM EDT
[#43]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
Supply and demand. We've imported a shitload of a "workers" for no fucking reason.
http://www.immigrationeis.org/sites/default/files/images/charts/immigration_into_us_1.gif
View Quote
No it's all been for a very good reason.
Link Posted: 5/13/2017 9:32:05 PM EDT
[#44]
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Quoted:


Which is actually something we should celebrate.
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You'd think that, but no. It is because millennials are stupid that they don't make the same wages.
Link Posted: 5/13/2017 9:42:26 PM EDT
[#46]
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Quoted:
My pension from my union job, that I got with just a hs diploma, pays me the equivalent of about 75% more than that. I'm not complaining.
View Quote View All Quotes
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Quoted:
Quoted:
Where I work people with high school diplomas make 25 per hour after 2 years. Union gigs are great here.
My pension from my union job, that I got with just a hs diploma, pays me the equivalent of about 75% more than that. I'm not complaining.
Yeah, baby!  I'm not complaining.  I'm not union there but I'm able to make close to 6 figures with good bennies.  Granted, I have an MS degree but I just love that we all can make great money here in America providing a product used throughout the world.
Link Posted: 5/13/2017 9:45:20 PM EDT
[#47]
You have to have a grown man's job to make grown man's wages.....Simple as that. Working fast food or being a coffee-jerk in your 20s simply does not get you there.

In 1975 I was earning a grown man's wage at 20 years of age and had been doing so for almost two years. In fact I did not know of anyone (that was not in college or serving in the military) that was not working at jobs where they could not start saving for a down payment on a home......And that was a time of high inflation.

Oh you might have to do some under the table side work to help you along that path but you could get there. you just had to put in the work. hell, every cop in town painted houses on the side, Dad included. Myself, I trapped in the winter and caught/sold bait in the summer along with mowing yards.

I'll be the first to admit that there were a lot more opportunities available to my generation to start a job fresh out of HS, move up (hopefully) and retire from the same employer. Two at most. That is pretty much gone these days. Side jobs are being snatched-up by Mexicans.

That said given the reported piss-poor work ethic of the typical 20-something of today it's no great surprise to me that they do poorly.
Link Posted: 5/13/2017 9:52:59 PM EDT
[#48]
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Quoted:
My brother is 34 and he works at Google making bank.
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Quoted:
Quoted:
Perhaps because a lot more of those 25 to 34 year olds wasted 4-6 years in college instead of getting into the workforce early, working hard, and becoming successful.
My brother is 34 and he works at Google making bank.
Sample of one isn't exactly gonna be representative of an entire generation.
Link Posted: 5/13/2017 9:53:47 PM EDT
[#49]
So importing a million plus immigrants plus hundreds of thousands of H1B and H2B Visa workers has an impact on overall wages...?

Link Posted: 5/13/2017 9:57:58 PM EDT
[#50]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
You have to have a grown man's job to make grown man's wages.....Simple as that. Working fast food or being a coffee-jerk in your 20s simply does not get you there. [://

In 1975 I was earning a grown man's wage at 20 years of age and had been doing so for almost two years. In fact I did not know of anyone (that was not in college or serving in the military) that was not working at jobs where they could not start saving for a down payment on a home......And that was a time of high inflation.

Oh you might have to do some under the table side work to help you along that path but you could get there. you just had to put in the work. hell, every cop in town painted houses on the side, Dad included. Myself, I trapped in the winter and caught/sold bait in the summer along with mowing yards.

I'll be the first to admit that there were a lot more opportunities available to my generation to start a job fresh out of HS, move up (hopefully) and retire from the same employer. Two at most. That is pretty much gone these days. Side jobs are being snatched-up by Mexicans.

That said given the reported piss-poor work ethic of the typical 20-something of today it's no great surprise to me that they do poorly. [://
View Quote
I don't think people like you understand how god awful the job market is for anyone fresh out of college, the military, or high school these days.
There is nothing other than burger flipping jobs, and other service industry jobs.

It doesn't matter if you are a veteran, or have a college degree in a subject relevant to the job you're seeking
Even me, I spent years in school welding and couldn't even get anyone to let me take a weld test.
No one will hire anyone with no experience.

Luckily while I was working at Lowe's I managed to get in the Local Pipe fitter union and they were the only ones that were willing to get me a job.
I have made hundreds of hand welds on 1/8 and 1/4 inch pipe SS and titanium pipe since I was hired and I have never busted a weld so it's not like I was a shitty welder.

Did I want to join the union? No, not at all they were infact my last choice.
They were hard up for welders though and they were giving welders a chance.

I guess all the other private companies had plenty of dudes and had no need for new blood.
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