I like to gripe out loud that I’m making less in real dollars today than I was when I arrived in Los Angeles in 1998. Sure, I’ve had raises, but my company skipped two years of them and as a whole they haven’t been keeping up with inflation. Because I’m lazy, I am essentially calculating these numbers in my head, which means I can’t prove this premise.
Fortunately, the Economic Policy Institute has done the work for me with this policy memo. (Found via Kevin Drum.) Here are some key points directly from the memo:
- Inflation-adjusted hourly and weekly wages are still below where they were at the start of the recovery in November 2001.
- Wage growth has been shortchanged because 35 percent of the growth of total income in the corporate sector has been distributed as corporate profits, far more than the 22 percent in previous periods.
- Consequently, median household income (inflation-adjusted) has fallen five years in a row and was 4 percent lower in 2004 than in 1999, falling from $46,129 to $44,389.
- Households are spending more on health care. Family health costs rose 43-45 percent for married couples with children, single mothers, and young singles from 2000 to 2003.
There are other great nuggets on this memo, which is a cheat sheet on what is wrong with America’s economy. Americans remain underemployed compared to the late 1990s, reports the memo. Poverty, especially among children is on the rise.
As I’ve mentioned before on this site, many families are coping by borrowing. Debt levels, which add up to 115 percent of after-tax income, are at the highest rates in this nation’s history. That’s a 35.7 percent increase in just four years, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
So if you are a struggling parent wondering why your funds seems to be stretching thin – well, they are.
We’ve coped in this household by keeping our debt to a minimum. We have not taken equity out of our house and we maintain no credit card debt. Still, we’re struggling, as are some of my friends. What I can’t stop wondering about is how are families who have huge credit card debt getting by?
Anyone have personal stories they’d like to share?
I like to gripe out loud that I’m making less in real dollars today than I was when I arrived in Los Angeles in 1998. Sure, I’ve had raises, but my company skipped two years of them and as a whole they haven’t been keeping up with inflation. Because I’m lazy, I am essentially calculating these numbers in my head, which means I can’t prove this premise.
Fortunately, the Economic Policy Institute has done the work for me with this policy memo. (Found via Kevin Drum.) Here are some key points directly from the memo:
There are other great nuggets on this memo, which is a cheat sheet on what is wrong with America’s economy. Americans remain underemployed compared to the late 1990s, reports the memo. Poverty, especially among children is on the rise.
As I’ve mentioned before on this site, many families are coping by borrowing. Debt levels, which add up to 115 percent of after-tax income, are at the highest rates in this nation’s history. That’s a 35.7 percent increase in just four years, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
So if you are a struggling parent wondering why your funds seems to be stretching thin – well, they are.
We’ve coped in this household by keeping our debt to a minimum. We have not taken equity out of our house and we maintain no credit card debt. Still, we’re struggling, as are some of my friends. What I can’t stop wondering about is how are families who have huge credit card debt getting by?
Anyone have personal stories they’d like to share?