Forums - '50% of All Workers Made Less than $26,000 in 2010'

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Posted by Wallace on 10-20-11 08:14 PM:

'50% of All Workers Made Less than $26,000 in 2010'

by Derek Thompson senior editor at The Atlantic Oct 20 2011

"Today we get our first look at American wages in 2010 based on payroll taxes
reported to the Social Security Administration. David Cay Johnston picks out the
most important takeaways, including:
1) Half of all workers made less than $26,364, the median wage in 2010. That
means the typical wage is at its lowest level since 1999, after adjusting for
inflation.
2) The number of millionaires increased by about 20 percent.
3) The size of the missing workforce is 10 million. The number of working people
fell by 5.2 million since 2007. But that's not the entire job deficit, because, based
on population growth estimates, 4.5 million more would have joined the workforce
between 2007 and 2011. Add it up, and you get a 10-million-worker gap."

more + additional charts:
http://www.theatlantic.com/business...ks=true#slide14

Posted by clearinghouse on 10-20-11 08:22 PM:

I guess 50% of workers would really hate the pattern day trader rule, seeing as they'd have to work several years just to overcome it.

Posted by mickmak on 10-20-11 08:42 PM:

What an ugly chart!

Posted by Visaria on 10-20-11 10:09 PM:

Is the $26k figure before income tax or after?

Posted by PocketChange on 10-20-11 10:58 PM:

Sad reality is they are still the top 1% earners of the world.

Posted by Visaria on 10-20-11 11:00 PM:

2) The number of millionaires increased by about 20 percent

Posted by nutmeg on 10-21-11 01:51 AM:

According to the annual World Wealth Report from Merill Lynch and Capgemini, the U.S. had 3.1 million millionaires in 2010, up from 2.86 million in 2009. The latest figure tops the pre-crisis peak of three million.

Merrill and Capgemini define millionaires as individuals with $1 million or more in investible assets, not including primary home, collectibles, consumables and consumer durables.

The wealth held by these millionaires also hit a record. North American millionaires had a combined wealth of $11.6 trillion, up from $10.7 trillion in 2009.

The number of Americans with $30 million is still slightly below the pre-crisis peak. In 2010 there were 40,000 North Americans with $30 million or more, up from 36,000 in 2009.

http://blogs.wsj.com/wealth/2011/06...f-millionaires/

Posted by Lucrum on 10-21-11 02:12 AM:

Re: '50% of All Workers Made Less than $26,000 in 2010'

Posted by KINGOFSHORTS on 10-21-11 03:16 AM:

This is why housing prices are out of wack.

Posted by Visaria on 10-21-11 12:51 PM:

Quote from nutmeg:

According to the annual World Wealth Report from Merill Lynch and Capgemini, the U.S. had 3.1 million millionaires in 2010, up from 2.86 million in 2009. The latest figure tops the pre-crisis peak of three million.

Merrill and Capgemini define millionaires as individuals with $1 million or more in investible assets, not including primary home, collectibles, consumables and consumer durables.

The wealth held by these millionaires also hit a record. North American millionaires had a combined wealth of $11.6 trillion, up from $10.7 trillion in 2009.

The number of Americans with $30 million is still slightly below the pre-crisis peak. In 2010 there were 40,000 North Americans with $30 million or more, up from 36,000 in 2009.

http://blogs.wsj.com/wealth/2011/06...f-millionaires/

V interesting. Note that 3.1 million out of say a population of 350 million is less than 1%. If the 3.1 m referred to households, then maybe the percentage is higher, maybe 2-3%. Just shows that becoming a millionaire isn't so easy otherwise a lot more people would be one.

Posted by jd7419 on 10-21-11 01:29 PM:

Quote from PocketChange:

Sad reality is they are still the top 1% earners of the world.

When you think about it these salaries can only move down from here. I can't stress enough to my wife and anybody who has kids, education is everything, it is going to be so important that our sons and daughters have engineering degrees from the best schools. However there will always be exceptions like my brother the landscaper who is in the 1%.

Posted by zdreg on 10-21-11 01:42 PM:

Quote from jd7419:

When you think about it these salaries can only move down from here. I can't stress enough to my wife and anybody who has kids, education is everything, it is going to be so important that our sons and daughters have engineering degrees from the best schools. However there will always be exceptions like my brother the landscaper who is in the 1%.

markets come and go but landscaping and overpaid government jobs are forever.

Posted by Covertibility on 10-21-11 01:50 PM:

So I went and looked for a goddamn socialist country as a comparison, and lo and behold, Norway: After tax income for households They've had a pretty good decade.

socialism works

Posted by Lucrum on 10-21-11 02:15 PM:

Quote from Covertibility:

socialism works

Only until other peoples money runs out.

Posted by nutmeg on 10-21-11 02:23 PM:

Quote from jd7419:

When you think about it these salaries can only move down from here. I can't stress enough to my wife and anybody who has kids, education is everything, it is going to be so important that our sons and daughters have engineering degrees from the best schools. However there will always be exceptions like my brother the landscaper who is in the 1%.

I have to laugh, way back when I was landscaping, some of my customers had teenage kids, I'm thinking "they should be doing this". You don't have to be a genius to mow a lawn. Now sometimes in passing I tell the kid "go to college or you'll be doing what I'm doing". What made me laugh was all the kid had to do is look at my invoice to find out it'll be a long time after they graduate before they make that kind of money.

Posted by Crispy on 10-21-11 02:25 PM:

Re: Re: '50% of All Workers Made Less than $26,000 in 2010'

Quote from Lucrum:

I haven't even asked for a pay raise in several years, and have no plans to either.
Right now I'm just glad to have a job with above average steady income and benefits. I see no reason to rock the boat in this economic environment.

You may want to reconsider that line of thinking. Even in these times its harder to find good help than you think. There may be a glut of people looking to fill jobs, but the quality of of most of these folks is less than desirable. If your boss appreciates your work, and your not a dick when you broach the subject, whats the worst that can happen? He says "we cant at this point in time give you a raise, but will consider it when things improve". I have never heard of someone getting fired for asking for a raise when they are in good standing with the boss and company.

Hell, even if they say yes and give only you an extra 100 bucks a month you got some drinking, ammo or gas money.

Posted by Covertibility on 10-21-11 02:37 PM:

Quote from Lucrum:

Only until other peoples money runs out.

And when she left office, taxes as a % of GDP were higher than when she had entered:

Source: The Legend of Margaret Thatcher

She sure did love other people's money by ramping up taxes the first 4 years which helped with the spending spree.

I still like what Vladimir Lenin said:

"The Capitalists will sell us the rope with which we will hang them."

So true especially 2008.

Posted by Kassz007 on 10-21-11 03:15 PM:

Quote from Covertibility:

I still like what Vladimir Lenin said:

"The Capitalists will sell us the rope with which we will hang them."

So true especially 2008.

Perhaps you are not fully aware of the history of communism? Hint: It has utterly failed everywhere it has been tried. Yet capitalism lives on...I wonder why?

Posted by EMRGLOBAL on 10-21-11 03:56 PM:

I haven't even asked for a pay raise in several years, and have no plans to either.
Right now I'm just glad to have a job with above average steady income and benefits. I see no reason to rock the boat in this economic environment.
-----------------------------------

Very poor way to think. You must be hooked up to the MATRIX allowing your company to suck the life out of you for pennies.

Or, you have a typical paper pushing desk job and fear that you have no skills.

Either way, you better change your way of thinking.... Not saying ask for a raise but definitely look at other industries.

Unless you love you job, which is sounds like your more scared to change careers.

__________________
"Socialism in general has a record of failure so blatant, that only an "intellectual" could ignore or evade it"...Thomas Sowell

Posted by Lucrum on 10-21-11 04:42 PM:

Quote from EMRGLOBAL:

I haven't even asked for a pay raise in several years, and have no plans to either.
Right now I'm just glad to have a job with above average steady income and benefits. I see no reason to rock the boat in this economic environment.
-----------------------------------

...Or, you have a typical paper pushing desk job and fear that you have no skills...

I'm a professional pilot, flying corporate jets.

...Unless you love you job, which is sounds like your more scared to change careers.

I do like my job, I work about 1/3 as much as my peers on average in similar positions. Giving me a lot of free time. The job market in my industry sucks right now. Although I heard South West Airlines is taking applications. I was never really interested in Airline flying though.

I also know of guys who have priced themselves right out of job, I don't care to be one of them in this environment. At least not without another job lined up in advance.

Posted by Lucrum on 10-21-11 04:43 PM:

Quote from Kassz007:

Perhaps you are not fully aware of the history of communism? Hint: It has utterly failed everywhere it has been tried. Yet capitalism lives on...I wonder why?

+ 1

Posted by Wallace on 10-21-11 07:33 PM:

"Latest index: The national average wage index for 2010 is $41,673.83."
http://www.ssa.gov/oact/cola/AWI.html

Posted by plyka on 10-22-11 06:21 AM:

Re: '50% of All Workers Made Less than $26,000 in 2010'

Quote from Wallace:

by Derek Thompson senior editor at The Atlantic Oct 20 2011

"Today we get our first look at American wages in 2010 based on payroll taxes
reported to the Social Security Administration. David Cay Johnston picks out the
most important takeaways, including:
1) Half of all workers made less than $26,364, the median wage in 2010. That
means the typical wage is at its lowest level since 1999, after adjusting for
inflation.
2) The number of millionaires increased by about 20 percent.
3) The size of the missing workforce is 10 million. The number of working people
fell by 5.2 million since 2007. But that's not the entire job deficit, because, based
on population growth estimates, 4.5 million more would have joined the workforce
between 2007 and 2011. Add it up, and you get a 10-million-worker gap."

more + additional charts:
http://www.theatlantic.com/business...ks=true#slide14

So, let's get this straight:

Government continues to grow massively and the middle class continues to shrink massively, lol. Why do most of the uneducated think that big government is bad for the ultra rich and good for the middle class? Big government is good for the ultra rich, they are buddies with the government reps, they get all the big government contracts, they have their lobbyists write all the regulations to restrict competition from up and coming companies, and the middle and upper middle class always take it on the chin so big government can help out their buddies, the ultra rich. Of course they throw a few scraps to the poor.

And of course this is the evidence of history. Even in Soviet Russia, there was larger inequiality in practice than there was in the semi-capitalist USA. This is the FACT. The ruling elite in Soviet Russia lived in mansions, controlled every aspect of the lives of their subjects, and this was an almost complete command and control economy "for the people." Even "factor managers" had far higher incomes relative to their laborers than the same level of management in the USA. Statistics are tough to come by, but from studies i've seen it was something like 50 to 1, the relative wages of factory managers (read: friends and relatives of the ruling elite) to their workers, while in the USA it was more like 25 to 1 at max.

Posted by jprad on 10-22-11 09:32 AM:

Quote from Wallace:

"Latest index: The national average wage index for 2010 is $41,673.83."

Average and median are not the same thing.

__________________
-jack-

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