'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...010/247059/?google_editors_picks=true#slide14

 

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.

 

What an ugly chart!

 

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

 

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

 

2) The number of millionaires increased by about 20 percent

 

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/2011/06/22/u-s-has-record-number-of-millionaires/

 

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.

 

This is why housing prices are out of wack.

 

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.