US News 40% of US workers now earn less that 1968 minimum wage

[Zakyath]

Are American workers paid enough? That is a topic that is endlessly debated all across this great land of ours. Unfortunately, what pretty much everyone can agree on is that American workers are not making as much as they used to after you account for inflation. Back in 1968, the minimum wage in the United States was $1.60 an hour. That sounds very small, but after you account for inflation a very different picture emerges. Using the inflation calculator that the Bureau of Labor Statistics provides, $1.60 in 1968 is equivalent to $10.74 today.

And of course the official government inflation numbers have been heavily manipulated to make inflation look much lower than it actually is, so the number for today should actually be substantially higher than $10.74, but for purposes of this article we will use $10.74. If you were to work a full-time job at $10.74 an hour for a full year (with two weeks off for vacation), you would make about $21,480 for the year.

That isn't a lot of money, but according to the Social Security Administration, 40.28% of all workers make less than $20,000 a year in America today. So that means that more than 40 percent of all U.S. workers actually make less than what a full-time minimum wage worker made back in 1968. That is how far we have fallen.

Zerohedge

ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero

www.zerohedge.com

 

[Accname]

I make about that much per hour...

 

[ReVolver]

I make less than that

 

[Dave312]

If you were to work a full-time job at $10.74 an hour for a full year (with two weeks off for vacation), you would make about $21,480 for the year.

40.28% of all workers make less than $20,000 a year in America today

I'd wager a substantial amount of that 40.28% work part time, not full time, meaning those numbers are not comparable. So essentially the main "fact" the article is based on is a lie. Great journalism right there

 

[Zakyath]

yeah, the calculations are a bit out there, but they still say a whole lot of 40% of the worker's situations

 

[KMilz]

I'd wager a substantial amount of that 40.28% work part time, not full time, meaning those numbers are not comparable.

Edit: I dun know how to read good, so nevermind.

 

[FireCat]

Imagine "winning a million dollars or, even moar!"