Why over the past 30 Yrs. has the real mean family income in the US declined overall.?

Question

Both Democrats and Republicans have been in power during the listed time period, yet no one has had an affect on the overall downward trend of real family income. Why?

Answer 1

I actually don't think that either mean or median real income has declined over the last 30 years.

; but if it has, it is due to the horrible inflation during Jimmy Carter's term.

Answer 2

Don't confuse trends with short-term developments. Real mean family income has been trending up for the last 40 years. The last couple of years has been unusual, because the US was coming out of a recession that started in 2001, after 9/11. From 2001 to 2004 or so, incomes went down for the vast majority of income classes in the US. The last year showed an INCREASE.

See page 11 of the following survey from the Office of the Census:
http://www.census.gov/prod/2006pubs/p60-231.pdf

Answer 3

Well I'm not an expert, but aside from moving all the factories over to China, I tend to think its because people sell themselves for cheap. Since people do not have a connection with the OId World, they accept more bs. They accept lower pay. There is also a philosophy about work ethic that pervades the country and it can be to the average worker's detriment. Dead end jobs. Deader pay. Then they sit there in poverty and point their fingers at different racial groups. Also did you notice the phenomenon of Katrina? People do not want to move when tragedy happens. People want to plant their butts in one spot all the time. It doesn't even matter if a flood carries their house away. They don't even try to find a new land. What makes anyone to figure out a better pay? Then of course they get exploited. The thing about that is it is so very bad for everyone. I believe the middle class is needed. I don't know how it can be preserved.

Thats why I think Generation Y has it right. They are demanding more from their jobs and giving the finger to their bosses when they don't get it right.

Answer 4

Everything else being constant, the growth in disposable income has been outpaced by the rise in prices that this income can buy.Every year, employees get an increase in what is called Cost of living Allowance (COLA) in order to cope with increases in the prices of goods and necessities they need to maintain a decent standard of living. Last year, my COLA was 3% of base pay. However, the surge in prices of good and commodities, led by oil and energy expenses, went up by 5-6% across the board. Instead of a gain, I therefore lost close to 50% of the extra purchasing power I was supposed to receive, translating to a decline rather than an increase in real disposable income.

Answer 5

Although average hourly wages of men have shown little increase, family income has increased due to the increase in the wages for working women. For time series of income for a variety of measures see
http://www.visualizingeconomics.com/2006/09/02/comparing-income-series/

The stagnation in workers wages is usually blamed on competition from women, trade,and immigration. No one really knows for sure because when these effects are measured they do not seem large enough to account for the problem.

Answer 6

Folks have ignored that there is such a thing as a social class struggle. Not tacking act of this situation has allowed the great bourgeois class to push forward political decisions that deteriorated the fighting grounds for workers. Theses allowed an intensive competition among fellow workers from every country. This competition was very bad on worker's possibility to ask more for their work.

Bad terms of negotiation = bad wages = declining revenue

Answer 7

Define income? Is it appreciation on Real estate or stocks? Or are you just referring to wages? You know pension funds, banks, investment and insurance companies hold most of the wealth in this country, contrary to popular demogoguery. Beat up Wal-Mart and you beat up your pension funds..

Pity the poor man who relies only on wages.

Answer 8

Lowering educational standards, workers not striving to improve their skills, and people making poor financial decisions. The average American is in debt because they cannot resist the urge to buy more.

You cannot blame either political party. You need to blame the individuals themselves for their poor decision making. America is the land of opportunity. Anyone who wants to can go back to school or work a second job to improve their future.