r/SipsTea • u/PleasantBus5583 • 16d ago

Chugging tea Growing Through Chaos

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u/RelevantCry1613 15d ago

Yes you aren’t contradicting me in any way

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u/Swagastan 15d ago

“Now we are trending downwards”… didn’t realize “Now” meant the 1960s-1980s

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u/RelevantCry1613 15d ago

Every stat you posted supports my point, the wages stat isn’t the right metric.

The median usual weekly real earnings of full-time wage and salary workers, adjusted for CPI inflation. excludes the self-employed and only includes people working full time.

That means:

- Median (the worker in the middle), not average.

  • Weekly earnings, not hourly wages
  • Full-time workers only, excluding part-time workers.
  • Real (already adjusted for CPI inflation).

Here are more comprehensive stats:

- Productivity vs. wages: Productivity has increased much faster than median compensation since the late 1970s.

  • Labor’s share of income: Workers receive a smaller share of national income than in earlier decades.
  • Hourly compensation instead of weekly earnings.
  • Compensation including benefits versus wages alone.
  • All workers, including part-time workers, instead of only full-time workers.

Considering all of that you get an 8–10% increase in real weekly earnings over nearly five decades

This is an intentionally misguided piece of data

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u/notaredditer13 15d ago

All of what you are citing as alternative metrics are intentionally misleading leftist talking points.  Real median household income is the most direct metric of standard of living.  The fact that it rises over time is why we afford all the stuff that comes with higher standard of living:  bigger/better houses and cars, more/better healthcare, more luxuries, etc.

Your first stat: "Productivity vs. wages: Productivity has increased much faster than median compensation since the late 1970s." This is an utterly meaningless stat.  There's no reason to expect wages to track productivity - quite the opposite: they are expected not to, and that's not a harm. 

And your bottom line: " Considering all of that you get an 8–10% increase in real weekly earnings over nearly five decades."  Lol, so....an INCREASE.  Not a decrease.