50 Percent Of American Workers Make Less Than 28,031 Dollars A Year

Hey Onequestion,

Did you give any more thought to going the IT route like you had been discussing on that other thread?


I make something between 98K and 120k a year as the only provider in my house. I dont really have a nice house but I did just get a new car. Their are no kids in this equation though so that makes it much easier financially. I could imagine how just having 1 kid would make a salary like that not be enough to cover all the expenses in life.

It's a scary time for a lot of people and while it's easy to always blame those that are succeeding I am not sure how that helps the person making $16/hour get farther ahead in life.

originally posted by: opethPA
Hey Onequestion,

Did you give any more thought to going the IT route like you had been discussing on that other thread?

Yeah I've been thinking about but I've actually been leaning more towards CAD lately. Honestly I have to get stable before I can make any real choices.

a reply to: onequestion

That happens up here in Canada too. My friend works at a pipe coating plant, and they are hiring and firing all year round, nonstop. Good luck staying past 3 months when a full pay and benefits would kick in.

originally posted by: ~Lucidity
a reply to: badgerprints

Killing the unions was part of a systemic plan. I saw the plan (gray area material, but I'm not kidding).

Sure some unions messed up, but overall, at least unions fought for workers, gave people unity and a goal, as the devil you knew. With this new devil, you're swinging on your own.

The unions sold their souls to politics.
The union political apparatus got rich while they ran unions into the dirt.

I've got no problem with union workers.
It's union lawyers and politicians that cut their throats.
They made it cost more to produce here in the US.
Then lawmakers made it profitable to ship those jobs overseas.
At the same time these lawmakers bring in immigrant labor like it's going out of style.
Bye, bye, living wages.
Bye, bye, manufacturing.

Been part of the agenda for better than half a century now.

Like dominos falling in a row.

a reply to: AlaskanDad

I am afraid this wont change unless we the people go on strike and demand more. Even be willing to live off the land rather than toil so others can live the fat life while you live in squander. It's coming. When is the question. Our Politicians can't and wont do anything about it now or ever.

What's left of Unions today are just another way for other people to live off your work. They also cant and wont do anything ever to solve this. The US system has failed. It may live on a bit longer but not that much longer. People will eventually get to their limit of how much BS they will take.

originally posted by: Vasa Croe
IYou typically earn what you earn and most are in bad positions because of earlier bad decisions...not all, but a lot are.

My thought is that if you don't like where you are then change it...trouble is a lot of people also don't like change.

What this report is saying is 50% of the jobs in America pay low wages.
Where would those 50% of the workers go if they were better educated and who is going to take over those jobs?
My guess is corporate lobbyists would love to bring in more illegal immigrants to take their place.

The problem is not the workers or jobs but a systemic issue where Corporate and Banking via Lobbyists own our government and have crafted foreign and domestic policies favorable to them and crappy for everyone else.

In 1970, there were less than 200 lobbying offices in DC.
Today, there are over 2000 lobbying offices in DC.

It was corporate lobbyists that brought us China Favored Nation Trading
It was corporate lobbyists that brought us NAFTA

When bribing is legal backed up by $$money$, politicians are going to serve the ones that bought them instead serving the best interests of the nation.

It is not rocket science.

The buying of politicians is not "Freedom of Speech"
It is corruption and bribery and has brought us to where we are today.

a reply to: Eunuchorn

A salary cap?!

B-b-b-b-but b-b-b-but but what if, one day, it's me that's the ceo! You want me to vote on wage capping my potential future salary?!

/sarcasm

And yet, that is why it will never happen. People all think one day it'll be their salary. As though anyone can actually spend that kind of money on themselves lol.

Wage cap and divert the obscene wages back into the workers wages would be amazing.

People call rich folk job creators.

Where the hell did the rich folk get all their money from if jobs only existed after they created them?

Jobs are created because consumers need things and businesses can provide those things.

No consumer. No job.

a reply to: badgerprints

This seems fitting and sums up my thoughts on how things have changed

a reply to: halfpint0701

It's crazy how true that is.

The people in suits can't produce a damn thing, swing a hammer, use measuring tape, cut something accurately non of it.

They rely on people like me to protect the,, build their house, grow their food.

Then they want to cut our pay checks, take our benefits, then make more phone calls!

Why is all this even happening?

There must be a bigger goal.

What are the end gains?

So. Half of American workers have below median income? Shocking.

I also heard that half of Americans have below median intelligence. Shocking? No, not if you know what median means. Half of all wage earners will always be below the median and half will always be above.

By definition, 50 percent of wage earners had net compensation less than or equal to the median wage, which is estimated to be $28,031.02 for 2013.

www.ssa.gov...

Looking at the source data can be interesting. In 2007, before the great recession, the median was $25,737. The median is higher now that it was then. In 2010, it was $26,363.55

Looks like family income recovered a bit since the recession.
theeconomiccollapseblog.com...

originally posted by: AlaskanDad
Something is not right here:

The Social Security Administration has just released wage statistics for 2013, and the numbers are startling. Last year, 50 percent of all American workers made less than $28,031, and 39 percent of all American workers made less than $20,000. If you worked a full-time job at $10 an hour all year long with two weeks off, you would make $20,000. So the fact that 39 percent of all workers made less than that amount is rather telling.



This is more evidence of the declining quality of the jobs in this country. In many homes in America today, both parents are working multiple jobs in a desperate attempt to make ends meet. Our paychecks are stagnant while the cost of living just continues to soar. And the jobs that are being added to the economy pay a lot less than the jobs lost in the last recession. In fact, it has been estimated that the jobs that have been created since the last recession pay an average of 23 percent less than the jobs that were lost. We are witnessing the slow-motion destruction of the middle class, and very few of our leaders seem to care.

source

Maybe we all should LOWER the minimum wage. That way all the CEO'S will get a raise and you get to LOOSE your home. Seems like a good idea, RIGHT. CEO. MO- MONEY Punk em and roll em like a YO-YO. They alway come back.

originally posted by: halfpint0701
a reply to: badgerprints

This seems fitting and sums up my thoughts on how things have changed

Yes sir.
That about sums it up.

a reply to: Phage

I wouldnt get out of bed for US$26363.55

a reply to: cloaked4u

I think you have the plan down pat.

Bring em in, we need more people. Higher the taxes, we need to pay up what we owe,for we the people let them spend that monies that way. Keep sending our work overseas. Treat us as UN-equal to one another. Put more bases in other countries. Let big buisness rule over your lives. Bring in a police fascist world order. CHIP everyone and bring in the martial law. Put Camera's on every street corner and treat us like robots. AFTER ALL, thats the way you like it.

a reply to: khnum

I wouldnt get out of bed for US$26363.55

The 2013 median was higher than that but there are apparently a lot of people who are less picky than you. Half of wage earners to be precise.

But if you're not getting out of bed you aren't a wage earner so you don't count anyway.

a reply to: onequestion

Then they want to cut our pay checks, take our benefits, then make more phone calls!

Of course, without them there wouldn't be any paycheck would there?
Without those phone calls, there wouldn't be anybody buying the product that they sell, would there?

Try starting your own company, then get back to us on how "they" operate.

a reply to: Phage

It could be a matter of where you earn that money too for example in my city Brisbane 70,000 is a relatively good income if you have no kids but to have the same standard of living in Melbourne or Sydney you would need 120,000 so of course the wages are higher in those cities I imagine its the same in the US New Jersey probably has a high average income but it also probably costs a lot more to live there.

please keep in mind there are parts of the country where 28k a year can mean a fairly comfortable living, because land is still cheap... food and gas are also cheaper than on the coasts.