Average American wages are on the decline

Updated
The Average American Male Earns Less Today Than 40 Years Ago
The Average American Male Earns Less Today Than 40 Years Ago


The average American full-time employee may be bringing home more money each year, but the truth is they're earning less money today than the average American forty years ago.

New U.S. Census Bureau figures infer that workers are poorer today than they were four decades ago because they're getting less for their dollar.

"Because most everything we buy gets more expensive over time, we have to earn more money each year just to maintain our existing standard of living," Fast Company's Ben Schiller points out. "When we're not given raises that keep up with this rate of inflation, we're effectively suffering a pay cut."

The U.S. Census Bureau measured the median male full-time worker made just over $50,383 in 2014 -- and if you measured the median male full-time worker in 1973 using 2014 numbers, they'd make more than $53,294.


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