Bottom 25th percentile has been zero or negative growth at least back to 1998. This would include minimum wage and support the original argument. This doesn't seem to correct for inflation, so zero or negative wage growth is punished completely by inflation.
Sure but not everyone stays in the bottom 25%. College students would be one category that you would expect this to be true of. I was certainly in the poverty level in college, but not anymore.
What we really care about are the people who are persistently in poverty and whether or not that number grows or shrinks. If it shrinks the economy is helping real people, if it's not, it's helping the well off.
So you are arguing that there is increasing mobility?
Or do you argue that people are bouncing between jobs with lower wage growth and higher wage growth, so the bottom 25% of wages are getting worse and worse, yet they are only temporary?
It seems pretty clear that 25% of earners experience no growth or negative growth YoY while 25% of earners see wage growth that outpaces inflation. Unless they are swapping places constantly, it's not really healthy for this to occur over a long period of time (as it has).
I don’t think college students would be counted in this metric because it only counts people who want a full time job. A full time college student likely does not.
ta2234234242|2 years ago
What we really care about are the people who are persistently in poverty and whether or not that number grows or shrinks. If it shrinks the economy is helping real people, if it's not, it's helping the well off.
CardenB|2 years ago
Or do you argue that people are bouncing between jobs with lower wage growth and higher wage growth, so the bottom 25% of wages are getting worse and worse, yet they are only temporary?
It seems pretty clear that 25% of earners experience no growth or negative growth YoY while 25% of earners see wage growth that outpaces inflation. Unless they are swapping places constantly, it's not really healthy for this to occur over a long period of time (as it has).
janalsncm|2 years ago