Just a moment...
www.americanprogress.org

After adjusting for inflation, wages are higher than at any point in U.S. history, and after adjusting for age and sex, the percentage of the population that is employed is around its peak in U.S. history.

    • silence7@slrpnk.netOP
      316·
      12 hours ago

      The point of the inflation index is that it includes the same basket of things that people buy — including housing. There are some specific ways in which the official numbers can lag peoples’ experience (eg: how owners-equivalent rent is handled) but what you’re doing is suggesting something terrible, but not actually providing any real evidence for it.

        • silence7@slrpnk.netOP
          313·
          12 hours ago

          Yes, but it’s included in the proportion to which you buy those things. So if you’re spending a lot less on other things, but more on housing, it’s a wash for your overall expenses. The point is that compared with overall expenses, wages went up more.

          • Whats_your_reasoning@lemmy.world
            4·
            3 hours ago

            Yes, but it’s included in the proportion to which you buy those things. So if you’re spending a lot less on other things, but more on housing, it’s a wash for your overall expenses.

            I may be misunderstanding, but doesn’t spending a greater percentage on housing necessitate spending less on other things? Someone who spends 50% of their earnings on shelter has to make more careful budgeting decisions than someone who only spends 30% on shelter. With a smaller portion of income to spend on anything else, people will put off purchases that they can’t afford. Using that proportional difference to claim “it’s a wash” sounds like circular reasoning. At least, it doesn’t seem to account for all the purchases people would have made if they weren’t putting such a high percentage toward this one basic need?

          • rc__buggy@sh.itjust.works
            61·
            11 hours ago

            OK, so this is how my smooth brain thinks about it:

            Housing is double when adjusted for inflation. Milk is obviously not. I think milk has stayed flat since they started tracking it in the '90s.

            If I paid the same (adjusted for inflation) for my house and paid double (again, adjusted) for milk I would have a lot more money left over at the end of the month. I don’t think CPI takes into account how much milk I drink compared to the one house I need.

            • homura1650@lemmy.world
              6·
              11 hours ago

              CPI does weight items by based on spending patterns (although the details of how to determine this weight are complicated and the main reason there are multiple inflation indecises).

              The 2022 CPI has a 0.178% contribution from the price of milk, and a 45.065% contribution from the price of Housing. Housing itself is subdived into several subcategories. Notably, neither the purchase price of a house nor the typical mortgage are included. Instead, homeowners cost of shelter is covered by “owner’s equivelent rent” which attempts to answer what the owner would be paying if they had to rent the house they are living in.

              https://www.bls.gov/cpi/tables/relative-importance/2023.htm

            • silence7@slrpnk.netOP
              32·
              11 hours ago

              The market basket approach they use looks at the mix of goods and services people buy. So yes, it captures the fact that housing is more of a typical person’s budget than milk.

              • yes_this_time@lemmy.world
                3·
                10 hours ago

                I did a quick search and couldn’t find an answer.

                I wonder if part of the disconnect is that they are using just a general “dwelling” in CPI. As opposed to price per square foot. That is, is dwelling size shrinking, while costs are growing, this could cause housing costs to be understated in CPI

      • xmunk@sh.itjust.works
        4·
        10 hours ago

        Critically, if you want one of those really high paying jobs you need to work in a market with insanely high CoL - compensation increases haven’t been universal.