Heard on NPR this morning that people earning as much or more than their parents did when their parent were the age they are now, has declined by something like 90% over the past few decades.
So here’s a poll for the teeming millions.
When your parents were the same age you are now did they earn (ignoring inflation, absolute $):
In raw dollars, less. I’d guess my dad’s salary was about 75-85% of what mine is now. If I can count my wife’s income too, then it’s much less, since my mother never worked.
Just on a dollars to dollars comparison? I think, at 36, the dollar amount on my paycheck is the same or a bit higher than either of my parents’ paychecks from when they were 36.
Ignoring inflation? I make more than Dad ever did. Mom’s income, even when she did work, was never very high.
Taking inflation into account, my current income might be commesurate with Dad’s two highest paid years, which took place when he was a bit younger than I’m now. The job he had at my current age paid about half as much as mine does.
I have absolutely no idea what my parents earned. I suspect it’s similar, but I really have no clue. It was never ever discussed, and the one time I asked directly, the question was pointedly ignored.
A few birthdays ahead, my father got a substantial raise when he switched jobs, which I can only infer from the fact we moved to a bigger, new construction house, but maybe my parents just saved a ton. Again, no clue.
I don’t know the exact numbers but I suspect I earn more than my dad at the same age. We’re both engineers, and he had a masters but did well during the dotcom bubble and that has helped my earnings power. My wife earns more than my mom at the same age so if you combine that we’re solidly above my parents income.
All of this is by adjusted income. If you switch to absolute dollar amounts we have them beat easily.
Just dollars to dollars and not taking into consideration inflation, cost of living, or anything else my Dad made about twice what I do. Go household income and it is about the same or the Old Wench and I may be a bit ahead.
Based on salary alone (I know he got bonuses and stock) just before retiring, I was making twice what my dad made. Even today in my post-career job, I’m making half again what he made when he retired. And he was a company VP, tho it was a small company.
My mom didn’t work outside the home once the 5 of us starting appearing, but when my youngest sister went out on her own, Mom started her own catering business. I don’t have any idea what she paid herself, but she was able to help pay off their mortgage, add a/c to the house, and do a few more things that made their lives nicer. She did provide opportunities for her senior friends, as well as family members, to make a little extra spending money. But I doubt that she made what I make.
I remember how proud my dad was in 1955, when his wages hit $400 a month. That would be the equivalent of $43,000 a year today. He was an unskilled factory worker with grade 6 schooling, who stayed long enough to become a foreman.
I think I had only two years in my life when I made anywhere near that, (adjusted for inflation) and I saved most of that, and still have it.
I make more, but that’s more because my parents were civil servants and teachers, and I’m an IT professional. My brother’s a teacher and coach, and he’s making about the same as my mother (the teacher) did.
When they retired, I was slightly ahead in salary, but subsequently have changed jobs and got raises, so I make about 30% more now, adjusted for inflation.
My parents earned way less. But they were from a different time. Mom’s an immigrant and dad was my age abouts when this country desegregated schools. I grew up in a better (but still Trump-electingly bad) America, and I went to college and stuff.
In 1986 my dad was still laid off from Ford so he was making much less than I am now at 37.
HOWEVER, he still had a pension and excellent health care for a family of 4. I have none of that. Also, prior to when he was laid off and after he was laid off, he made much more than I was/will be.
And he didn’t finish high school or do any sort of college. So, there are factors.
At my age my dad was a construction inspector for the space shuttle project and my mom was working on the beginnings of GPS without adjusting for inflation, working part time as a stay at home dad and Distillery consultant make as much as either of them. Once I get to working full time I should earn as much as the two of them together.
Once you adjust for inflation and add in my wife we probably earn more then them but not a whole lot more. Now a couple of years ago the two of us crushed my parents we’re just current starting new careers and at a relative low career to age wise while my parents were near their peak as the same age point. Of course either one of us earn more then my wife’s parents combined after adjusting for inflation.
My parents were divorced. I am probably making less than my father did at this age, but more than my mom.
That being said, a few years ago I was making much more than my dad ever was, and could be making that again, but I didn’t like that line of work so I left it.
Comparing a dollar amount on paper, I make more than my parents did at my age (both individually and comparing household-to-household).
But I don’t know, with inflation, and the fact that they lived in a low cost-of-living area and I live in a high cost-of-living area, I don’t feel like I have the spending power that they did. The home and cars that they owned then are a lot nicer than what I could afford now. I could not afford to buy their house now.
I make about 10 times what my mother made when she worked. Of course, she never liked to work and put absolutely no effort into getting or keeping a job. My father’s income is more difficult to calculate because of several periods of incarceration that effected his earning opportunities. I would estimate that if my father had never had those time gaps, adjusted for inflation, we would be about equal. I am able to sustain the same level of economically that he was able to pull in the good times.
I’m going to account for inflation, because ignoring it makes any comparison meaningless.
My father’s income when he was my age is more than twice as much as mine (assuming I’ve got the right table of military pay grades and housing allowance…) But as a two-income household, we’re about where my family was as a single-income household.
(If you really want to ignore inflation, my dad made 24% more than my single income, but only 55% of household income).