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http://www.politifact.com/punditfac...rana-foroohar-says-median-male-worker-hasnt-/
No raise for the last 30 years? Must be because over 30 years we've maintained the same level of productivity or value....oooooorrrr
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No raise for the last 30 years? Must be because over 30 years we've maintained the same level of productivity or value....oooooorrrr
For all the advances since the era of teased-out rocker hair, one thing hasnt changed for Americas average working man: the amount of bacon he brings home.
So says Rana Foroohar, a CNN global economic analyst and Time magazine assistant managing editor (who, by the way, snagged the first interview with new Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen). Appearing on CNNs The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer, Foroohar brought up the point during a general discussion about the countrys economic woes.
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The fraction of men in the workforce has declined sharply over the last several decades, he wrote, from 94 percent of prime-age men working in 1970 to 81 percent in 2010. It happened as incarceration rates and enrollment in the Social Security disability insurance program increased and labor force participation waned, as well as the "wild success" of women entering the labor market, he said.
His 2012 study found real earnings of median males actually dropped by 19 percent since 1970, he found. "This means that the median man in 2010 earned as much as the median man did in 1964 nearly a half century ago."
The reasons for the trend are complex, Greenstone told us. Yes, there have been sweeping changes in technology, machinery and trade over the last 30 or 40 years that have had some effect. More striking, he said, is that educational attainment among men, which used to climb with each generation, has dropped off.
oroohar said, "the median male worker in this country has not seen a raise, inflation-adjusted, for 30 years, basically."
Federal data for 1982-2012 shows a slight increase, though the numbers show the real value of median male earnings have been in the range of $46,840-$51,670 for about 40 years. We found another point of view that says the real median income has declined significantly once men without jobs are factored in. We also found a broader definition of income that changes the dynamic.
Still, Foroohar clearly has a point. We rate her claim Mostly True.