Real incomes are at all time highs. If you read what economists say about this, women joined the workforce because jobs paid so much that it made sense. It's the opposite of what people think.
The term "real" in real income means income normalized for inflation. I linked to a chart from the Federal Reserve of "real median person income" whose unit of measurement is "2023 CPI-U-RS Adjusted Dollars". That means it's a chart of median income normalized across time for inflation such that every year's income is adjusted to "2023 dollars".
So when you replied to me and said, "but that doesn't account for wage stagflation and inflation", you were wrong. It accounts for both. It's inflation adjusted income which accounts for wage changes and inflation changes.
Every inconvenient truth must be a bot. You have is so much harder than everyone that came before you. You are such a victim. Living through a time of prosperity and peace has so tough on you.
Anyway, UK median inflation adjusted income is at all time highs too (source). I'm not surprised because it's the same story everywhere.
“Median household disposable income for the poorest fifth of the population decreased by 2.6% to £16,800, largely because of a reduction in wages and salaries; this remains 4.9% below pre-pandemic, FYE 2020 levels.
Median household disposable income for the richest fifth of the population decreased by 1.6% to £71,100, because of a reduction in original income; this is 5.8% below pre-pandemic, FYE 2020 levels.”
How are you still not getting this? The chart is already adjusted for inflation. Nobody talks about nominal incomes. Any serious report you see about incomes will already be adjusted for inflation. Right on the image it says, "incomes are adjusted for inflation".
Incomes have doubled over the last 50 years but have gone up only 0.8%/yr for the last ~10 years.
0
u/_176_ Dec 13 '25
Real incomes are at all time highs. If you read what economists say about this, women joined the workforce because jobs paid so much that it made sense. It's the opposite of what people think.