Thursday, October 06, 2016

New Analysis Reveals Working Class Decline

Everyone knows the working class has been falling behind. A new Sentier Research analysis of trends in wage and salary income by age over time shows how far behind the working class has fallen. For the purposes of the study, Sentier defined the working class as white men with a high school diploma and no further education.

Sentier analyzed trends in wage and salary income for cohorts of white men as they aged from 1996 to 2014. The researchers examined trends for the working class (men with a high school diploma and no further education) and for college-educated men (with a bachelor's degree or more education). Among men with a bachelor's degree, wage and salary income per capita grew 23 percent between 1996 (when they were aged 25 to 44) and 2014 (when they were aged 43 to 62), after adjusting for inflation. Among men with no more than a high school education, wage and salary income fell 9 percent as they aged over the time period.

Wage and salary income per capita for college-educated men (2014$)
Aged 43 to 62 in 2014: $94,601
Aged 25 to 44 in 1996: $77,209
Difference: +23%

Wage and salary income per capita for men with a high school diploma (2014$)
Aged 43 to 62 in 2014: $36,787
Aged 25 to 44 in 1996: $40,362
Difference: –9%

Source: Sentier Research, Comparing Earnings of White Males by Education for Selected Age Cohorts

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