Wages in US – Man working full-time, year-round earned less in 2014 than in 1973 in real terms

The typical man with a full-time job–the one at the statistical middle of the middle–earned $50,383 last year.

The typical man with a full-time job in 1973 earned $53,294, measured in 2014 dollars to adjust for inflation.

You read that right: The median male worker who was employed year-round and full time earned less in 2014 than a similarly situated worker earned four decades ago. And those are the ones who had jobs.

This one fact, tucked in Table A-4 of the Census Bureau’s annual report on income, is both a symptom of an economy that isn’t delivering for many ordinary Americans and at least one reason for the dissatisfaction, anger, and distrust that voters are displaying in the 2016 presidential campaign.

What about women? Well, they haven’t closed the pay gap with men, but the inflation-adjusted earnings of the median female worker increased more than 30% between 1973 and 2014, to $39,621 from $30,182, according to census data.

Chosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor. Read the whole story at The typical male U.S. worker earned less in 2014 than in 1973 | Brookings Institution