Almost All Americans' Wages are Plummeting

Posted by Kathy G, The G-Spot at 2:03 PM on September 10, 2008.

Real wages have fallen for every educational group in America save
folks with professional degrees (doctors, etc.)

Today, the Wall Street Journal reports the sobering news that, since
2000, real wages have fallen for every educational group in America
except folks with professional degrees (doctors, lawyers, and the
like). All other groups, even those with master's degrees and Ph.D.'s,
saw declining wages over this period. The WSJ piece is based on
recently released Census data (you can find the most recent Census
Bureau report on income and earnings here).

In recent years, the college earnings premium has decreased
substantially. As the Journal points out:

In 1975, for instance, workers with college degrees earned 60%% more
per year on average than workers with high-school diplomas only,
according to the 2006 Economic Report of the President.

Workers with a college degree saw their earnings premium grow steadily
over the next quarter century, and by 2000 their average earnings were
roughly double what workers with a high-school diploma made. Over the
next four years the trend reversed: By 2004, workers with a college
diploma only were earning about 80%% more than high-school grads, on
average.

The Journal article identifies globalization (including the
outsourcing of both blue- and white-collar jobs) and rising health
costs as possible causes for the decline in wages. One reason workers'
wages aren't keeping up with inflation is that health care costs have
risen dramatically in recent years, so employers are shelling out more
for health coverage, and less in wages.

For most Americans, these data paint a fairly bleak picture of their
economic prospects. About the only good thing I can say about this is
that, given this economic climate, I find it almost impossible to
believe that the Republicans triumph this November. The seven-year
period during which wages have been in freefall just happen to be
seven years in which a Republican was president and Republicans, for
the most part, controlled Congress. There's no way in hell that the
Republicans should be able to get away with this. If, in spite of
everything, they end up winning this fall, it will be the con job of
the century.