I put out a post last month talking about how things "used to be"

[Horse with no Name]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=439&topic_id=540154&mesg_id=540154

And in this post, I wrote
"In the mid-70's, she made close to $20/hour with excellent benefits"

Of course, in DU fashion, someone immediately disputed this.
But it did make me think.

There used to be a time that skilled wages were considerably more than minimum wage. Younger people probably don't remember that time.

However, in the recent years, wages have been converging back towards minimum wage...instead of away from.

In a time when corporate profits are higher than they have ever been....and wages overall are lower than they have ever been...where oh where do the birthers/pugs/baggers THINK that the profits are coming from??? Why oh why can they not connect point A to point B and realize that not only are they being fleeced...they are the ones holding the shears?

[Mojorabbit]

1. I started as a graduate nurse in the early 70s at 4.25/hr :) nt

[bhikkhu]

2. I made more in 1987 myself

...in my second year as a full time mechanic, my hourly wage was just a hair less than my current wage, but I worked more and got plenty of overtime. At least in my field, wages have been pretty stagnant, while the cost of parts and equipment has skyrocketed.

[Obamanaut]

3. self delete

[hfojvt]

4. reading the thread, I do not see an immediate dispute

although, being me, I might have, had I noticed the thread. In 1974, the minimum wage was $2 an hour. By 1978 it was $2.65 an hour. Both of those were about $8.95 in 2011 money.

Even in 1980, minimum wage was $8.11 in 2011 money, but there was no increase in it from 1981 until 1990. By 1991, even after two increases, it was still only $6.88 in 2011 dollars. By 2006, it had dropped to $5.67 in 2011 dollars, although many states had higher minimum wages than the Federal one of $5.15.

But to suggest that very many workers made $20 an hour in the mid 1970s is not right. In 1975, 60% of households made less than $41,312 and 80% made less than $59,436. In current dollars that was 60% of households making less than $12,550 and 80% of households making less than $18,057. So if she made $20 an hour then she was in the top 5% of households which were those making over $28,790 in 1975.

Myself, I make about 200% of minimum wage for unskilled janitorial work, and get good benefits. Thank goodness I work for the government.

In 1996 I worked for the private sector as a janitor. I made a mere 116% of minimum wage (and fell to 107% when the minimum went up in 1997 to $5.15) and no benefits, often not even a weekend.