Half of workers earn less than $26,364 as income gap grows

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

http://news.yahoo.com/high-income-workers-share-total-wages-grows-231053534.html

By TOM RAUM - Associated Press | AP – 19 hrs ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — Fifty percent of U.S. workers earned less than $26,364 last year, reflecting a growing income gap between the nation's rich and poor, the government reported Thursday.

There were fewer jobs, and overall pay was trending down — except for the nation's wealthiest. The number of people making $1 million or more soared by over 18 percent from 2009, the Social Security Administration said, citing payroll data based on W-2 forms submitted by employers to the Internal Revenue Service.

Despite population growth, the number of Americans with jobs fell again last year, with total employment of just under 150.4 million — down from 150.9 million in 2009 and 155.4 million in 2008. In all, there were 5.2 million fewer jobs than in 2007, when the deep recession began, according to the IRS data.

The figures are just one more indication of the toll that the worst downturn since the Great Depression has taken on the U.S. economy. They were published as demonstrations rage on Wall Street and in cities across the nation protesting a widening income gulf between average wage earners and the nation's wealthiest.

The unemployment rate remains stuck at 9.1 percent, with more than 14 million out of work and 11 million other discouraged people who have stopped looking for work or are stuck in part-time jobs. Since 1980, roughly 5 percent of annual national income has shifted from the middle class to the nation's richest households, according to the Census Bureau.

While the average U.S income last year was $39,959, the mean income — the figure where half earn more and half earn less — was much lower, $26,364. This disparity reflects the fact that "the distribution of workers by wage level is highly skewed," according to Social Security.

Median compensation last year was just 66 percent of the average income, compared with nearly 72 percent in 1980.

[Usui Takumi 1,562]

I think the article mixes up mean and median in that one sentence (though its correct in the last sentence). Shocking all the same.

Edited October 22, 2011 by Sousuke

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

If you want rich people to pay all the taxes, we need more rich people. Those other guys get out of paying altogether.

I mean, what do you really want?

If you want rich people to pay then MORE rich people are a good thing. We can then afford to have more poor people living off the confiscated earnings of the increased number of rich people.

These kind of things make no sense. None.

What I take from this is that more people than ever are millionaires which is a good thing because maybe my kids can also be millionaires, they sure are not striving to make less than $26000 per year.

Do you WANT people to be poor? Or do you want people to be rich?

I think the article mixes up mean and median in that one sentence (though its correct in the last sentence). Shocking all the same.

I would say not to vote for Obama then. He obviously has done nothing to fix this and gave tax cuts to the rich when he could have allowed them to expire.

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

If you want rich people to pay all the taxes, we need more rich people. Those other guys get out of paying altogether.

I mean, what do you really want?

If you want rich people to pay then MORE rich people are a good thing. We can then afford to have more poor people living off the confiscated earnings of the increased number of rich people.

These kind of things make no sense. None.

What I take from this is that more people than ever are millionaires which is a good thing because maybe my kids can also be millionaires, they sure are not striving to make less than $26000 per year.

Do you WANT people to be poor? Or do you want people to be rich?

I would say not to vote for Obama then. He obviously has done nothing to fix this and gave tax cuts to the rich when he could have allowed them to expire.

Mexico has the richest man in the world...and it's a sh*t hole. Moscow has the most millionaires in a single city and Russia is a sh*t hole. I don't want to be a part of a third world country and that's exactly where this country is headed.

You wipe out the middle class which is exactly what is happening, and what do you have? Another Mumbai or Mexico City? You can have it, I don't want any part of it.

[ScramJet 35]

I be damned if I dodge my taxes or sit home idly waiting for that perfect job to come along. I worked everywhere from gyro trailers on the county fairs, to car washes, caffe bars, restaurants, roofs, basic electrician things, dry wall stuff etc. That's what I believe those unemployed should do. Work and weather it out. I pray to God that i never see the insides of a welfare building.

I believe in this country, better days are coming.

[Danno 1,228]

<<<< Fifty percent of U.S. workers earned less than $26,364 last year>>>>

It might be more realistic to give the average "full time" worker, this number would include kids working after school, baby sitters or any other part time or seasonal work.

Edited October 22, 2011 by Danno

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Gotta love that FDR. I am surprised that many "workers" even "earned" that much money.

Edited October 22, 2011 by Crusty Old Perv

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

I can buy a new Ford Ranger pickup and I can buy a new Toyota pickup and the Toyota will have more American made parts than the Ford.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

I can buy a new Ford Ranger pickup and I can buy a new Toyota pickup and the Toyota will have more American made parts than the Ford.

The Toyota's made in Japan are made heavier and last longer than the ones made in the US. American built automobiles are #######.

[luckytxn 2,265]

The Toyota's made in Japan are made heavier and last longer than the ones made in the US. American built automobiles are #######.

Most all Japanese cars and trucks are made here in the U.S.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Most all Japanese cars and trucks are made here in the U.S.

My Toyota was built in Japan and has over 250,000 miles on it. It won't die. You can actually buy used cars from Japan that are way better than anything new built here.

[luckytxn 2,265]

My Toyota was built in Japan and has over 250,000 miles on it. It won't die. You can actually buy used cars from Japan that are way better than anything new built here.

Japan does understand quality.....or did.

[mawilson 2,133]

My Toyota was built in Japan and has over 250,000 miles on it. It won't die.

I've seen a Ford Crown Vic cab in NYC with close to a million miles on it.

A cab! New York City traffic, every day! Those old Fords are unkillable.