Have Earnings Actually Declined?

March 4, 2011 • Adam Looney, Michael Greenstone • Employment & Wages

American men have had a particularly hard time adjusting to the dynamics of a new world economy.  It has been widely observed that the wages of American men have stagnated over the last several decades.  However, during that same time period the number of men working full-time has sharply declined, from 80 percent in 1970 to only 61 percent today. The Hamilton Project takes a new approach, examining the experience of all men to explore the story about wage stagnation — not just the men in and out of full-time employment. When making this comparison, the analysis shows that earnings for American men have not just stagnated but actually declined since 1969.  In fact, median annual earnings of the American male have declined by almost $13,000 after accounting for inflation in the four decades since 1969 — a reduction of 28 percent.

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