Carpe Diem: Young Americans: Luckiest Generation in History
... In 1952, the minimum wage was $0.75 per hour (equivalent to $6.39 in today's dollars), and a full-time summer job at 40 hours per week for 12 weeks would have generated $360 in total summer earnings (ignoring taxes). Using retail prices from a 1952 Sears Christmas Catalog, I found that a teenager then would have only been able to purchase the following 3 items with his or her entire pre-tax summer earnings of $360 working at the minimum wage (with $15 borrowed from the parents to cover the full $375 cost):
Royal Deluxe Portable Typewriter $120
Silvertone Portable Phonograph $65
Silvertone 17-inch TV $190
Total $375
Now compare that to the items in the table below that could be purchased by a teenager or college student this year with his or her summer earnings of $3,480 (ignoring taxes) at the current minimum wage of $7.25 per hour: (Go to the link to see the full list)
Dell Inspiron Laptop $450
Apple iPod Touch $210
Apple iPhone 4G $200
Garmin GPS $100
Canon 14.1 Megapixel Digital Camera $120 ...
... De'Longhi EC702 Espresso Machine $150
Kindle $114
Apple iPad $500
Total $3,480
Consumer goods are certainly better and cheaper. Food as well. But then factor in the 80k in student loans for the equivalent of our grandparents' free high school education.
Posted by: Travis Greene | Aug 16, 2011 at 09:56 PM
Is that a college/university problem, or a high school problem?
Posted by: vanskaamper | Aug 16, 2011 at 09:59 PM