Hacker News Reader

One problem with the aggregate household income being added up is there isn't an accounting for worked hours (basically doubling the hours by having 2 people working for a company).

A different, but simple comparison would be to take minimum wage in 1968 ($1.60), adjust for inflation ($11.62 - 2017) and then compare to our current minimum wage ($7.25). So had minimum wage been tied to inflation, it would be right around $12/hr right now.

View on HN

Arguably you're not doubling the hours. Because decades ago, women worked at home, but weren't paid.

And then you should also factor in the value of the work women did at home, and weren't paid for. Because they're now having to pay someone else to do that work, which reduces the effective income gain of them working.

Yes, very true. And that makes it worse.

I do think that the US middle class is shrinking. But there's a lot more involved than TFA addresses.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com