{
    "href": "/post/2012/07/30/only-3-growth-in-median-income-a-lie-using-statistics/",
    "relId": "2012/07/30/only-3-growth-in-median-income-a-lie-using-statistics",
    "title": "Only 3% Growth In Median Income? A Lie Using Statistics.",
    "author": "pmjones",
    "markup": "html",
    "tags": [
        {
            "href": "/tag/economics/",
            "relId": "economics",
            "title": "Economics",
            "author": null,
            "created": null,
            "updated": [],
            "markup": "markdown"
        }
    ],
    "created": "2012-07-30 18:28:10 UTC",
    "updated": [
        "2012-07-30 18:28:10 UTC"
    ],
    "html": "<blockquote>\n<p>If you\u00e2\u0080\u0099re the sort of person who reads economics blogs, you\u00e2\u0080\u0099ve probably heard that the median US worker has enjoyed hardly any income gain over the past few decades. ...</p>\n<p>A mere 3% increase over 25 years does indeed look pretty grim. ... </p>\n<p>Now let\u00e2\u0080\u0099s look a little deeper and ask which demographic groups account for all this stagnation. White men? Nope, their median income is up 15%. Nonwhite men? Up 16%. White women? Up 75%. Non-white women? Up 62%. That\u00e2\u0080\u0099s everybody ... </p>\n<p>What gives? How can the median income shoot up in every demographic sector while the overall median remains nearly unchanged?</p>\n<p>... Each demographic group has progressed, but at the same time, there\u00e2\u0080\u0099s been a great influx of lower income groups -- women and nonwhites -- into the workforce. This creates the illusion that nobody\u00e2\u0080\u0099s progressing when in fact everybody\u00e2\u0080\u0099s progressing.</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>In the words of another blogger, \"You have to look behind the median.\"  Via <em><a href=\"http://www.thebigquestions.com/2012/07/30/the-numbers-racket/\">The Numbers Racket at Steven Landsburg | The Big Questions: Tackling the Problems of Philosophy with Ideas from Mathematics, Economics, and Physics</a></em>.</p>\n"
}