On 15 Jan 01, at 12:54, Doug Henwood wrote:
> Paul Phillips wrote:
>
> >On 15 Jan 01, at 9:46, Doug Henwood wrote:
> >
> >>
> >> Could you offer some empirical evidence for this? Of the first world
> >> countries, the U.S. was the only one to see a sustained decline in
> >> real wages, a trend that reversed after 1995, though "globalization"
> >> hasn't been reversed, nor has capital become any less mobile.
> >
> >Not so Doug. Canada has also had a sustained decline in real
> >wages for almost two decades up until the last couple of years.
>
> Really? Here's what I get from International Financial Statistics
> (dividing the index for the nominal manufacturing wage by the CPI):
>
> 1970s +2.3%
> 1980s +0.2%
> 1990s +0.3%
>
> Compare the U.S. (again manufacturing, from BLS stats):
>
> 1970s +0.6%
> 1980s -0.9%
> 1990s -0.1%
>
> You have different info?
>
> Doug
>
Doug, I think it is because you are using just manufacturing
statistics. Also, women's earnings have been rising. It is men's
wages that have been falling. It is particularly drastic for young
men where wages have fallen by around 30 per cent since the
seventies.
Average Real Annual Earnings
Men Women
1975 42,635 25,664
1980 42,586 27,405
1989 42,328 27,928
1997 42,626* 30,915
*still below the 1975 figure.
Source: Stats Can, Earnings of Men and Women
Median Earnings
Men Women
1989 $30,441 17,207
1997 29,505 18,401
Family incomes after tax
% change
1989 $48,311
1997 45,605 -5.6
Income of families with children after govt transfers
5th decile
1989 51,383
1997 48,023 -6.5 %
lowest decile
1989 15,563
1997 13,864 -10.9%
Paul
