And when it comes to 'automotive household income' the numbers work out even worse than MrGilbert's example. The average American household owner more than one car per driving adult. https://www.bts.gov/archive/publications/passenger_travel/ch...
Yes, yes - perhaps the autoworkers we are talking about are not 'average' and own fewer cars per household. And yes, yes - moving the minimum wage probably resulted in wage increases for higher paid workers as well. If you want to move the goalposts again do some legwork and show some work, otherwise you're just promoting a paper-thin narrative on the basis of "but what if".
But I stand by the assertion that claiming a $40k average wage is way off. The base salary of most Tier 1 non-skilled employees was still in the $70k-$80k range, and this was years ago. The skilled trades made much more. This is without overtime. It seems like MrGilbert was cherry picking the data. And I hope you also realize that there is a difference between the manufacturing engineers and design engineers. Manufacturing engineers probably should be included in my opinion, and they are some of the highest paid, but I'd even be willing to concede that and still stand by the general point.
I included overtime because it is a such a large part of the manufacturing experience. And yes, some people game overtime as a way to inflate their wages. And the overtime pay increases didn't come about until the Fair Labor Standards Act. If you look at the history, the $5 per day wage actually does include overtime (if you define overtime by today's standards). We could debate whether or not this is progress (many of those I personally knew would call it progress because they wouldn't have the opportunity to make that wage elsewhere, which is why there is little turnover even today). I actually don't think it's unfair to include overtime to get the total compensation comparison, but even without overtime the $40k number seems pretty far off.
The larger point being, it's not as simple of a comparison as 'don't include overtime' and select the lower end of the overall automotive salaries (including lower paid suppliers). We can further complicate things by factoring in the preferred employee pricing etc. It's complicated, even if we want it to be a simple narrative.
The loss of manufacturing jobs is a big part of the reduction in size of the middle class United States, especially in the Rust Belt. This is largely due to automation reducing the number of available well-paying jobs not because the car companies are systematically mistreating workers. People still vie heavily for those jobs because they are some of the highest paying jobs available.
"To run the factory continuously instead of only eighteen hours a day, giving employment to several thousand more men by employing three shifts of eight hours each, instead of only two nine-hour shifts, as at present." https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/learning/general...
Not to belabor the point, but it's not a simple one-to-one comparison like the OP was trying to demonstrate. I don't think the wages are nearly as bad as they made it out to be.
I was not - I had to work with what I had, and I clearly stated at the beginning, that you have to take it with a grain of salt. However, I did not cherry pick any data. That‘s a false accusation.
> For one, far fewer households today are single salary. Say what you will about whether this is a good or bad thing, but I think it's probably more appropriate to base the numbers on an "automotive household income" if that's such a thing.
How many households had two Model Ts, and how many households today have two cars?
Like my response above, I think that's a valid and interesting point that should be factored in. I'd also be curious to see how much this plays into the overall debt load of consumers. I.e. does the necessity of dual-incomes force the need for multiple vehicles which in turn forces a higher debt load than previous generations? Where I come from, taking on vehicle debt is considered as much of a given as mortgage debt.
For one, far fewer households today are single salary. Say what you will about whether this is a good or bad thing, but I think it's probably more appropriate to base the numbers on an "automotive household income" if that's such a thing.
Also, your salary resource is a little weak. It has a huge range ($34k-$144k average). I speculate this isn't relegated to just using automotive manufacturers but also includes their suppliers. Anecdotal experience shows me that the lowest paid Tier 2 union employees on a line make that much if you include overtime. Tier 1 workers make much more (close to double, in my experience). Then you take the skilled trades (e.g., electricians and machinists) where its more common than not to make six figures, all things considered. This is all before we're getting to the degreed engineers. Payscale.com shows average Ford engineer salary nearing $90k. Engineers on the line generally make more because of the work conditions and overtime (it wouldn't be uncommon for a process engineer to make double that). I don't know what the actual numbers are, but I wouldn't balk at data that's easily double the numbers you covered. It could easily be on-par or even below the Model-T numbers when it comes to monthly household income.