Comments on: 1907 Salaries And Today

By: El Indio

El Indio — Fri, 02 Mar 2007 16:25:28 +0000

I’m a mechanical engineer and I don’t make anywhere near $100k. I’ve got to do something about that! Actually, I hope to start my masters soon and hopefully get a raise or switch jobs after that.

By: plonkee

plonkee — Fri, 02 Mar 2007 09:25:30 +0000

Its a good job for the 1907 versions of accountants, vets and dentists that they didn’t have to buy computers, mobile phones, two cars, etc.

By: Shaun

Shaun — Fri, 02 Mar 2007 06:23:47 +0000

What you are forgetting is the huge amount of taxes that we pay now that were not in existence 100 years ago. The gross incomes are very similar in dollar figures, but the net incomes are very different. Some people counted up the many federal, state, and local taxes and came up with the result that every American currently pays around 40% of their income out in taxes. ( http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Taxes/Advice/YourRealTaxRate40.aspx )

You can find a list of taxes that were not in existence 100 years ago at http://www.afrr.us/taxes-list.html .

It was in 1913 that 36 states ratified the 16th amendment that allowed the income tax, but that only started at 1% and maxed out at 7% for those earning $500,000 a year and over. Less than 1% of the population actually paid income tax. (according to the official treasury .gov web site)

By: miller

miller — Fri, 02 Mar 2007 05:20:26 +0000

Here’s something that stands out to me. In inflation adjusted values, the average worker made between 4k and 8k? Isn’t the average income in US now somewhere between 20k and 30k?

Hence, while the average mechE doesn’t make more than he did 100 years ago, the average employee makes ~7x more? Not too bad!

Did I miss something here?

By: Wes

Wes — Fri, 02 Mar 2007 01:44:24 +0000

I had a similar conversation with my Dad a while ago…

He pointed out that he made about $8,000 in 1965 (out of grad school). His point was that I was (at the time) doing much better. At the time I was making about $65k. So I pointed out to him that $8,000 was equal to about $45k current dollars. Less than I was making but he stood to benefit from a pension and social security. In contrast I had to sock away about $19k between my 401k and IRA.

By the way… I dug up the email and it turns out that I sent him the same BLS inflation calculator!