dagblog - Comments for "Wage Statistics for 2010"

It also occurred to me that

Verified Atheist — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 10:29:29 +0000

In reply to Must be some of those apples

It also occurred to me that medians are a tricky thing, especially when you throw in gender inbalance and the fact that most married couples are of the opposite sex. And, I'm not sure what constitutes a "household" for the one definition versus the other.

David Cay Johnston in

Donal — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 21:51:13 +0000

In reply to Wage Statistics for 2010

David Cay Johnston in Reuters:

Anyone who wants to understand the enduring nature of Occupy Wall Street and similar protests across the country need only look at the first official data on 2010 paychecks, which the U.S. government posted on the Internet on Wednesday.

The figures from payroll taxes reported to the Social Security Administration on jobs and pay are, in a word, awful.

These are important and powerful figures. Maybe the reason the government does not announce their release — and so far I am the only journalist who writes about them each year — is the data show how the United States smolders while Washington fiddles.

Must be some of those apples

EmmaZahn — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 20:49:32 +0000

In reply to We often hear about the

Must be some of those apples and oranges.

Some numbers are more official than others. These are from taxable wages reported and Social Security / Medicare premiums paid. Your numbers are from the census bureau. The household data is gathered a little differently.

We often hear about the

Verified Atheist — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 19:59:33 +0000

In reply to Wage Statistics for 2010

We often hear about the median household income ($49,445), so it's interesting to see the median wage earner income. It also makes me wonder how those two numbers reconcile, when the number of households in the US in 2010 was 114,825,000 versus only 150,398,796 wage earners. I must be missing something because the math doesn't work.