I have to ask myself, "do people who refer to 'average income' realize they're being awfully ambiguous?" And I have to conclude that of course they do or they wouldn't be writing for the Conference Board. They've read "How to Lie with Statitistics," too!
The Brookings Institution reported a couple of days ago that median income for two-parent families in the U.S. increased 23% since 1975 but that this was entirely attributable to a 26% increase in hours worked by those families. I seriously doubt that the Canadian figures are likely to be radically different from the U.S. http://www.brookings.edu/opinions/2011/0708_jobs_greenstone_looney.aspx On Wed, Jul 13, 2011 at 11:25 AM, Mike Spencer <[email protected]>wrote: > > > > The average Canadian is better off than he or she was a generation > > ago. In 1976, average income was $51,100; by 2009 it was $59,700-an > > increase of 17 per cent over 33 years, after adjusting for > > inflation. > > Is that family income or individual salary/wage income? If the > former, any increase in the average may be due to an increase in > number of dual-income families. Not a big win. IIRC, dual-income was > not the typical or default case in 1976. > > > But average income does not necessarily reflect how the majority of > > people are doing; ... > > Just so. > > > ...instead, some analysts suggest using median > > income-the income level that divides the group into two equal > > parts. Median income grew by only 5.5 per cent over the same period. > > Same question: family or individual? And it's still tricky. Median > ticks upward if below-median people get raises to above-median or new > above-median jobs are created. Not, though, if the few at the top > just get their already big incomes tripled. > > But what do I know? > - Mike > > -- > Michael Spencer Nova Scotia, Canada .~. > /V\ > [email protected] /( )\ > http://home.tallships.ca/mspencer/ ^^-^^ > _______________________________________________ > Futurework mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework > -- Sandwichman
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