Bay area regional 10 year worker income survey

Contra Costa Times/George Avalos, 7/5/12.  "Wage disparity:  Bay Area's lower-paid workers fail to keep up with inflation, while top earners see bigger checks."  

 

"Puny wage increases that have been chewed up by inflation have left hundreds of thousands of Bay Area workers worse off than they were 10 years ago.

Inflation haircut

But top wage earners have seen their paychecks soar by 26 percent over the same period when adjusted for inflation. That's widened the gap between those on the top and bottom of the workforce. A decade ago, the average wages of those in the lowest income categories were 66 percent below the average pay of the workers perched on the highest rungs of the income ladder. But 10 years later, the divide has reached 73 percent.

"This speaks directly to the issue of income inequality that gets the 99 percent Occupy people so upset," said Jon Haveman, chief economist of the Bay Area Council Economic Institute. Bay Area workers are better off than their counterparts throughout California, according to this newspaper's analysis of data compiled by the state's Employment Development Department. Average wages in the Bay Area are about $65,100, for instance, 23.6 percent above the California average of $52,600."  Read Article, and view graph. 

Posted by Kathy Meeh