Is generation X young people earning less than their parents?

http://money.cnn.com/2007/05/25/pf/mobility_study/index.htm?cnn=yes

What do you think? Inquiring mind wants to know.

Crud, I know I'm earning a heck of a lot less! Though, being born in the late 70's, I don't know if I'm technically a Gen X'er. But, money is relative (inflation, and what-not), plus I'm a full time student. Even when I've FINALLY graduated (c'mon, 2009!), I won't be making, strictly speaking, what he's making for at least 4-5 years.

But after that, I'm gonna blow him out of the water!

That study is worthless. It takes no account of differences in education levels, career choice, etc.

My Dad was a career Air Force man and afterward went to school to learn Accounting. I went to school for an Engineering degree directly after High School. So my earnings are going to be higher.

So what about my son? If decides to skip College, ruling out a best selling book, making it big in acting or sports, or some amazing invention, there is no way he can earn more than I do. Although if he chooses to go to College, it will not guarantee a good salary. It depends on career path. He has hinted at a degree in Mathematics. If he teaches, forget about a good salary. If he gets an advanced degree and does research in cyrptology, bingo! He has vast earning potential.

Not me, I make a lot more money way more than my parents ever did. I would fall under Gen X, typing this from my waterfront home in miami My parents were immigrants from Cuba and we it was tough to make ends meet in the beginning but we prevailed (lots of hard work etc..)

What did I do, I did not go to college but learned a valuable trade skill instead and applied myself and worked hard for it.

College is not always for everyone, the problem is you need to have some kind of focus in life, work at it and learn as you go. I think too many of my peers who did not have the struggle to make ends meet and grew complacent. The beauty of this country is the opportunities are there but you have to work for it.

I make less than my father did, and do work hard.

Same here. My father was the first generation to have a job outside of the family farm and has to drive over an hour each way into the next county for his work. Around 2002 I doubled his salary, this year if you count my bonus I tripled it. But I have a college degree and moved to a largish city.

I don't think that can accuratly be figured out. There is money, and then there is buying power (and don't forget, big numbers give me a headache). My dad was an oil worker. Not an engineer or anything, a wrench in hand type. In 1943, not long after he started, and as a newlywed, he had saved enough money to buy the only home he ever owned (they lived in it for about 60 years), paying cash ($2000). Other than movie stars, sports figures, and the occasional computer whizkid, who can pay cash for a home today? Yet he made so little that he and mom had a once a week treat for years and years, they walked downtown and shared a 5 cent coke at the soda shop. I started out working for the state (never known for high pay) making as much as he did with 30 years senority with his company, and it took me 20 years to pay off a $37,500 home. My daugher is a letter carrier for the post office, as is her husband. They just bought their first home, used, for $280,00, on a forty year loan...

jd:
This is why we will celebrate on monday! For those that allow us these freedoms. Great post!!
kmat

I'm 42, at the very limit of the definition of Gen-X, I guess.
I personally make a little less than I did in 2000, and that's in straight dollars for dollar comparisons. In terms of buying power, my Dad, who worked as a butcher for his father's small butcher shop bought a home, a vacation home and was able to take a vacation with us regularly. While I live what I think is a very comfortable life, I'm driving a 1997 Jeep with 175,000 miles on it and an increasingly problematic transmission, and my wife's vehicle is 10 years old as well as starting to develop Old Car problems. There are household repairs we put off because of the cost, and there are things we don't buy or do because we can't afford it. And I make a decent living, I know people who work harder than me and make much less.

That said, there are five things I see that have reduced the buying power of people today.

First, is of course, housing. Forget inflation adjusted dollars and all that stuff. Look at in in terms of years of income to buy a house. As a rule, when your pricing to housing ratio gets above 1:4 (that is you're spending more than 1/4 of your take-home on housing), you're not really able to afford the home you're in. When my father bought the house we lived it, the ratio for us was about 1/6 - I say this because my dad always reminded me that he'd have to work for six years with no other bills to pay off the house.

Next is the cost of healthcare. I have a $5,600 deductible on a plan that costs me about $400 a month. That means in any give year, I'm out at least $4,800 in premiums, and up to $5,600 in additional medical bills before my insurance company pays out a dime. That's $10,400 a year in medical costs that are my responsibility. My Dad has 100% medical coverage through the meatcutters union. Of course, the actual price of healthcare has declined, we're just using so much more of it these days...

Third is taxes. Although my marginal tax rate is lower today, my total tax burden is larger. Sales tax, excise tax, telecommunications taxes - all of these add up to a heavier tax burden than my Dad had.

Fourth is energy costs. Energy, in the form mostly of liquid fuels, is currently at an all time high. This translates into higher costs to get to and from work. I'm a nutcase commuter, so my examples are extreme, but my annual commutation costs (gas, bus fare & subway fare) exceeds $5,000. We heat with Wood, which is almost free (in dollars, not time), but I still use a gas-powered log splitter for the larger projects, so there's some liquid fuels costs.

Fifth is the new "must haves" in telecommunications. Virtually everyone reading this is paying for internet access, and I'll venture to guess that you carry at least one cell phone. We have 4 operational cell phones now (or a variety of reasons we use 3x Tracfones, 1x Treo) and I'm adding a Verizon Wireless network card tomorrow ($80 a month). All told, I'll be spending well over $300 a month on telecommunications and those are costs my Dad never had.

I could add in the costs of other subscriptions like cable TV or satellite TV radio, but we don't have any form of subscription electronic media here, or even a TV for that matter, so that's not a factor for our expenses, but if you're paying $80 a month for TV, that's a cost your dad didn't have.

So all in all, less money, more things to spend it on, and things that were free (like healthcare) now cost you money.

Welcome to the Future Shock Toffler never predicted.

I doubt it. I'm late Baby Boom, myself, and remember a few things that aren't all that common now:
My parents had one car. My dad changed his own oil and spark plugs, washed it himself, and only when he absolutely couldn't fix it did it go to the garage. Tires were changed when there was no tread left. My mom and I walked wherever we needed to go when he was at work.
My parents had one TV. They saved up for several months to buy it - no time payments, no credit card, etc. Ditto one record player. Ditto one radio.
The house had one phone, supplied by the phone company.
We went grocery shopping once every two weeks, after my dad was paid. We bought staples and inexpensive cuts of meat. My mom clipped coupons. Bags of snack foods were rare items in our house. Bags of potatoes were more common. In the summer we had a vegetable garden, and went to nearby farms to buy fruit.
My dad used the VA loan program to buy our house. It was new, and we were very excited with it. Up to that time, we rented. It was three bedrooms and one bath, about 950 square feet I would guess.
We went to the movies about half a dozen times a year. We took a one week vacation every year, usually by car, staying at inexpensive motels along the way. The whole family went fishing numerous times each summer, at a nearby reservoir. We ate what we caught.
The point of that trip down memory lane is that my parents were fine with small and simple, saving up for things they wanted, and making do with what they had for as long as possible. Most of us have consumption and spending patterns and habits that are worlds apart from that. If you cut your life to essentials, real essentials, I think you will find your income is much greater than you think it is.