A depressing economic post

[valarltd]

My father was working for minimum wage in 1962.
It took him 2 minutes to earn a first class stamp to mail a letter.
It took him 15 minutes to earn a gallon of gasoline.
It took 24 minutes to earn a gallon of milk, and 26 to earn a dozen eggs.

I was working for minimum wage in 1987.
It took me 4 minutes to earn that same first class stamp.
Gasoline took me between 13 and 16 minutes, depending on where I got it.
The eggs only took me 14 minutes, but the milk took me 41.
For what it's worth, bread took 4 minutes, assuming I bought the cheap stuff.

Today, it takes 4 1/3 minutes to earn the stamp. The gas, as of this morning, is 32 minutes' work.
The eggs are 14 minutes and milk is 38 minutes. The same loaf of bread now takes 9.7 minutes.

Consider, that the average household doesn't use more than 2-3 gallons of milk/week. Yet for my husband and I to get to work takes 5 gallons of gas/day. So which is going to hurt or help more: milk requiring 5 fewer minutes/gallon, or gas doubling in time?

Just for further reference,
In the year between my sisters' births, (1973)
Stamp=3 minutes
gas= 14.5 minutes
eggs= 29 minutes
milk= 49 minutes

In the year of Bunny's birth, (1992)
stamp= 4 minutes
gas=13 minutes
eggs=11 minutes
milk=39 minutes
bread=3.5 minutes

Prices taken from http://www.1990sflashback.com/1992/Economy.asp
Minimum wage from http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0774473.html

Method:
(price/minimum wage)*60=minutes/item

Comments

[dragonscholar.livejournal.com]

That is an excellent example of whats going on right now in the economy, and except for a few news blurbs, not much is being said in the media about it.

I telecommute for the most part. I go into my main office (20 minutes away) once a week maybe. I drive a bit each day for lunch or a meeting at a local office.

By my estimates I am now saving a thousand dollars a year due to this. Irony being a year ago even if I did drive I'd have spent the same amount.

[kadath.livejournal.com]

The car factor is huge. I recently quit a job that required me to commute an hour both ways, and am starting as a grad student at a school only a few miles away. Despite a huge pay cut, my quality of life will not be significantly affected, since I'm saving hundreds of dollars on insurance and gas.

[idadebeautreux.livejournal.com]

Wow.

For some reason, I find it comforting that eggs have stayed relatively the same, proportionally.

Smiles for your icon, Margaret Atwood rocks.

[kc-risenphoenix.livejournal.com]

Fascinating post...thanks....

[valarltd.livejournal.com]

Gas is now 35.3 minutes where I am.

If I were working in my current location for minimum, it would cost me 52 minutes' labor just to make my commute.

[riverheart.livejournal.com]

I want to cry.

At charlesks current salary, which is not quite double minimum wage, he's currently working 28.6 hours every month just to afford his commute. If gas goes up to $4 per gallon as is predicted, it'll mean that every month he works nearly 43 hours just to afford to *get* to work.

This includes gasoline and ferry tickets, but not wear and tear on the car nor car insurance. Those are extra.

Maybe we ought to buy that Bremerton computer store after all.