Workers, ages 16 to 24, saw a median wage increase of 10.6% in the 12 months through January, compared to 4% for workers overall.
Youth has an advantage over age in a multitude of ways, and now you can add rate of salary increases to the list.
Workers, ages 16 to 24, saw a median wage increase of 10.6% in the 12 months through January, compared to 4% for workers overall, according to the Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank. That’s the highest rate for the youngsters in 25 years, and it beats all other age groups.
Of course there’s a very big caveat to that discrepancy, as The Wall Street Journal points out. Young people start from a lower base than older people — in some cases from zero. Many jobs filled by young people, such as restaurant and retail, pay notoriously low wages.
In 2020, 16- to 24-year-olds accounted for 48% of workers earning the federal minimum wage–$7.25 an hour, according to The Journal.
Wage increases are hard to come by for those at the very bottom of the totem pole.
Employed households with income under $20,000 saw their earnings increase by only one-third of their cost of living increase in 2021, according to a Penn Wharton Budget Model report.
Their median increase in costs totaled $1,837 for October, November and December of last year, compared to a $578 increase in earnings.
At the other end of the spectrum, for households with income of $150,000 and up, earnings rose $7,431, easily topping the $5,483 increase in costs.
Meanwhile, some of Apple’s (AAPL) – Get Apple Inc. Report lower paid workers are voicing dissatisfaction with their lot.
Staffers working at eight physical Apple Stores are set to file to form a union, echoing battles at other major companies, such as Starbuck (SBUX) – Get Starbucks Corporation Report.
The Apple employees have been spurred by wages that have stagnated below the rate of inflation, and encouraged by Starbucks employees’ successful efforts to form unions. Apple’s retail workers say they hope they can push the world’s most valuable company to share more of its record-setting profits with the workers who sell, repair and troubleshoot Apple’s popular products.