Click to enlarge.
Keep in mind that the data is in 1982-1984 dollars. To convert to August 2011 dollars multiply the values in the chart by 2.26268.
In any event, inflation adjusted weekly earnings have fallen by roughly 20% since peaking in the early 2000s.
BLS: Grocery Stores
Grocery stores provide many young people with their first work experience.
Job opportunities in grocery stores should be plentiful because of the relatively short tenure of the many young and part-time employees in the workforce. Many will need to be replaced when they leave to find new jobs, seek full-time employment, return to school, or stop working.
Good luck on that one. Sigh.
Source Data:
BLS: Database
This is a good one, Mark.
ReplyDeleteI worked in a grocery store as a young person - in about 1997. It was fine.
But I have a friend who I went to high school with who started working at said grocery store about 4 years ago. I don't know how she does it. She and her husband have four kids. I think the grandparents provide a lot of... care, and probably financial support.
Because as far as I know, she is making roughly the same amount I was in '98.
Sigh.
Audrey,
ReplyDeleteIt is hard to fathom how we expect young people to pay skyrocketing tuition costs AND earn less money in their "first work experience".
Mark,
ReplyDeleteAgreed.
My mom always has worked for/with my dad, but she always said that if she ever needed to go to work, she'd probably get a job as a checker in a grocery store.
I'm not sure she could get one now.
Do you know they make you fill out the application online? I don't think those jobs, as low paid as they are, are as plentiful as they used to be.
You know that already, but many people don't know.
Audrey,
ReplyDeleteMy mom always has worked for/with my dad, but she always said that if she ever needed to go to work, she'd probably get a job as a checker in a grocery store.
When I retired in 1999 I was a burned out programmer. I thought if I ever needed to go to work again, then I figured I'd probably just get a job stocking books in a bookstore.
I don't think those jobs, as low paid as they are, are as plentiful as they used to be.
Needless to say, that really applies to bookstore jobs now. Borders just went bankrupt.
One wonders how long Barnes & Noble will last. Right or wrong, it is pretty clear what the market thinks. 37% of its float is shorted.
Self-checkout has to have had an impact on this metric. Perhaps the expansion of Walmart into food sales had an impact, also.
ReplyDeleteScott,
ReplyDeleteI do think self-checkout has probably had an impact.
For what it is worth, my local Walmart even added self-checkout but later removed it. (I suspect more than a few customers were giving themselves five-finger discounts.)