**Employed full time: Median usual weekly real earnings: Wage and salary workers: 16 years and over (LES1252881600Q)**
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Release: Weekly and Hourly Earnings from the Current Population Survey
Units: 1982-84 CPI Adjusted Dollars, Seasonally Adjusted
Frequency: Quarterly
Data measure usual weekly earnings of wage and salary workers. Wage and salary workers are workers who receive wages, salaries, commissions, tips, payment in kind, or piece rates. The group includes employees in both the private and public sectors but, for the purposes of the earnings series, it excludes all self-employed persons, both those with incorporated businesses and those with unincorporated businesses.
Usual weekly earnings represent earnings before taxes and other deductions and include any overtime pay, commissions, or tips usually received (at the main job in the case of multiple jobholders). Prior to 1994, respondents were asked how much they usually earned per week. Since January 1994, respondents have been asked to identify the easiest way for them to report earnings (hourly, weekly, biweekly, twice monthly, monthly, annually, or other) and how much they usually earn in the reported time period. Earnings reported on a basis other than weekly are converted to a weekly equivalent. The term “usual” is determined by each respondent’s own understanding of the term. If the respondent asks for a definition of “usual,” interviewers are instructed to define the term as more than half the weeks worked during the past 4 or 5 months. Visit the BLS for more information.
The series comes from the ‘Current Population Survey (Household Survey)’
The source code is: LES1252881600
**Unemployment Rate (UNRATE)**
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Release: Employment Situation
Units: Percent, Seasonally Adjusted
Frequency: Monthly
The unemployment rate represents the number of unemployed as a percentage of the labor force. Labor force data are restricted to people 16 years of age and older, who currently reside in 1 of the 50 states or the District of Columbia, who do not reside in institutions (e.g., penal and mental facilities, homes for the aged), and who are not on active duty in the Armed Forces.
This rate is also defined as the U-3 measure of labor underutilization.
The series comes from the ‘Current Population Survey (Household Survey)’
The source code is: LNS14000000
JeromesNiece on
Starting the left y-axis at zero was a poor choice. The majority of the plot space is unused for that series and it’s difficult to see the relevant changes in the data.
DM_me_ur_tacos on
Just some suggestions for presentation.
– As the color panels for different presidents get darker, the time series data are harder to see. If viewers have to squint and scowl to see the most important thing, you need to adjust. You could just use the lighter colors throughout and have text labels for president names in each panel
– The horizontal grid lines for dual y-axes should be synched. As is, they visually clash and clutter the image
Knewonce on
I’m genuinely curious, if real median wages have held steady or climbed over the past 40+ years, why are there so many articles/posts/etc about how the current generations are worse off than their parents. Is there a prevailing theory for why the data and the sentiment are so mismatched? Is inflation not capturing the right things, or not weighting them appropriately?
This is a fine presentation of the data, but I’m not sure why the underlying metric is so divorced from the common perception of the economy and its health.
4 Comments
Source: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LES1252881600Q & https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/UNRATE
Tool: Python, Pandas, and Seaborn
**Employed full time: Median usual weekly real earnings: Wage and salary workers: 16 years and over (LES1252881600Q)**
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Release: Weekly and Hourly Earnings from the Current Population Survey
Units: 1982-84 CPI Adjusted Dollars, Seasonally Adjusted
Frequency: Quarterly
Data measure usual weekly earnings of wage and salary workers. Wage and salary workers are workers who receive wages, salaries, commissions, tips, payment in kind, or piece rates. The group includes employees in both the private and public sectors but, for the purposes of the earnings series, it excludes all self-employed persons, both those with incorporated businesses and those with unincorporated businesses.
Usual weekly earnings represent earnings before taxes and other deductions and include any overtime pay, commissions, or tips usually received (at the main job in the case of multiple jobholders). Prior to 1994, respondents were asked how much they usually earned per week. Since January 1994, respondents have been asked to identify the easiest way for them to report earnings (hourly, weekly, biweekly, twice monthly, monthly, annually, or other) and how much they usually earn in the reported time period. Earnings reported on a basis other than weekly are converted to a weekly equivalent. The term “usual” is determined by each respondent’s own understanding of the term. If the respondent asks for a definition of “usual,” interviewers are instructed to define the term as more than half the weeks worked during the past 4 or 5 months. Visit the BLS for more information.
The series comes from the ‘Current Population Survey (Household Survey)’
The source code is: LES1252881600
**Unemployment Rate (UNRATE)**
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Release: Employment Situation
Units: Percent, Seasonally Adjusted
Frequency: Monthly
The unemployment rate represents the number of unemployed as a percentage of the labor force. Labor force data are restricted to people 16 years of age and older, who currently reside in 1 of the 50 states or the District of Columbia, who do not reside in institutions (e.g., penal and mental facilities, homes for the aged), and who are not on active duty in the Armed Forces.
This rate is also defined as the U-3 measure of labor underutilization.
The series comes from the ‘Current Population Survey (Household Survey)’
The source code is: LNS14000000
Starting the left y-axis at zero was a poor choice. The majority of the plot space is unused for that series and it’s difficult to see the relevant changes in the data.
Just some suggestions for presentation.
– As the color panels for different presidents get darker, the time series data are harder to see. If viewers have to squint and scowl to see the most important thing, you need to adjust. You could just use the lighter colors throughout and have text labels for president names in each panel
– The horizontal grid lines for dual y-axes should be synched. As is, they visually clash and clutter the image
I’m genuinely curious, if real median wages have held steady or climbed over the past 40+ years, why are there so many articles/posts/etc about how the current generations are worse off than their parents. Is there a prevailing theory for why the data and the sentiment are so mismatched? Is inflation not capturing the right things, or not weighting them appropriately?
This is a fine presentation of the data, but I’m not sure why the underlying metric is so divorced from the common perception of the economy and its health.