Labor Economics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 2

Labor Economics - Essay Example However, the situation becomes quite altered when we compare it to the present day since those who could have been said to be living comfortably 50 years ago would today be considered as living below the poverty line. Brewer (2007) quotes John E. Schwarz who says: â€Å"In the early 1950s, fully two fifths of American households had no automobile, about a third did not have a private telephone or a television, and the homes of about a third of all Americans were dilapidated or were without running water or a private toilet and bath. Only a small minority of families enjoyed such basics as a mixer or had a hot-water heater (Brewer, 2007, Pg. 1)†. Thus, in comparison to the life lived in the 1950s, people living as a part of the middle class or even the lower classes today have a higher standard of living. In the 1950s, a person working full time at a middle class standard would have been able to afford to keep a family of four. Surprisingly, the same could be done today by an individual who is working at minimum wage but only if s/he is willing and able to give up ‘luxuries’ such as hot running water, an automobile and private toilets (Brewer, 2007). The situation and the comparison becomes more complicated when we consider the 1970s since it was a time where the country experienced a rising standard of living coupled. Automobiles, televisions and other items which were considered luxuries became more common but the nation experienced a falling standard of living towards the end of the decade. It thus became the beginning of the time where the family which had only one breadwinner could find itself in economic trouble and this prompted the rapid entry of women into the work field in large numbers (Gruber, 2005). However, political and economic forces such as the policies enacted by the government, the high levels of inflation, unemployment and low productivity growth are blamed for a lack of growth in real income in the