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February 10th, 2009     by Mir Verburg     Comments

Check out this illustrated comparison from traditional women’s magazine Woman’s Day charting the increase in women’s incomes over the last 50 years.

In the 1950s, the average woman earned 14k a year, had a 983 square foot house and craftsman or labourer spouse. Now, the average is 29k, with a post-high school education and a 2349 square foot house. 15k is not actually a huge improvement.

Photo-collage produced by Women’s Day magazine. Staff (WD)

All these numbers are adjusted for inflation, so in 1950 eggs did not actually cost $5, but by today’s standards that’s what we would be paying for them. It’s a bit confusing, but the idea is that while median incomes appear to have gone up, the cost of goods, services and a bunch of other stuff has gone way down. Welcome to the free market, my friends.

So if people are getting paid so much more now, and nobody is a labourer, then who is responsible for producing our hella cheap goods and services? Answer: cheap foreign labour + factory farming + destabilized jobs at home = cheaper goods and services with a corresponding lack of security for all workers, everywhere in the world.

Luckily the TV is on 24/7 so nobody is noticing that their quality of life is going down, even though the sales are awesome.

Tags: on the job