[ridewinter]

Like many liberals, I thought it was a fact that US wages had stagnated in the past 40 years. And rich were the only beneficiaries. But in fact the median income has steadily risen: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_income_in_the_Unite...

So I ask HN, why has this narrative become so widespread?

[rbecker]

The graphs at https://econographics.wordpress.com/tag/wages/ paint a less rosy picture. [1] is I think what is sometimes cited. Which does show growth, but slower than productivity growth. A quick glance at the graph on top of the wiki page you linked suggests it's consistent with it. But [2] is I think most often cited, and shows hardly any growth at all post 1972 or so. I'd also be interested to know why it looks so different from your graph and [1]. Perhaps how 'real income' is defined differs from the adjustments [2] made.

[1] https://econographics.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/productivi...

[2] https://www.epi.org/productivity-pay-gap/

[ridewinter]

Perhaps the difference is hourly pay vs. median income. The lowest tier of workers hasn't risen as much as the median income.