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This Generation Not Better Off Than Their Parents

If you thought that every generation was better off than the next and that a person, on average, earns more than his or her parents ? think again! A new report has produced surprising results. It was found that the average American male in his mid thirties is actually making less than his father did a generation ago. The study also revealed that the income growth of the average American household was actually declining and not increasing as is generally perceived.

While men in their mid-30?s earned around $40,000 a year in 1974, after inflation adjustments, it was found that men of the same age group, in 2004, made 12% less ? around $35,000. This is a totally different picture to statistics of a decade ago, where men in the mid-thirties, on average, made 5% more than their fathers did a generation before. Co-author of the study, John Morton said: ?The expectation that each generation will do better than their parents has become a fundamental part of what we call `The American Dream. But this new analysis suggests this bedrock belief may be shifting under our feet.?

Several diverse groups were responsible for conducting the report, ranging from the Pew Charitable Trusts, the Heritage Foundation and the Brookings Institute. Statistics were taken from the Census Bureau. The analysis also included a look at statistics relating to household income growth. Whereas the average household income levels increased around 32% between 1964 and 1994, this slowed dramatically to only 9% in the last decade, the report stated.