Living the Good Life: The Good Old Days Are Now

Here's another comparison of consumer purchasing power in the 1960s versus today, based on the time cost of common household appliances like a kitchen oven. The Sears Kenmore oven pictured below retailed for $330 in 1966, which would represent 121.3 hours of work (about three weeks) at the average hourly wage in that year (ignoring taxes).  

At the current average hourly wage of $19.54, today's average consumer would earn roughly $2,370 working 121.3 hours, and would be able to furnish their entire kitchen and laundry room with the eight new appliances pictured below (click to enlarge) from Best Buy including a high-efficiency front-loading washing machine, a super capacity gas dryer, a 30-inch gas stove, a 8.8 cubic feet chest freezer, a 16.5 cubic foot refrigerator, a 24-inch dishwasher, a mid-size microwave and a blender:

In other words, with the income earned working 121 hours, the typical consumer 45 years ago in 1965 would have only been able to purchase a single appliance - the electric oven pictured above, compared to the eight appliances that a typical consumer could purchase today with the income earned working 121 hours.

Measured by what is ultimately most important, the value of our time, household appliances keep getting cheaper and cheaper, thanks to innovation, technology improvements, supply chain efficiencies, increases in productivity and other market-driven efficiencies that drive prices lower and lower year by year. As much as we hear about declines in median income, economic stagnation, the disappearance of the middle class, falling real wages, increasing income inequality, the data tell a much different story: The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting richer.