I left College in 1992. In the 21 years since, the basic salary of jobs for beginning workers has not kept pace with inflation.
When I was looking at getting a “real” job that summer, I was hoping I could make $20,000 a year. That would give me enough money to live on and have some fun.
$20,000 in 1992 is equal to $33,000 in 2013 dollars.
How many kids coming out of college can expect to get a job for $33,000 a year?
$20,000 a year in terms of hourly wages is about $9.61 an hour.
$33,000 a year in terms of hourly wages is about $15.86 an hour.
It’s harder out there than many people realize.
$33k a year isn’t hard to haul down right after college, but living on that amount is really tough in many places. You really can’t live on that in Silicon Valley.