Talkin' Bout My Generation

A story in today's Wall Street Journal reports that on average men in their thirties aren't bring home the same bacon that their fathers' did (sub req):

American men in their 30s today are worse off than their fathers' generation, a reversal from just a decade ago, when sons generally were better off than their fathers, a new study finds.

The study, the first in a series on economic mobility undertaken by several prominent think tanks, also says the typical American family's income has lagged far behind productivity growth since 2000, a departure from most of the post-World War II period.

The findings suggest "the up escalator that has historically ensured that each generation would do better than the last may not be working very well," says the study, which is scheduled for release today. The study was written principally by John Morton of the Pew Charitable Trusts, which is leading the series, called the Economic Mobility Project, and Isabel Sawhill of the Brookings Institution. Other participating think tanks are the Heritage Foundation, American Enterprise Institute and the Urban Institute.

In 2004, the median income for a man in his 30s, a good predictor of his lifetime earnings, was $35,010, the study says, 12% less than for men in their 30s in 1974 -- their fathers' generation -- adjusted for inflation. A decade ago, median income for men in their 30s was $32,901, 5% higher than 30 years earlier.

Theories abound as to why this has taken place:

Ms. Sawhill said she isn't sure why men's wages have stagnated. "It seems there's been some slowdown in economic growth, it's possible that the movement of women into the labor force has affected male earnings, and it's possible that men are not working as hard as they used to."

I'm not one of those of hyper-sensitive "mens rights" freaks who like to embrace male victimhood at the drop of a hat, but I can't imagine any story about women's wages incuding a possible explanation that "maybe women are just not working as hard as they used to." I suppose that once a generation of men is given the label "slackers" when they first enter adulthood, it's easy to speculate that one of the reasons they're falling behind previous generations in their thirties is lack of effort.

For some reason the online version of the story doesn't include a relevant paragraph from Bill Beach of the Heritage Foundation who suggests that increased immigration--with immigrants initially earning less and the resulting larger pool of workers holding down wages overall--could also be a factor in the decline in average earnings for thirty-something men. Seems like a much better explanation than us slacking on the job.