The Myth Of Well-off Americans
Many Wharton business students believe the average American makes an over-six-figure salary
Next time you get a paycheck, maybe you should double-check your salary.
Because, in a recent survey at the Wharton School, the business school at the University of Pennsylvania, a significant number of students believe that the average American worker makes “over six figures” for an annual salary.
That's according to the professor of legal studies & business ethics who conducted the survey.
“I asked Wharton students what they thought the average American worker makes per year and 25% of them thought it was over six figures. One of them thought it was $800k. Really not sure what to make of this (The real number is $45k),” tweeted Nina Strohminger.
She also believes that the misapprehension her students were under about American pay is more widespread.
“A lot of people want to conclude that this says something special about Wharton students— I’m not sure it does. People are notoriously bad at making this kind of estimate, thinking the gap between rich and poor is smaller than it is,” Strohminger added.
Another Twitter user pointed out that fully half of the U.S. workforce earned less than $35,000 in 2019, according to the Social Security Administration.
Such a skewed view of the earning power of average Americans could be a significant contributing factor why Democrats and progressives often have a hard time finding traction for federal action to deal with the growing wealth inequality which abounds in the United States.
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