Comment by grayhatter
21 days ago
1963 @ $1.25 or 1957 @ $1.00
giving me $1.25 * (304.702/30.6) = $12.44 or $1 * (304.702/28.1) = $10.84
my sources: https://www.dir.ca.gov/iwc/minimumwagehistory.htm https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/inflation/consumer-pri...
https://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm
January 1962 $2 => Nov 2024 $21.03
Using $1.25 in Jan 1963 gives me $12.97 ...
I used $2 in 1962 because in the 2016 Republican primaries one of the candidates made a reference to their job working in a burger store using these numbers.
I just Googled for "1962 mcdonalds hourly wage". It was much less than $2. Minimum wage was 1.15, and a Federal Reserve study called "Employee Earnings in Retail Food Stores, June 1962" says about 1.70. Also, cumulative inflation from 1962 to today is about 10.5x.
There is no single measure of inflation. There are multiple different ones, each with their own pros and cons and suitability for purpose. CPI is a common one, and that would put $1.15 in Jan 1962 at $12.09 in Nov 2024.