Starting Wage WOW 1967!

[Rustic23]

I was looking over my SS statements and in 1967, as a 2nd Lt. on flying status I made $300 a month! I am not sure but I believe my son in the same status several years ago was making close to $5,000. I just thought it was an interesting thought. And, yea, we were living in high cotton!

 

[freebird5825]

1976, Minimum wage $2.30 per hour, College W*rkStudy.
But then again pitchers of beer were only $0.50 on Friday nights in the college town.
How many minutes of w*rk = 1 pitcher of beer ?

 

[calmloki]

I was looking over my SS statements and in 1967, as a 2nd Lt. on flying status I made $300 a month! I am not sure but I believe my son in the same status several years ago was making close to $5,000. I just thought it was an interesting thought. And, yea, we were living in high cotton!

Sheesh - I think as a seaman apprentice back in '69 I was raking in $132/month. See the value of a college education?

 

[mf15]

Lets see as a short order cook in 1966, one buck an hour, I had just finished high school. Fast forward to 1971 as an E5 in the army got 265 month, but that could have been with overseas pay, and hostile fire pay, can't remember. I think hostile fire pay was 65 month,so the few months I was on the DMZ in Korea might have made
330. But back then you got around 400 yen to the dollar, so you could buy expensive Japanese sterio equipment cheap.

Old Mike

 

[W2R]

I made $1.40/hour working as a rent-a-car agent in Waikiki, in 1967. I believe that was minimum wage at the time. That comes to $243/month.

In 1968, moved to California and got a better job. I was in charge of the mail order department at a bookstore, with two assistants. I made $1.75/hour, which is equivalent to $304/month.

But gee - - my rent was only $60/month. That money was worth a lot more then than it is now, due to inflation.

The rent-a-car agent job wasn't as bad as it sounds. My booth was outdoors in the International Market Place, and I got to wear a muu-muu and the company gave me a free lei every day to wear (they thought it increased business). I flirted with the sailors and surfers more than I worked.

 

[travelover]

[SIZE=+1]What cost $300 in 1967 would cost $1914.13 in 2008. So that is a pretty good wage increase.

[/SIZE]The Inflation Calculator

 

[mf15]

I do a pizza inflation calculation in 1966 we sold pizza for 1.65 now it is anwhere from
9-12 for the same pizza. Tomato soup was .10 can in 1972, now could be a buck dont know. My first brand new car 1972 plymouth duster $2800.
Old Mike

 

[HFWR]

First "real" job was pumping gas at a Sunoco station for $1.25 hr., circa 1971.

 

[freebird5825]

Almost forgot this one...housecleaning on the side at $5 per hour, from 1980-1982 after I graduated college. I had a few low paying j*bs (not degree related), and needed extra gas and beer money. I knew a few older ladies who always hated housecleaning and were more than willing to pay me to do it for them once a month or more. I specialized in hand cleaning precious knick-knacks, an excellent time burner.

 

[ls99]

1966, no speak English. Work at company named Solitron, cutting silicon wafers from silicon bars. Then cross cutting the wafers into tiny bits. Then upgraded to soldering leads to silicon chips, thus creating a diode.
On to the hot press, to encase the chip in plastic, later imprinting the diode symbol. Then upward to testing the diodes.

75 cents per hour. Felt rich. Bought a brand new bicycle after five months of walking to work. $15 per week to my brother and his wife for lodging and food.

1967 In the Army, private, I think about $55/month, life was good full room and board. Fort Jackson, South Carolina in July. Only 40 recruits per floor of old wooden barracks, fresh air through partially open windows. DIs for alarm clock -tossing the trash can across the barracks floor at four thirty in the morning. Ah the joys of reveille, NOT.

 

[tmm99]

Does anybody have an inflation historical chart?

 

[FurBall]

First job - 1967 - Junior camp counselor -- $10/week + bunk in a tent & meals
Next job - 1969 - Solderer - $1.60/hour
First real job - 1973 - Computer programmer (in training) - $8400/yr. I felt rich beyond belief. Then we found out all the males got $9400/yr.

 

[grumpy]

My first job with Uncle Sam in 1969 as a GS-5 paid $7,200 per year and I have never felt richer.

 

[Martha]

1976, Minimum wage $2.30 per hour, College W*rkStudy.
But then again pitchers of beer were only $0.50 on Friday nights in the college town.
How many minutes of w*rk = 1 pitcher of beer ?

1973 college work study, $1.60. It must have trucked up fast! A glass of beer was a quarter, don't remember the cost of a pitcher.

 

[freebird5825]

1973 college work study, $1.60. It must have trucked up fast! A glass of beer was a quarter, don't remember the cost of a pitcher.

I found out today when researching the January 1976 minimum wage. I didn't bookmark the website.
Either that or College W*rkStudy (federal program for needy students) set its own minimum wage.
I remember the cost of a pitcher clearly because my Physics lab partner and I would go hit the frat bars and play the guys a game of pool for pitchers. She was an excellent player, and I was good enough to be backup. We partied for free most nights when she was on a roll.

 

[Martha]

CPI Inflation Calculator

Calculator from the BLS

 

[Moemg]

1967 first real job as OR nurse $3.00 an hour plus if we were on call and got called in we got paid $10.00 for a minor surgery or $20.00 for a major surgery . That was until we realized some major surgeries go on forever and we rebelled until they started paying us time and a half plus a call differential .I bought my first car a VW convertible for $2100.

 

[CuppaJoe]

IIRC, my IBEW wage in the summers of 1964 & 65 was $1.50/hr. No experience needed for the radio assembly line but I did know someone who got me into the union.

 

[Rustward]

1976, Minimum wage $2.30 per hour, College W*rkStudy.
But then again pitchers of beer were only $0.50 on Friday nights in the college town.
How many minutes of w*rk = 1 pitcher of beer ?

Cool. I also had a w*rkstudy job in 1976 that paid $2.30 / hour. I was a CoBOL programmer. I took the j*b seriously and and tried to learn as much as I could, as we were given real assignments on real projects, with low expectations -- it was w*rkstudy, after all. In early November of that year my supervisor (one of five CoBOL programmers on staff) called me in and told me he was completing his Masters that Fall quarter (quarter system, at this university), and that he would be leaving his position. "What does this mean to me?", I asked. "My position will be vacant. If you are interested I suggest you apply today. [My boss] has asked me to interview the applicants and make a recommendation for my replacement. I have already interviewed you and your chances of getting it are very good.".

It couldn't have come at a better time because I was broke, and the job came with free tuition for any university courses I wanted to take. $12K/year with benefits (1976). I even attended classes while "on the clock". "Just give your class schedule to the department secretary (remember those?) and we'll know you won't be at your desk those times."

Got my B.S. in Computer Science 7 months later. After a while I took some professional aviation classes there -- flying, A & P mechanics, and weather (meteorology). Boss had been a pilot, and I was telling him when I was ready for my first solo cross-country. Conversation early in the week. He asked when I was planning to do the cross-country. I said "Saturday morning, I guess". He said, why not tomorrow? If you are ready and the weather is OK, just go tomorrow. Just let the secretary know when you are leaving and when you expect to be back.

That was, absolutely, the best j*b I ever had.

Thanks Charles and Robert!

 

[73ss454]

In 1966 or 67, can't remember which, I was earning $1.28 an hour in a gas station after HS and weekends.

 

[REWahoo]

In 1963 I was earning $1.25/hr (minimum wage) at Safeway. That was when I was working inside the store stocking shelves, etc. Bagging groceries and hauling them out to customer's cars wasn't considered Interstate Commerce and paid only $1.00/hr - and no tipping was allowed.

 

[Nords]

1976-7 at Murrysville Golf Course. Cutting grass, digging ditches, plugging holes in the greens, occasionally starting on weekends. $4.25/hour, free golf, and whatever [-]beer[/-] beverages we could sneak out of the clubhouse.

 

[cantlogin]

First "real" job was pumping gas at a Sunoco station for $1.25 hr., circa 1971.

In 1966 or 67, can't remember which, I was earning $1.28 an hour in a gas station after HS and weekends.

Great memories from those SERVICE station jobs.

 

[rescueme]

1967 In the Army, private, I think about $55/month, life was good full room and board. Fort Jackson, South Carolina in July. Only 40 recruits per floor of old wooden barracks, fresh air through partially open windows. DIs for alarm clock -tossing the trash can across the barracks floor at four thirty in the morning. Ah the joys of reveille, NOT.

"Three hot's and a cot" (what's not to like ).

Yea, been there, done that (same year, but basic in Texas for the AF).

 

[lets-retire]

My first real job paid $40 per day salary, Monday-Friday. I had no benefits at all. I drove a garbage truck and was not unionized. If the truck broke, I suddenly became the company's mechanic for all but the major fixes. Most days were longer than 10 hours per day, but in the winter they shortened down to some being 6 or 7 hours, if the truck didn't break (we were always rebuilding hydraulic cylinders, or replacing hoses, or fixing something). It sounds not too bad, until you figure this was 89. I quit in 91 making $48 per day and still without any benefits. I had job security and pay stability. Most of the other jobs in the area were based on Detroit and had frequent layoffs, but better pay and benefits while working. The DW (girlfriend at the time) made a whopping -$1300 (yes that is a negative number) from the business she owned with her mother. I worked with the DW one weekend a month, if my main job didn't have any extra work on Saturday. Normally there was weekend work during the spring and fall. My main job paid $20-25 to work on Saturday depending on how much we had to do. The hours were easy enough start at 9 and work until done, normally 5 or 6 hours, but again sometimes much longer, if the truck broke. In total my annual extra pay was less than $600.