The New York Times‘ Economix blog has a great illustration of one of my favourite statistical paradoxes ever (yes, I have favourite statistical paradoxes). Floyd Norris had earlier been discussing the disparity in American wages, and noticed something odd in the process.
The median weekly wage, adjusted for inflation, in the US has grown by just 0.9 per cent since 2000. But the median wage has actually fallen for high-school dropouts (by 7.9 per cent), high-school graduates (by 4.7 per cent), people with some college education (by 7.6 per cent) and people with at least one degree (by 1.2 per cent). In other words, every sub-group’s wage fell, even as the overall wage rose.
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