Comparing the standard of living today to a hundred years ago: how have changes in technology affected the standard of living in the United States?...

If you want
to compare the standard of living today to that of 100 years ago, you need to have a standard
unit of measurement. The generally accepted unit of measurement is the real Gross Domestic
Product or GDP. A high GDP shows that an economy is producing more output, and people are making
and spending more as a result. 100 years ago, the real GDP of the United States economy was
roughly half a trillion dollars. Back then, they didnt have the internet or artificial
intelligence to help them with office and manufacturing tasks.

Thanks to
modern advancements in technology, productivity has increased. Today, the real GDP of the United
States is $19 trillion. That is a significant jump. As a result, the standard of living is quite
high when you compare to that of 100 years ago.

Interestingly, the minimum
wage requirement wasnt established until 1938. Back then, it was 25 cents an hour. Today, the
minimum wage is $7.25 per hour. Thats a 2,800% increase in less than 100 years. If you go with
the above figures, the minimum wage rate has increased at a faster rate than the real
GDP.

If the wage rates are readjusted with the standard of living, they would
be much lower than they are right now. Therefore, the minimum wage should not adapt to the
standard of living measures because it would lead to less income for the
people.

href="https://liberalarts.oregonstate.edu/sites/liberalarts.oregonstate.edu/files/polisci/faculty-research/sahr/inflation-conversion/pdf/gdp_current_real_per-capita_1789-2012.pdf">https://liberalarts.oregonstate.edu/sites/liberalarts.ore...
href="https://www.history.com/news/minimum-wage-america-timeline">https://www.history.com/news/minimum-wage-america-timeline
href="https://www.multpl.com/us-gdp-inflation-adjusted/table/by-year">https://www.multpl.com/us-gdp-inflation-adjusted/table/by...