From the article:
(Article has photos and cost per hour worked at 1973 and 2013 wages.) Putting it all together, a typical American consumer in 1958 would have had to work for 185 hours (more than a month) at the average hourly wage of $1.98 to earn enough pre-tax income ($368) to purchase a toaster, a TV and a stereo system. Today’s consumer working at the average wage of $19.19 would only have to work 26.6 hours (a little more than three days) to earn enough income ($511) to purchase a toaster, TV and iPod. In other words: 4.64 weeks of work in 1958 vs. less than 3.5 days in 2012 for those three consumer products, and one could argue that today’s products (especially the iPod) are far superior to their 1958 counterparts.
Source: Mark Perry, "Christmas Shopping 1958 vs. 2012 Illustrates the
‘Miracle of the Marketplace’ Which Delivers Better and Cheaper Goods," Carpe Diem/AEI Ideas, December 28, 2013
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