Morton J. Marcus is an economist formerly with the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University. His column appears in Indiana newspapers.
Thanksgiving is a time of tradition. Thus, each year the American Farm Bureau Federation(AFBF) estimates of the price of a traditional Thanksgiving dinner. The menu of that dinner for 10 persons has not changed since 1986. This year the price of ingredients was pegged at $50.11, up 1.4 percent or 70 cents from a year ago.
The data provided by the AFBF shows the price of this dinner increased 74 percent from 1986. Yet, after adjustment for inflation, the traditional dinner costs 20 percent less in 2015 than it did in 1986. Beer, wine, and antacid costs not included.
Also not included is the value of uncompensated labor used in preparation of the feast. Travel time and expenditures for relatives and friends are not counted. Aunt Peach’s visit to the emergency room, following her third piece of pecan pie with bourbon, is not part of the analysis.
(As with any big, complex meal, this column will be using a pinch of this and a smidge of that without consulting a recipe or having a regard for the sanctity of the data.)
The average worker in Brown and Ohio counties will labor more than four hours to earn $50.11 to buy that traditional meal. This contrasts with one and a half hours for the average worker in Martin County.
Statewide, the average Hoosier employee will work two hours and 20 minutes to buy the turkey and all the fixin’s.
There are even bigger differences based on the industry in which the worker is engaged. Hoosiers in the Leisure and Hospitality sector earn an average of $12.77 per hour; this means it takes half a day to earn $50.11. The person waiting on your table in a food service or drinking place cannot depend on tips. Based on his/her average hourly wages, it takes nearly five hours to earn the $50.11 to buy that Thanksgiving dinner.
Contrast that with two hours and one minute a worker in Indiana’s manufacturing sector needs to purchase that dinner. Even better off is the average Hoosier construction worker who can buy the dinner with just one hour and 51 minutes on the job.
A minimum wage worker earning $7.25 needs six hours and 55 minutes to earn that dinner. Some folks argue $10.10 is an appropriate minimum wage in today’s world; that comes out as just under five hours to buy the dinner. A few advocates for workers go as far as $12 for the minimum hourly wages which cuts the required working time to four hours and 11 minutes, while the proposed $15 per hour wage brings the working time down to three hours and 20 minutes.
Those making $250,000 a year ($125 per hour) can put the traditional Thanksgiving meal on the table with just 24 minutes of work. Or, with one hour of work s/he could buy two and a half meals to share with the less fortunate.
Perhaps you could think about this when you gobble down your turkey or the leftovers.