Compared to the mid-20th century, wage increases in the United States' industrial sector did not change as drastically over the preceding 150 years. Industrial wages in the 1800s peaked in the final year of the American Civil War in 1865, and they were double the value of wages in 1830; yet wages did not exceed this value until the following century. Throughout the 1900s, however, the increase was much more pronounced; between 1943 and 1955 alone, industrial wages doubled, and quadrupled by 1972. In fact, wages in 1985 were over five times higher than they were in 1955, and ten times higher than in 1943. The only times during the 20th century when industrial wages fell was during the post-WWI recession in 1921, and again during the Great Depression in the 1930s.

Graph and download economic data for Real Median Family Income in the United States (MEFAINUSA672N) from 1953 to 2023 about family, median, income, real, and USA.

Demobilization following the First World War saw millions of soldiers return to their home countries from the trenches, and in doing so, they brought with them another wave of the deadliest and far-reaching pandemic of all time. As the H1N1 influenza virus, known as the Spanish Flu, spread across the world and infected between one third and a quarter of the global population, it impacted all areas of society. One such impact was on workers' wages, as the labor shortage drove up the demand for skilled workers, which then increased wages. In the United States, wages had already increased due to the shortage of workers caused by the war, however the trend increased further in the two or three years after the war, despite the return of so many personnel from overseas.

In the first fifteen years of the twentieth century, wages across the shown industries had increased gradually and steadily in line with inflation, with the hourly wage in manufacturing increasing from roughly 15 cents per hour to 21 cents per hour in this period. Between 1915 and 1921 or 1921 however, the hourly rate more than doubled across most of these industries, with the hourly wage in manufacturing increasing from 21 cents per hour in 1915 to 56 cents per hour in 1920. Although manufacturing wages were the lowest among those shown here, the trend was similar across even the highest paying trades, with hourly wages in the building trade increasing from 57 cents per hour in 1915 to one dollar and eight cents in 1921. The averages of almost all these trades decreased again in 1922, before plateauing or increasing at a slower rate throughout the late 1920s. Other factors, such as the Wall Street Crash of 1929 and subsequent Great Depression, make comparing this data with wages in later decades more difficult, but it does give some insight into the economic effects of pandemics in history.

Compared to Western Europe, the development of average incomes differed between Scandinavia and and East-Central Europe between 1900 and 1950. Over these five decades, income in Scandinavia gradually caught up with the rest of Western Europe, eventually overtaking it by the middle of the century. By contrast, income across East-Central Europe fell further behind the west over this period, falling from 42 percent of the west's rate in 1900 to 37 percent in 1950.

In 2023, employees who graduated in computer science earned around 2,150 euros net per month five years after obtaining their master's degree. Industrial and information engineers were paid 2,000 euros monthly. By contrast, graduates in psychology and education earned on average 1,400 euros, 370 euros less than the national mean. There were significant salary differences between male and female graduates, too. Women graduated in 2018 received 1,640 euros monthly in 2023, whereas men were paid an average of 1900 euros.

In February 2023, the average monthly wage in Israel's arts and entertainment sector amounted to 7,017 Israeli shekels (nearly 1,900 U.S. dollars). This was a slight decrease compared to the previous month. The average monthly salary in this industry slightly fluctuated during the period observed, while it peaked in December 2022. The average wage in this sector overall increased during these months.

One year after obtaining their university title, graduates in Italy earned an average net salary of 1,340 euros per month in 2023. People graduating in 2020 were paid 240 euros more, while those who obtained their tertiary education diploma in 2018 gained monthly 1,900 euros net. Hence, average salaries proportionally raised as work experience augmented. On the contrary, the salary gap between women and men grew as career progressed. One year after graduation, women earned 180 euros less than male colleagues. However, for those graduated in 2020, this difference increased to 200 euros, and five years after graduation it reached 250 euros.

Annual average net outlays for vehicle purchases came to above 5,500 U.S. dollars for all U.S. consumers in 2023, ranging between around 1,900 U.S. dollars for those in the lowest income bracket to nearly 14,100 U.S. dollars for consumers in the highest income group.