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Stanford Business magazine

 

Spreadsheet

When Good Pay was $20,000 Annually

As gas prices in the United States closed in on the $4-per-gallon mark this spring, we took a deep breath and looked back 40 years to the era when you could expect to pay the gas station attendant $4 to wash the windows, check the oil, and fill the tank with regular.

We had happened to come across a survey of the MBA Class of 1952 taken just before its 15th Reunion back in 1967. Fifteen years out, the 76 class members who responded to secretary Tom Ferrari reported a median income of $20,000; a mere 3 percent made more than $45,000. Still, most owned a home, and all but 5 percent of those who did had a mortgage under $50,000. Additionally, almost a quarter of them boasted a second home, and two-thirds owned two or more cars. To fill all those gas tanks, the majority spent 40 to 49 hours a week on the job and less than five on “business homework.”

So when did 24/7 replace the concept of the 40-hour work week? Somewhere on the road to $4 a gallon, we guess. We’re not sure, but thanks to master archivist Ferrari, who chronicled his class for its first 50 years, we know just about everything else about its life and times. His classmate, Dean Holman, has taken over for him for, we hope, many more productive years.