The 'mean' is the average of all wages.
The 'median' is the wage in the middle, that is, what is earned by those people in the numerical middle of the population.
And the ratio of the median to the mean continues to fall, as the rich get richer, and a large part of the country is left behind, as a matter of policy.
This is the plight of 'the 47%.'
Source: SSA
