Greetings from Springfield, Ohio

Springfield's decennial census population peaked in 1960.

Springfield, Ohio: A Shrinking City Faces A Tough Economic Future.  (NPR, 9/19/2016)

But wages have been stuck in a trough. For many in town, a middle-class life is out of reach. And it's hard to see a way out. 

Take one of the big employers in Springfield — Navistar, a truck manufacturer. Jason Barlow, who represents Navistar workers for the United Auto Workers union, used to work on the assembly line. 

"When I hired in in 1995, I hired in at $17.65 an hour. ... Now an employee hires in at $15.68," he says. And that doesn't account for inflation.

Let's account for inflation. 

An additional $10.22 per hour adds up to $21,257.60 over the course of a year for a full-time worker.