"Of course with a lot of things and a lot of perceptions and a lot of conventional wisdom, we do want to check and see if they are accurate. And in this case the common perception is actually not accurate," says Dr. Walden, a professor of agricultural and resource economics. "There is a new study that looked at this very precise question. The study looked at data for workers over the last 20 years. They separated workers into different age groups, because that determines how up and down your income profile is.

"And the conclusion the study reached is there has been very little change in what we will call income volatility -– the rate at which your income can go up and can go down," he explains.

"For example, middle age workers 20 years ago 14 percent of them suffered an income drop of 50 percent or more; today, only 12 percent," Walden adds. "Very young workers (those ... 20 and younger), 18 percent of them suffered a large income drop 20 years ago; only 16 percent of them do today.

"So although these big wage changes may capture the headlines, there's actually very little economic evidence that the economic ride has gotten bumpier."