Table 1

Hourly wages of all workers, by wage percentile, 1979–2013 (2013 dollars)

Wage by percentile*
Year 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 95
Real hourly wage
1979 $8.84 $10.08 $11.83 $13.92 $15.75 $18.26 $21.58 $25.15 $30.76 $37.56
1989 7.55 9.40 11.27 13.47 15.65 18.28 21.75 26.00 32.85 40.37
1995 7.68 9.39 11.22 13.20 15.37 18.19 21.68 26.25 33.92 42.54
2000 8.53 10.51 12.27 14.19 16.56 19.59 23.23 28.22 36.88 47.04
2007 8.75 10.62 12.39 14.54 16.98 20.15 23.92 29.51 39.58 51.14
2013 8.37 9.99 11.94 14.19 16.70 19.75 23.88 29.81 40.44 52.80
Annualized percent change
1979–1995 -0.9% -0.4% -0.3% -0.3% -0.2% 0.0% 0.0% 0.3% 0.6% 0.8%
1995–2000 2.1 2.3 1.8 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.4 1.5 1.7 2.0
2000–2013 -0.1 -0.4 -0.2 0.0 0.1 0.1 0.2 0.4 0.7 0.9
1979–2013 -0.2 0.0 0.0 0.1 0.2 0.2 0.3 0.5 0.8 1.0

* The xth-percentile wage is the wage at which x% of wage earners earn less and (100-x)% earn more.

Source: Authors' analysis of Current Population Survey Outgoing Rotation Group microdata

UPDATED FROM: Table 4.6 in The State of Working America, 12th Edition, an Economic Policy Institute book published by Cornell University Press in 2012

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