PREE Policy Report Chartbook
Workers’ wages across the board have failed to rise on pace with productivity: Productivity growth compared with typical worker wage growth and wage growth by race/ethnicity, 1979–2020
| Year | Typical worker | White workers | Black workers | Hispanic workers |
Productivity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1979 | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| 1980 | -0.6% | -0.3% | -1.4% | -1.1% | -2.7% |
| 1981 | -1.7% | -2.7% | -3.9% | -5.3% | -0.9% |
| 1982 | -2.1% | -1.1% | -4.6% | -4.5% | -1.8% |
| 1983 | -1.9% | -1.9% | -4.2% | -5.4% | 1.1% |
| 1984 | -1.4% | -0.7% | -4.4% | -4.3% | 3.6% |
| 1985 | 0.1% | -1.1% | -4.5% | -4.8% | 5.2% |
| 1986 | 0.8% | 1.9% | -2.4% | -4.9% | 7.7% |
| 1987 | 1.9% | 1.6% | -2.2% | -4.9% | 7.0% |
| 1988 | 0.5% | 2.2% | -0.3% | -6.1% | 8.6% |
| 1989 | 0.3% | 1.9% | -3.0% | -7.8% | 9.4% |
| 1990 | 0.2% | 2.1% | -2.4% | -8.7% | 9.7% |
| 1991 | -0.6% | 3.6% | -3.5% | -10.0% | 10.5% |
| 1992 | 0.4% | 2.2% | -2.8% | -9.2% | 14.8% |
| 1993 | 1.9% | 0.7% | -3.5% | -10.0% | 15.3% |
| 1994 | 0.8% | -0.6% | -4.9% | -12.1% | 16.2% |
| 1995 | -0.6% | 1.1% | -4.3% | -13.3% | 16.4% |
| 1996 | -2.3% | 2.0% | -4.5% | -10.9% | 17.8% |
| 1997 | -0.3% | 3.9% | -2.4% | -11.6% | 19.6% |
| 1998 | 3.3% | 7.5% | 2.4% | -8.0% | 22.2% |
| 1999 | 5.9% | 9.2% | 5.0% | -6.7% | 24.9% |
| 2000 | 6.5% | 10.5% | 4.7% | -6.6% | 26.3% |
| 2001 | 8.1% | 13.8% | 5.3% | -2.1% | 27.7% |
| 2002 | 9.8% | 14.8% | 8.1% | -1.4% | 31.5% |
| 2003 | 9.9% | 15.6% | 10.4% | -2.7% | 35.9% |
| 2004 | 11.1% | 16.1% | 11.2% | -4.8% | 39.6% |
| 2005 | 9.5% | 13.3% | 7.0% | -4.7% | 41.8% |
| 2006 | 9.9% | 13.5% | 7.9% | -2.4% | 42.5% |
| 2007 | 10.1% | 14.0% | 6.0% | -0.5% | 43.4% |
| 2008 | 9.2% | 14.8% | 5.6% | -0.3% | 41.6% |
| 2009 | 11.6% | 16.9% | 10.0% | 0.3% | 46.8% |
| 2010 | 10.9% | 16.1% | 9.4% | -1.8% | 51.0% |
| 2011 | 8.2% | 13.8% | 6.0% | -4.3% | 49.5% |
| 2012 | 6.9% | 14.5% | 3.2% | -4.5% | 49.9% |
| 2013 | 7.4% | 13.8% | 5.5% | -4.5% | 51.0% |
| 2014 | 7.5% | 13.8% | 3.3% | -2.6% | 52.1% |
| 2015 | 9.2% | 17.0% | 4.1% | 0.2% | 54.8% |
| 2016 | 11.2% | 17.9% | 8.7% | 4.1% | 55.0% |
| 2017 | 12.1% | 19.5% | 6.8% | 8.0% | 56.2% |
| 2018 | 14.0% | 20.0% | 5.2% | 6.4% | 57.8% |
| 2019 | 15.1% | 22.1% | 10.5% | 10.4% | 59.6% |
| 2020 | 23.1% | 30.1% | 18.9% | 16.7% | 61.7% |
Note: Race and ethnicity categories are mutually exclusive (i.e., white non-Hispanic, Black non-Hispanic, and Hispanic any race).
Source: EPI analysis of unpublished Total Economy Productivity data from Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Labor Productivity and Costs program, wage data from the BLS Current Employment Statistics, BLS Employment Cost Trends, BLS Consumer Price Index, and Bureau of Economic Analysis National Income and Product Accounts.
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