Cumulative change in real annual wages, by wage group, 1979–2012

Top 1% 95–99% 90–95% Bottom 90% Average
1979 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0%
1980 3.4% -0.2% -1.3% -2.2% -1.4%
1981 3.1% -0.1% -1.1% -2.6% -1.7%
1982 9.5% 2.2% -0.9% -3.9% -1.9%
1983 13.6% 3.6% 0.7% -3.7% -1.1%
1984 20.7% 6.0% 2.5% -1.8% 1.2%
1985 23.0% 8.1% 4.0% -1.0% 2.4%
1986 32.6% 12.5% 6.4% 1.1% 5.3%
1987 53.5% 15.0% 7.4% 2.1% 8.0%
1988 68.7% 18.4% 8.2% 2.2% 9.7%
1989 63.3% 18.2% 8.1% 1.8% 9.0%
1990 64.8% 16.5% 7.1% 1.1% 8.3%
1991 53.6% 15.5% 6.9% 0.0% 6.5%
1992 74.3% 19.2% 9.0% 1.5% 9.8%
1993 67.9% 20.6% 9.2% 0.9% 9.1%
1994 63.4% 21.0% 11.2% 2.0% 9.8%
1995 70.2% 24.1% 12.2% 2.8% 11.3%
1996 79.0% 27.0% 13.6% 4.1% 13.3%
1997 100.6% 32.3% 16.9% 7.0% 18.0%
1998 113.1% 38.2% 21.3% 11.0% 22.9%
1999 129.7% 42.9% 25.0% 13.2% 26.6%
2000 144.8% 48.0% 26.8% 15.3% 29.9%
2001 130.4% 46.4% 29.0% 15.7% 29.3%
2002 109.3% 43.2% 29.0% 15.6% 27.2%
2003 113.9% 44.9% 30.3% 15.7% 28.0%
2004 127.2% 47.1% 30.8% 15.6% 29.2%
2005 135.4% 48.7% 30.8% 15.0% 29.6%
2006 143.4% 52.1% 32.5% 15.7% 31.2%
2007 156.2% 55.4% 34.1% 16.7% 33.4%
2008 137.5% 53.8% 34.2% 16.0% 31.4%
2009 116.2% 53.6% 35.4% 16.0% 29.9%
2010 130.9% 55.7% 35.7% 15.2% 30.8%
2011 134.0% 56.9% 36.2% 14.5% 30.7%
2012 153.6% 61.6% 39.2% 17.1% 34.8%

Source: EPI analysis of Kopczuk, Saez, and Song (2010) and Social Security Administration wage statistics Reproduced from: Figure F in Bivens et al. (2014)

View the underlying data on epi.org.