Figure B

Cumulative growth in productivity versus real hourly wages of full-time salaried workers in various strongly affected occupations, 1985–2013

Year Wage growth of first-line supervisors of food preparation and serving workers Wage growth of insurance claims and policy processing clerks Wage growth of first-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers Wage growth of social workers Wage growth of first-line supervisors of retail sales workers Wage growth of insurance sales agents Productivity growth
1985 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0%
1986 -4.8% 2.1% 1.7% 3.9% 0.9% 1.4% 2.1%
1987 -4.2% 1.8% 1.4% 5.5% 2.5% 1.2% 3.5%
1988 -4.2% 2.7% 1.4% 6.5% 3.3% 1.5% 4.8%
1989 -2.3% 1.4% 1.5% 5.1% 2.8% 5.4% 5.7%
1990 -5.1% 0.7% 2.0% 3.3% 0.2% 5.2% 6.9%
1991 -4.2% -0.7% 2.2% 1.4% -0.7% 5.3% 7.9%
1992 -2.4% -0.4% 2.2% 1.4% -1.0% 1.5% 10.1%
1993 -0.9% 2.6% 3.2% 3.6% 0.9% 1.7% 11.8%
1994 -1.0% 2.6% 0.8% 4.8% 0.8% 3.1% 13.6%
1995 -3.6% 2.2% -2.7% 5.1% 0.6% 4.6% 14.1%
1996 -6.4% 1.3% -7.4% 4.0% -0.8% 3.9% 15.4%
1997 -8.7% 2.2% -7.6% 2.9% -0.6% 1.2% 16.9%
1998 -7.5% 4.1% -5.3% 3.5% 0.5% 1.4% 19.1%
1999 -5.1% 2.4% -3.5% 6.4% 3.5% 1.9% 21.5%
2000 -2.3% -1.5% -2.3% 9.0% 7.0% 3.1% 24.2%
2001 2.6% -5.9% -2.9% 9.8% 9.8% -0.6% 26.8%
2002 7.6% -8.1% -2.4% 9.8% 12.3% 1.1% 29.7%
2003 9.9% -5.2% -3.2% 12.7% 13.5% 2.9% 33.0%
2004 7.6% -4.7% -3.7% 13.7% 15.2% 6.2% 36.8%
2005 4.7% -4.7% -4.1% 13.0% 14.3% 4.3% 40.3%
2006 2.2% -7.5% -4.2% 11.0% 13.2% 3.0% 42.7%
2007 3.5% -8.1% -5.2% 11.9% 11.6% 0.6% 44.1%
2008 4.3% -9.3% -6.8% 12.6% 10.2% 0.5% 44.8%
2009 4.8% -7.5% -6.6% 14.2% 10.4% -1.9% 46.2%
2010 1.8% -6.5% -5.9% 13.8% 9.3% -2.6% 48.8%
2011 0.2% -3.9% -5.4% 13.6% 8.7% -3.7% 51.3%
2012 0.9% -4.5% -5.5% 13.0% 7.6% -3.9% 53.2%
2013 0.3% -5.2% -6.8% 11.0% 7.8% -2.6% 54.2%
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Note: Values represent the percent change in three-year moving averages. Strongly affected occupations are supervisory/managerial/professional occupations in which at least 50 percent of workers would be automatically covered by overtime protections if the salary threshold below which all salaried workers are covered by overtime protections were raised to $984 per week. The occupations shown here are those for which consistent occupational codes are available since 1983. Productivity measures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics are adjusted to become "net productivity," which is the growth of output of goods and services less depreciation per hour worked.

Source: EPI analysis of Current Population Survey Outgoing Rotation Group microdata and unpublished data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Labor Productivity and Costs program

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