Wage gap* between the 50th and the 10th wage percentiles,** by gender, 1979–2013

Year Men Women
1979 2.03700204003064 1.47244661124657
1980 2.06285177056521 1.57206559562858
1981 2.08026389166129 1.50707225580047
1982 2.15275103684973 1.56931654654756
1983 2.19956741543059 1.63905105114979
1984 2.20042346483763 1.70211901191215
1985 2.23263207995456 1.74647775113352
1986 2.28041687943874 1.80226065417733
1987 2.26452612598317 1.87284920371570
1988 2.19189172112190 1.91025776919553
1989 2.11851850391765 1.90456033502860
1990 2.11741286629395 1.88879501424996
1991 2.15096125888934 1.85767802972008
1992 2.16449248138932 1.83753109543479
1993 2.16157814581995 1.84731549634424
1994 2.13730320165489 1.84545015994226
1995 2.11730446024990 1.84178667117980
1996 2.08574125806414 1.85500700393619
1997 2.05871729133583 1.86976683014101
1998 2.07050097567448 1.80996858805478
1999 2.03352630284779 1.78520322780709
2000 2.03056704936185 1.81299066137734
2001 2.03514223035350 1.83041722745626
2002 2.04576304855237 1.83009233308900
2003 2.01509617008048 1.82603088918878
2004 2.00713493632622 1.83900327930650
2005 2.00752280269332 1.86288789268956
2006 2.02390594333546 1.87437749003984
2007 2.05958267441320 1.86721196763521
2008 2.04229305361644 1.86812338098451
2009 2.10670745334338 1.86407053952590
2010 2.07718211682700 1.86211841368530
2011 2.08037755656831 1.87161862276812
2012 2.07841072382601 1.87640851458840
2013 2.05432499975164 1.86659003346067

* Ratio of workers' wages at the higher earnings percentile to workers' wages at the lower percentile

** 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

View the underlying data on epi.org.