Trends in key wage and education group differences, 1979–2013
| Average annual change | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1979 | 1989 | 1995 | 2000 | 2007 | 2013 | 1979–1995 | 1995–2013 | 1979–2013 | |
| Education wage gaps* | |||||||||
| College/high school | 23.4% | 37.8% | 42.4% | 45.2% | 46.2% | 49.3% | 1.18 | 0.38 | 0.76 |
| Advanced degree/high school | 32.4% | 51.2% | 62.2% | 64.1% | 66.4% | 71.4% | 1.86 | 0.51 | 1.15 |
| College or more/noncollege | 28.9% | 41.5% | 46.1% | 48.2% | 49.2% | 52.9% | 1.08 | 0.38 | 0.71 |
| High school/less than high school | 21.0% | 23.2% | 27.1% | 26.9% | 25.8% | 27.7% | 0.38 | 0.04 | 0.20 |
| Wage group wage gaps** | |||||||||
| 50/10 (hourly) | 57.8% | 72.9% | 69.4% | 66.3% | 66.3% | 69.1% | 0.72 | -0.01 | 0.33 |
| 95/50 (hourly) | 86.9% | 94.8% | 101.8% | 104.4% | 110.2% | 115.1% | 0.93 | 0.74 | 0.83 |
| Top 1%/90th–95th (annual)*** | 122.4% | 163.6% | 164.1% | 188.2% | 187.2% | 182.4% | 2.61 | 1.08 | 1.82 |
* Log point gaps based on regression-adjusted models with human capital controls including education categorical variables (advanced degree, college only, some college, less than high school with high school omitted), experience as a quartic, marital status, race, and region (4).
** Change in unadjusted log point wage gaps
*** Data for 2013 are not available, so 2012 data are used instead.
Source: Authors' analysis of Current Population Survey Outgoing Rotation Group microdata; Kopczuk, Saez, and Song (2010); and Social Security Administration wage statistics
UPDATED FROM: Table 4.44 from The State of Working America, 12th Edition, an Economic Policy Institute book published by Cornell University Press in 2012