Earnings inequality continues to grow in the pandemic labor market: Cumulative percent change in real annual wages, by wage group, 1979–2021

Year Bottom 90% 90th–95th percentile 95th–99th percentile Top 1%
1979 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0%
1980 -2.3% -1.6% -0.8% 3.8%
1981 -2.2% -1.4% 0.3% 4.1%
1982 -3.0% -0.1% 3.0% 11.2%
1983 -2.2% 2.3% 5.4% 15.6%
1984 0.3% 4.3% 8.5% 23.2%
1985 0.8% 5.2% 10.3% 25.7%
1986 2.8% 8.0% 14.1% 34.9%
1987 2.8% 7.7% 15.9% 54.8%
1988 2.4% 7.8% 18.0% 70.0%
1989 3.1% 9.3% 19.5% 66.3%
1990 2.3% 7.5% 17.7% 68.1%
1991 1.1% 16.3% 21.4% 49.9%
1992 2.2% 19.2% 24.0% 68.2%
1993 1.4% 19.2% 25.8% 63.1%
1994 3.4% 22.3% 29.2% 61.1%
1995 4.5% 24.1% 32.4% 72.5%
1996 4.9% 24.9% 34.3% 79.9%
1997 7.5% 27.7% 39.4% 95.8%
1998 11.9% 33.5% 46.6% 112.4%
1999 14.4% 36.7% 51.5% 130.2%
2000 15.3% 39.1% 55.8% 147.7%
2001 15.7% 39.4% 54.9% 125.6%
2002 15.9% 40.3% 53.6% 110.2%
2003 16.4% 41.4% 55.5% 112.0%
2004 17.2% 43.3% 57.9% 128.8%
2005 16.7% 43.6% 59.9% 137.7%
2006 18.1% 46.2% 64.4% 147.3%
2007 19.0%  47.9% 67.8% 160.3%
2008 18.3% 47.8% 66.0% 140.8%
2009 18.1% 48.7% 65.4% 118.5%
2010 17.6% 49.6% 68.1% 134.3%
2011 16.7% 49.8% 69.1% 137.2%
2012 17.1% 50.3% 71.0% 152.6%
2013 17.3% 50.9% 71.8% 140.8%
2014 19.0% 53.0% 75.3% 153.1%
2015 22.9% 57.7% 81.1% 160.1%
2016 23.5% 58.2% 81.5% 152.0%
2017 24.9% 59.1% 82.9% 161.7%
2018 26.5% 60.7% 84.9% 161.8%
2019 29.0% 63.3% 88.7% 163.9%
2020 29.0% 67.3% 94.7% 179.9%
2021 28.7% 63.9% 94.0% 206.3%

Source: EPI analysis of Kopczuk, Saez, and Song, “Uncovering the American Dream: Inequality and Mobility in Social Security Earnings Data Since 1937” (2007) and Social Security Administration wage statistics.

View the underlying data on epi.org.