Wages of the bottom 50% of college graduates are lower today than they were in 2000: Cumulative percent change in real hourly wages of workers with a college degree for the average, median, and 90th-percentile wages, 2000–2019
| Year | 50th | 90th | Average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| 2001 | 2.3% | 3.6% | 1.7% |
| 2002 | 1.5% | 2.4% | 2.2% |
| 2003 | 1.3% | 3.3% | 1.9% |
| 2004 | 0.1% | 2.8% | 0.9% |
| 2005 | -1.4% | 5.5% | 1.3% |
| 2006 | -1.0% | 4.5% | 1.5% |
| 2007 | -0.3% | 6.4% | 2.2% |
| 2008 | -1.1% | 5.9% | 1.6% |
| 2009 | -0.6% | 6.6% | 2.4% |
| 2010 | -1.3% | 5.3% | 2.7% |
| 2011 | -3.1% | 2.0% | 0.0% |
| 2012 | -4.5% | 3.9% | 0.9% |
| 2013 | -2.9% | 4.7% | 1.6% |
| 2014 | -4.5% | 3.9% | 0.1% |
| 2015 | -3.1% | 8.2% | 4.2% |
| 2016 | -1.7% | 14.5% | 6.3% |
| 2017 | -3.2% | 12.2% | 6.1% |
| 2018 | -2.4% | 9.8% | 6.7% |
| 2019 | -0.4% | 15.1% | 8.8% |
Note: Education groups are mutually exclusive, so “college” here refers to those with only a four-year college degree.
Source: Author’s analysis of EPI Current Population Survey Extracts, Version 1.0 (2020), https://microdata.epi.org