Hourly wages by race/ethnicity and wage percentile, selected years, 2000–2019 (2019$)
| Wage by percentile | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10th | 20th | 30th | 40th | 50th | 60th | 70th | 80th | 90th | 95th | |
| White | ||||||||||
| 2000 | $9.52 | $11.83 | $14.11 | $16.43 | $19.28 | $22.46 | $26.88 | $32.68 | $42.75 | $53.73 |
| 2007 | $9.75 | $12.23 | $14.53 | $17.19 | $19.91 | $23.70 | $28.05 | $34.47 | $45.98 | $59.25 |
| 2018 | $10.26 | $12.70 | $15.27 | $17.98 | $20.94 | $25.02 | $30.06 | $37.37 | $50.95 | $71.61 |
| 2019 | $10.56 | $13.05 | $15.45 | $18.12 | $21.32 | $25.07 | $30.31 | $38.39 | $52.04 | $73.38 |
| Annualized percent changes | ||||||||||
| 2000–2019 | 0.5% | 0.5% | 0.5% | 0.5% | 0.5% | 0.6% | 0.6% | 0.9% | 1.0% | 1.7% |
| 2000–2007 | 0.3% | 0.5% | 0.4% | 0.7% | 0.5% | 0.8% | 0.6% | 0.8% | 1.0% | 1.4% |
| 2007–2019 | 0.7% | 0.5% | 0.5% | 0.4% | 0.6% | 0.5% | 0.6% | 0.9% | 1.0% | 1.8% |
| 2018–2019 | 2.9% | 2.8% | 1.2% | 0.8% | 1.8% | 0.2% | 0.8% | 2.7% | 2.1% | 2.5% |
| Black | ||||||||||
| 2000 | $8.94 | $10.46 | $11.96 | $13.57 | $15.28 | $17.82 | $20.87 | $25.15 | $31.95 | $38.68 |
| 2007 | $8.90 | $10.57 | $12.26 | $13.70 | $15.46 | $17.98 | $21.01 | $25.09 | $34.04 | $42.50 |
| 2018 | $9.32 | $10.62 | $12.21 | $13.90 | $15.35 | $17.72 | $20.80 | $26.39 | $36.02 | $48.83 |
| 2019 | $9.61 | $11.10 | $12.93 | $14.88 | $16.12 | $18.56 | $21.76 | $26.92 | $36.03 | $47.94 |
| Annualized percent changes | ||||||||||
| 2000–2019 | 0.4% | 0.3% | 0.4% | 0.5% | 0.3% | 0.2% | 0.2% | 0.4% | 0.6% | 1.1% |
| 2000–2007 | -0.1% | 0.1% | 0.4% | 0.1% | 0.2% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.0% | 0.9% | 1.4% |
| 2007–2019 | 0.6% | 0.4% | 0.4% | 0.7% | 0.3% | 0.3% | 0.3% | 0.6% | 0.5% | 1.0% |
| 2018–2019 | 3.1% | 4.5% | 5.9% | 7.0% | 5.0% | 4.7% | 4.6% | 2.0% | 0.0% | -1.8% |
| Hispanic | ||||||||||
| 2000 | $8.59 | $9.60 | $10.61 | $11.94 | $13.44 | $15.03 | $17.90 | $21.85 | $28.82 | $37.07 |
| 2007 | $8.80 | $9.90 | $11.15 | $12.41 | $14.32 | $16.20 | $18.76 | $23.58 | $31.01 | $40.72 |
| 2018 | $9.97 | $11.15 | $12.25 | $13.76 | $15.31 | $17.40 | $20.34 | $25.07 | $34.26 | $45.04 |
| 2019 | $9.94 | $11.84 | $12.90 | $14.43 | $15.89 | $17.96 | $20.47 | $25.06 | $34.93 | $46.33 |
| Annualized percent changes | ||||||||||
| 2000–2019 | 0.8% | 1.1% | 1.0% | 1.0% | 0.9% | 0.9% | 0.7% | 0.7% | 1.0% | 1.2% |
| 2000–2007 | 0.3% | 0.5% | 0.7% | 0.6% | 0.9% | 1.1% | 0.7% | 1.1% | 1.1% | 1.4% |
| 2007–2019 | 1.0% | 1.5% | 1.2% | 1.3% | 0.9% | 0.9% | 0.7% | 0.5% | 1.0% | 1.1% |
| 2018–2019 | -0.3% | 6.2% | 5.3% | 4.9% | 3.8% | 3.2% | 0.7% | 0.0% | 1.9% | 2.9% |
| Wage disparities | ||||||||||
| Black as a share of white | ||||||||||
| 2000 | 93.8% | 88.4% | 84.8% | 82.6% | 79.2% | 79.3% | 77.6% | 76.9% | 74.7% | 72.0% |
| 2007 | 91.3% | 86.4% | 84.4% | 79.7% | 77.7% | 75.8% | 74.9% | 72.8% | 74.0% | 71.7% |
| 2018 | 90.8% | 83.7% | 80.0% | 77.3% | 73.3% | 70.8% | 69.2% | 70.6% | 70.7% | 68.2% |
| 2019 | 91.0% | 85.0% | 83.7% | 82.1% | 75.6% | 74.0% | 71.8% | 70.1% | 69.2% | 65.3% |
| Hispanic as a share of white | ||||||||||
| 2000 | 90.2% | 81.1% | 75.2% | 72.7% | 69.7% | 66.9% | 66.6% | 66.9% | 67.4% | 69.0% |
| 2007 | 90.2% | 81.0% | 76.8% | 72.2% | 71.9% | 68.4% | 66.9% | 68.4% | 67.5% | 68.7% |
| 2018 | 97.2% | 87.8% | 80.2% | 76.5% | 73.1% | 69.5% | 67.6% | 67.1% | 67.2% | 62.9% |
| 2019 | 94.1% | 90.7% | 83.5% | 79.6% | 74.6% | 71.6% | 67.5% | 65.3% | 67.1% | 63.1% |
Notes: The xth-percentile wage is the wage at which x% of wage earners earn less and (100−x)% earn more. Race/ethnicity categories are mutually exclusive (i.e., white non-Hispanic, black non-Hispanic, and Hispanic any race). The 95th-percentile white wage is imputed using the growth rates of the 94th percentile from recent years, as needed, since the weekly earnings top code continues to capture a large and growing share of the white wage distribution, making it difficult to accurately measure top-level wages. For more information on this issue, see Gould’s State of Working America Wages 2018 (2019).
Source: Author’s analysis of EPI Current Population Survey Extracts, Version 1.0 (2020), https://microdata.epi.org
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