Average hourly pay and pay inequality, 1948–2011 (2011 dollars)
| Wages and salaries |
Benefits* | Total compensation |
Benefit share of compensation | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Real hourly pay (NIPA)** | ||||
| 1948 | $9.69 | $0.53 | $10.21 | 5.1% |
| 1989 | 20.14 | 4.61 | 24.75 | 18.6 |
| Annual percent change | ||||
| 1948–1973 | 2.6% | 7.3% | 3.0% | |
| 1973–1979 | 0.2 | 5.2 | 1.0 | |
| 1979–1989 | 0.8 | 1.0 | 0.8 | |
| Real hourly pay (ECEC)** | ||||
| 1987 | $21.08 | $5.30 | $26.38 | 20.1% |
| 1989 | 20.68 | 5.30 | 25.98 | 20.4 |
| 1995 | 20.23 | 5.18 | 25.41 | 20.4 |
| 2000 | 21.43 | 4.79 | 26.22 | 18.3 |
| 2007 | 22.74 | 5.60 | 28.34 | 19.8 |
| 2011 | 22.53 | 5.57 | 28.10 | 19.8 |
| Annual percent change | ||||
| 1989–2000 | 0.3% | -0.9% | 0.1% | |
| 1989–1995 | -0.4 | -0.4 | -0.4 | |
| 1995–2000 | 1.2 | -1.6 | 0.6 | |
| 2000–2007 | 0.9 | 2.3 | 1.1 | |
| 2007–2011 | -0.2 | -0.2 | -0.2 | |
| Measures of inequality | Wages | Compensation | ||
| Std. dev. | Gini | Std. dev. | Gini | |
| 1987 | 0.564 | 0.317 | 0.597 | 0.326 |
| 1997 | 0.578 | 0.329 | 0.620 | 0.346 |
| 2007 | 0.592 | 0.340 | 0.639 | 0.354 |
| Change, 1987–2007 | 0.028 | 0.023 | 0.042 | 0.028 |
* Includes payroll taxes, health, pension, and other nonwage benefits
** Deflated by personal consumption expenditures (PCE) index for all items, except health, which is deflated by PCE medical index. NIPA data are for the entire economy; ECEC data are for the private sector.
Source: Authors' analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics National Compensation Survey employment cost trends and benefits data, Bureau of Economic Analysis National Income and Product Accounts, and Pierce (2010)
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