Table 4.5

Hourly wages of men, by wage percentile, 1973–2011

Wage by percentile*
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 95
Real hourly wage (2011 dollars)
1973 $9.53 $12.23 $14.42 $16.53 $18.74 $21.24 $23.38 $26.90 $34.27 $41.30
1979 9.39 11.94 14.37 16.72 19.13 21.73 24.37 28.30 34.46 41.32
1989 8.35 10.45 12.83 15.19 17.68 20.81 24.07 28.20 35.33 43.87
1995 8.05 10.16 12.08 14.53 17.03 19.91 23.39 27.97 36.46 45.60
2000 8.97 10.99 13.14 15.57 18.21 21.18 24.93 30.25 40.30 50.46
2007 8.88 10.92 13.13 15.62 18.29 21.48 25.63 31.52 41.94 54.31
2011 8.52 10.16 12.45 14.95 17.72 20.76 25.00 30.93 42.58 55.61
Percent change
1973–1979 -1.5% -2.4% -0.4% 1.1% 2.1% 2.3% 4.2% 5.2% 0.6% 0.1%
1979–1989 -11.1 -12.5 -10.7 -9.1 -7.6 -4.2 -1.2 -0.4 2.5 6.1
1989–2000 7.4 5.2 2.4 2.5 3.0 1.8 3.6 7.3 14.1 15.0
1989–1995 -3.6 -2.8 -5.8 -4.4 -3.7 -4.4 -2.8 -0.8 3.2 4.0
1995–2000 11.5 8.2 8.7 7.2 6.9 6.4 6.6 8.2 10.5 10.7
2000–2007 -1.0 -0.7 0.0 0.4 0.4 1.4 2.8 4.2 4.1 7.6
2007–2011 -4.1 -6.9 -5.2 -4.3 -3.1 -3.4 -2.4 -1.9 1.5 2.4
1979–2011 -9.3 -14.9 -13.3 -10.6 -7.4 -4.5 2.6 9.3 23.6 34.6

* The xth-percentile wage is the wage at which x% of the wage earners earn less and (100-x)% earn more.

Source: Authors' analysis of Current Population Survey Outgoing Rotation Group microdata

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