Table 4.8

Change in annual wages, by wage group, 1979–2010 (2011 dollars)

Average annual wages (2011 dollars) Change
1979 2004 2007 2009 2010 1979–2004 1979–2007 2007–2010 1979–2010
Bottom 90% $26,276 $30,380 $30,653 $30,476 $30,278 16% 17% -1% 15%
Bottom fifth  6,367  7,241 14
Second fifth  15,866  18,194 15
Middle fifth  27,239  30,791 13
Fourth fifth  42,178  48,240 14
Next tenth  59,300  72,732 23
Top 10%
90th to 99th percentile
$88,681 $123,603 $128,873 $128,577 $129,752 39% 45% 1% 46%
90th–<95th  75,200  98,331  100,814  101,788  102,074 31 34 1 36
95th–<99th  105,531  155,194  163,947  162,063  164,350 47 55 0 56
Top 1.0% 255,792 581,047 655,251 553,069 590,633 127 156 -10 131
99th–<99.5th  179,613  299,779  —  —  — 67
99.5th–<99.9th  272,565  525,967  —  —  — 93
99.9th–100th
(Top 0.1%)
 569,590  2,207,706  2,634,121  1,946,058  2,153,347 288 362 -18 278

Source: Authors' analysis of Kopczuk, Saez, and Song (2010) and Social Security Administration wage statistics

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