When it comes to the pace of annual pay increases, the top 1% wage grew 138% since 1979, while wages for the bottom 90% grew 15%: Cumulative change in real annual wages, by wage group, 1979–2013
| Top 1% | Bottom 90% | |
|---|---|---|
| 1979 | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| 1980 | 3.4% | -2.2% |
| 1981 | 3.1% | -2.6% |
| 1982 | 9.5% | -3.9% |
| 1983 | 13.6% | -3.7% |
| 1984 | 20.7% | -1.8% |
| 1985 | 23.0% | -1.0% |
| 1986 | 32.6% | 1.1% |
| 1987 | 53.5% | 2.1% |
| 1988 | 68.7% | 2.2% |
| 1989 | 63.3% | 1.8% |
| 1990 | 64.8% | 1.1% |
| 1991 | 53.6% | 0.0% |
| 1992 | 74.3% | 1.5% |
| 1993 | 67.9% | 0.9% |
| 1994 | 63.4% | 2.0% |
| 1995 | 70.2% | 2.8% |
| 1996 | 79.0% | 4.1% |
| 1997 | 100.6% | 7.0% |
| 1998 | 113.1% | 11.0% |
| 1999 | 129.7% | 13.2% |
| 2000 | 144.8% | 15.3% |
| 2001 | 130.4% | 15.7% |
| 2002 | 109.3% | 15.6% |
| 2003 | 113.9% | 15.7% |
| 2004 | 127.2% | 15.6% |
| 2005 | 135.4% | 15.0% |
| 2006 | 143.4% | 15.7% |
| 2007 | 156.2% | 16.7% |
| 2008 | 137.5% | 16.0% |
| 2009 | 116.2% | 16.0% |
| 2010 | 130.9% | 15.2% |
| 2011 | 134.1% | 14.6% |
| 2012 | 148.4% | 14.7% |
| 2013 | 137.7% | 15.2% |
Source: EPI analysis of data from Kopczuk, Saez, and Song (2010) and Social Security Administration wage statistics
Reproduced from Figure F in Raising America’s Pay: Why It’s Our Central Economic Policy Challenge
Source: EPI analysis of data from “Earnings Inequality and Mobility in the United States: Evidence from Social Security Data Since 1937,” by Wojciech Kopczuk, Emmanuel Saez, and Jae Song, The Quarterly Journal of Economics, February 2010; updated through 2013 with data from the Social Security Administration Wage Statistics database.
Reproduced from Figure F in Raising America’s Pay: Why It’s Our Central Economic Policy Challenge, by Josh Bivens, Elise Gould, Lawrence Mishel, and Heidi Shierholz, Economic Policy Institute, 2014.