Real hourly wages and wage gaps at the 10th, 50th, and 95th percentiles by race, 1979–2015
| 10th percentile | 50th percentile | 95th percentile | Percentile wage ratios | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| White | Black | Black-white wage gap | White | Black | Black-white wage gap | White | Black | Black-white wage gap | White 95th-to-50th | Black 95th-to-50th | |
| 1979 | $9.24 | $8.90 | 3.6% | $16.89 | $13.89 | 17.7% | $39.08 | $30.84 | 21.1% | 2.3 | 2.2 |
| 1989 | $8.08 | $7.20 | 10.8% | $16.79 | $13.45 | 19.9% | $42.65 | $32.46 | 23.9% | 2.5 | 2.4 |
| 1995 | $8.19 | $7.60 | 7.1% | $16.89 | $13.24 | 21.6% | $44.58 | $34.07 | 23.6% | 2.6 | 2.6 |
| 2000 | $9.23 | $8.36 | 9.4% | $18.15 | $14.46 | 20.3% | $50.03 | $35.91 | 28.2% | 2.8 | 2.5 |
| 2007 | $9.19 | $8.52 | 7.4% | $19.01 | $14.47 | 23.9% | $54.80 | $39.50 | 27.9% | 2.9 | 2.7 |
| 2015 | $9.30 | $8.20 | 11.8% | $19.17 | $14.14 | 26.2% | $61.12 | $42.07 | 31.2% | 3.2 | 3.0 |
| Percent change | |||||||||||
| 1979–1989 | -14.3% | -23.6% | 66.4% | -0.6% | -3.2% | 10.6% | 8.4% | 5.0% | 11.8% | ||
| 1989–1995 | 1.3% | 5.3% | -52.0% | 0.6% | -1.6% | 8.0% | 4.3% | 4.7% | -1.3% | ||
| 1995–2000 | 11.3% | 9.0% | 24.1% | 6.9% | 8.4% | -6.3% | 10.9% | 5.1% | 16.5% | ||
| 2000–2007 | -0.4% | 1.8% | -27.7% | 4.5% | 0.1% | 14.9% | 8.7% | 9.1% | -1.1% | ||
| 2007–2015 | 1.2% | -3.8% | 37.9% | 0.8% | -2.3% | 9.0% | 10.3% | 6.1% | 10.4% | ||
| 1979–2015 | 0.7% | -8.5% | 69.3% | 11.9% | 1.8% | 32.4% | 36.1% | 26.7% | 32.3% | ||
Note: The wage gap is the percent by which black wages lag white wages.
Source: EPI analysis of Current Population Survey (CPS) Outgoing Rotation Group microdata