Wage growth was fastest among lower-wage workers in every quarter: Real year-over-year quarterly composition-adjusted wage growth by percentile, March 2020–February 2022
| Percentile | March–May | June–August | September–November | December–February |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5th | 0.3% | 0.5% | 0.4% | 0.7% |
| 10th | 0.4% | 0.6% | 0.8% | 1.2% |
| 15th | 0.2% | 0.4% | 0.8% | 1.2% |
| 20th | 0.0% | -0.1% | 0.7% | 0.9% |
| 25th | -0.3% | -0.8% | 0.5% | 0.5% |
| 30th | -0.5% | -1.4% | 0.2% | 0.0% |
| 35th | -0.7% | -2.2% | -0.1% | -0.6% |
| 40th | -0.8% | -2.9% | -0.4% | -1.3% |
| 45th | -0.9% | -3.6% | -0.6% | -1.8% |
| 50th | -0.9% | -4.2% | -0.8% | -2.2% |
| 55th | -0.8% | -4.5% | -1.1% | -2.7% |
| 60th | -0.7% | -4.7% | -1.4% | -3.1% |
| 65th | -0.5% | -4.9% | -1.7% | -3.4% |
| 70th | -0.5% | -5.0% | -1.9% | -3.7% |
| 75th | -0.5% | -5.1% | -2.2% | -3.9% |
| 80th | -0.6% | -5.0% | -2.4% | -3.9% |
| 85th | -0.8% | -5.1% | -2.5% | -3.9% |
| 90th | -1.2% | -5.1% | -2.5% | -3.7% |
Notes: March–May compares March 2020–May 2020 wages with March 2021–May 2021 wages. June–August compares June 2020–August 2020 wages with June 2021–August 2021 wages. September–November compares September 2020–November 2020 wages with September 2021–November 2021 wages. December–February compares December 2020–February 2021 wages with December 2021–February 2022 wages. The wage data in each period is compositionally adjusted to the relevant pre-pandemic period; for instance, March 2019–May 2019 composition adjustment is applied to the March 2020—May 2020 and the March 2021—May 2021 wage levels. Wages are adjusted for inflation to February 2022 dollars using the CPI-U-RS. Wage changes are available only up to the 90th percentile because of topcoding issues (see Gould, deCourcy, and Mokhiber 2022).
Source: Authors’ analysis of Current Population Survey Outgoing Rotation Group microdata, EPI Current Population Survey Extracts, Version 1.0.27 (2022), https://microdata.epi.org.