Contribution of hours versus hourly wages to annual wage growth for working-age households, by income group, selected years, 1979–2007 (2011 dollars)

						Change
	1979	1989	1995	2000	2007	1979– 1989	1989– 1995	1995– 2000	2000– 2007	1979– 2007
Real average annual wages
All	$59,723	$65,858	$70,210	$78,883	$78,768	9.8%	6.4%	11.6%	-0.1%	27.7%
Bottom fifth	14,596	14,855	14,346	17,090	16,507	1.8	-3.5	17.5	-3.5	12.3
Second fifth	32,792	33,773	32,700	36,817	35,980	2.9	-3.2	11.9	-2.3	9.3
Middle fifth	49,260	51,729	50,561	56,335	55,560	4.9	-2.3	10.8	-1.4	12.0
Fourth fifth	66,410	71,972	72,651	80,791	81,220	8.0	0.9	10.6	0.5	20.1
80th–<95th percentile	91,395	103,913	107,185	120,541	123,076	12.8	3.1	11.7	2.1	29.8
Top 5 percent	128,656	159,249	219,365	264,547	254,701	21.3	32.0	18.7	-3.8	68.3
Annual hours worked
All	3,092	3,286	3,317	3,378	3,314	6.1%	0.9%	1.8%	-1.9%	6.9%
Bottom fifth	1,716	1,884	1,837	1,977	1,880	9.4	-2.5	7.4	-5.0	9.2
Second fifth	2,543	2,797	2,811	2,908	2,787	9.5	0.5	3.4	-4.2	9.2
Middle fifth	3,007	3,273	3,323	3,395	3,335	8.5	1.5	2.2	-1.8	10.3
Fourth fifth	3,424	3,604	3,688	3,774	3,719	5.1	2.3	2.3	-1.5	8.3
80th–<95th percentile	3,816	3,976	4,005	4,035	3,997	4.1	0.7	0.7	-0.9	4.6
Top 5 percent	3,939	4,069	4,057	3,984	4,013	3.2	-0.3	-1.8	0.7	1.9
Real average hourly wages
All	$19.32	$20.04	$21.17	$23.35	$23.77	3.7%	5.5%	9.8%	1.8%	20.8%
Bottom fifth	8.51	7.88	7.81	8.64	8.78	-7.6	-0.9	10.1	1.6	3.2
Second fifth	12.90	12.07	11.63	12.66	12.91	-6.6	-3.7	8.5	1.9	0.1
Middle fifth	$16.38	$15.81	$15.22	$16.59	$16.66	-3.6%	-3.8%	8.7%	0.4%	1.7%
Fourth fifth	19.40	19.97	19.70	21.41	21.84	2.9	-1.4	8.3	2.0	11.8
80th–<95th percentile	23.95	26.14	26.76	29.87	30.79	8.7	2.4	11.0	3.0	25.1
Top 5 percent	32.66	39.14	54.07	66.40	63.47	18.1	32.3	20.5	-4.5	66.4
Contributions to annual wage growth
Hours worked
All						62.3%	14.5%	15.8%	1321.3%	25.0%
Bottom fifth						531.5	73.0	42.2	145.4	74.4
Second fifth						323.8	-15.4	28.6	184.7	99.0
Middle fifth						173.0	-66.2	20.0	130.1	85.9
Fourth fifth						63.9	245.3	21.7	-276.5	41.1
80th–<95th percentile						31.9	23.7	6.3	-45.0	15.6
Top 5 percent						15.2	-0.9	-9.7	-19.0	2.7
Hourly wages
All						37.7%	85.5%	84.2%	-1221.3%	75.0%
Bottom fifth						-431.5	27.0	57.8	-45.4	25.6
Second fifth						-223.8	115.4	71.4	-84.7	1.0
Middle fifth						-73.0	166.2	80.0	-30.1	14.1
Fourth fifth						36.1	-145.3	78.3	376.5	58.9
80th–<95th percentile						68.1	76.3	93.7	145.0	84.4
Top 5 percent						84.8	100.9	109.7	119.0	97.3

Note: Income groups refer to working-age households in various sections of the income distribution as measured by money income. Percentage changes are approximated by taking the difference of natural logs of wages and hours.

Source: Authors' analysis of the Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplement microdata

Documentation and methodology

Underlying data are from Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplement microdata; see Appendix A for details. Households are ranked in the same way as in the Congressional Budget Office data—by household income divided by the square root of household size. Average annual wages and annual hours worked for each income group are then calculated, and a household average for hourly wages is calculated by dividing annual wages by annual hours. Data are inflated to 2011 dollars using the CPI-U-RS.