Chart Detail
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.