Economic Snapshot

Wage Inequality Has Dramatically Increased Among Both Men and Women Over the Last 35 Years: Wage gap* between the 95th and 50th percentiles,** by gender, 1979–2013

Year Men Women
1979 2.16000203377044 2.16696638811092
1980 2.13239253849087 2.17842907673584
1981 2.22267708540181 2.20159240224527
1982 2.28188904863928 2.28063999021255
1983 2.38583577939439 2.25486442893318
1984 2.42626817907785 2.30697817773575
1985 2.51980566875859 2.37222329766906
1986 2.38517655386417 2.36036942701383
1987 2.47505555545088 2.35835497173599
1988 2.52758106800385 2.41848219645524
1989 2.48058540806365 2.44083757522531
1990 2.52732205883967 2.46695987969120
1991 2.55984048310182 2.48755495563991
1992 2.59993346605182 2.52364971566342
1993 2.67169359696726 2.55978093717350
1994 2.72377438038102 2.65283585032004
1995 2.67686870547234 2.67168218773088
1996 2.69996088233505 2.67856814253865
1997 2.74923171623923 2.61539322116621
1998 2.70457316120159 2.65482010217037
1999 2.71305626464836 2.71584116140051
2000 2.77129941881323 2.68553262359794
2001 2.80842115407119 2.70727581855150
2002 2.85211633254439 2.71104136515095
2003 2.89131750264325 2.74245758675623
2004 2.98904858339396 2.74854269425405
2005 2.96743168839806 2.79650740888129
2006 2.97909143927831 2.82498263941306
2007 2.96974372059077 2.81150308534172
2008 3.03328307561370 2.82886564849457
2009 3.10127287934964 2.83282883921280
2010 3.15014199633814 2.90434433590030
2011 3.13875514362642 2.91113738504222
2012 3.31760530901212 2.98678667379792
2013 3.30995325022422 3.02104038332169
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* Ratio of workers' wages at the higher earnings percentile to workers' wages at the lower percentile

** The xth-percentile wage is the wage at which x% of wage earners earn less and (100-x)% earn more.

Source: Authors' analysis of Current Population Survey Outgoing Rotation Group microdata

UPDATED FROM: Figure 4M in The State of Working America, 12th Edition, an Economic Policy Institute book published by Cornell University Press in 2012

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