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Income growth

Wednesday 21st of January 2026

Income growth An analysis of American wage growth by economists at the New York Federal Reserve showed that the bulk of earnings growth took place between the ages of 25 and 35; on average, after the age of 45 only the top 2% of lifetime earners see any earnings growth. So it is vital for people to move quickly into work once qualified and to hold on to jobs once they get them. Economist, January 14, 2017 © 2017 Kwiple.com
Income growth Average pretax incomes, 1970 to 2000 Group 1970-2000 % change Bottom $27,060 90% $27,035 −0.1% Top 90% $80,148 to 95% $103,860 +29.6% Top 95% $115,472 to 99% $178,067 +54.2% Top 99% $202,792 to 99.5% $384,192 +89.5% Top 99.5% $317,582 to 99.9% $777,450 +144.8% Top 99.9% $722,480 to 99,99% $3,049,226 +322.0% Top 13,400 $3,641,285 households $23,969,767 +558.3%  In 2000 dollars. Based on data from Thomas Piketty and Emmanuel Saez © 2016 Kwiple.com
Income growth Average weekly wages for America's production workers were actually lower in December 2020 ($860) than they had been, after adjusting for inflation, in December 1972 ($902 in today’s money). Nicholas Kristof, New York Times, May 1, 2021 © 2021 Kwiple.com
Income growth Between 1978 and 2011,  CEO compensation grew by 876 percent, while that of the typical private-sector worker rose by just 5.4 percent. Ronald P. Formisano, Pluutocracy in America © 2017 Kwiple.com
Income growth Between 1979 and 2007, income growth in the United States — all of it! — went to the richest 10 percent of earners; the  remaining 90 percent saw their income fall. Examining the distribition of gains, the Congressional Budget Office found that the  income of the top 1 percent rose by 275 percent between 1979 and 2007, after federal taxes and government transfer payments such as Social Security. Over the same period, the incomes of the broad middle class — the 60 percent of the population in the middle of the income scale — grew by only 40 percent. And the bottom quintile fared the worst, rising by only 18 percent. Joshua Green, in Rebels © 2024 Kwiple.com
Income growth Democratic administrations have since 1948 presided over income gains that dimish as you move up  the income scale, while Republican administrations have presided over income gains that diminish as you move down the income scale. Timothy Noah, The Great Divergence © 2015 Kwiple.com
Income growth Despite the robust figures [for hiring by US companies] , year-on-year wage growth flatlined at 2.7 percent. The latest year-on-year reading for the consumer price index is 2.9 per cent, meaning that even as they report shortages of candidates, companies are increasing pay more slowly than the cost of living is rising. Financial Times, August 5-6, 2018 © 2017 Kwiple.com
Income growth I'll tell you a story. In 1981, when I was in college, I worked as a casual dockworker, a teamster job. I made $13.13 an hour. My mom knew the terminal manager. I could call him up and get two-day weekend shifts. You know, favored. I went back there five years ago. You know what they started me at? Ten-fifty. Thirty ’effin years later! It's bullshit. Prnnsylvania construction worker quoted in The Gilded Rage, by ALexander Zaitchik © 2016 Kwiple.com
Income growth If there is an explanation as to why U.S. middle-class incomes have stagnated this is it: whatever jobs the United States is able to create are in the least efficient parts of the economy, the types that neither computers, nor China, have yet found a way of eliminating. That trend is starting to lap at the feet of more educated American workers. Edward Luce, Time to Start Thinking  © 2017 Kwiple.com
 
Where did income growth go? 1935 to 1997 to 1980 2012  To top 1 % 7 % 72 % To 95–99 % 12 % 19 % To 90–95 % 11 % 9 % To bottom 90 % 70 % 0 % TOTAL: 100 % 100 %  The trickle-up truth; not the trickle-down bullshit. (Based on Economic Policy Institute data) (0 % represents average decline of $2,868) © 2015 Kwiple.com