Socialist Security #1

Doug Henwood dhenwood at panix.com
Thu Jul 23 15:51:18 PDT 1998


Tom Lehman wrote:


>Any good guesses out there on the number of Americans with incomes of
>over $68,400 a year. Number of households with incomes of over $68,400
>a year. Percentage of civilian workforce with incomes of over $68,400
>a year; based on a workforce of ____(what number) and why.

Max's colleagues at EPI say that the 90th percentile of the wage distribution earned $24.73 in the first half of this year (about $21 for women and $27 for men). $68,400 works out to an hourly of almost $33, or 33% above the 90th percentile. So I'd say we're talking about the top 5-7% of workers. There's a nifty chart of real earnings from 1973-98 for men and women at the 1st, 5th, and 9th deciles in LBO #84, now on press. Nice recent wage gains, led by the bottom, but there's a long way to go.

Doug



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