>I'm puzzled by the way these numbers work out.
>
>The top 20% of households in 1998 was $127,000.
>
>The 90%tile of workers in 1999 was 52%. Assuming
>that a household has two wage earners in a similar
>earnings basis (which is certainly >not< valid
>in the real world) that makes the top 10%tile averaging
>104,000 a year. It would also make the top 20%tile
>making about 78,000 a year.
>
>The number also seem awfully low in my opinion.
You mean the wage numbers seem lots lower than the overall income numbers? People at the high end have lots of nonwage income - like interest, dividends, and capital gains. Also, people above the 90th percentile make *lots* of money, which pulls up the averages.
Doug