>A question for you economists. I'm working on an article about an
>early 20th century U.S. artist. I know that he earned $10,000 in
>1919; $15,000 in 1921; and $22,500 in 1925. I know this is a large
>salary for that era but I'd like to be able to place the figures in
>some sort of context. Was he on the top 10% or the top 1%? Is there
>any reliable source that tracks average salaries in 20th century
>America. Thanks. Jeet
Just on the basis of the CPI, that would be $108,283, $156,970, and $240,388 respectively in 2004 dollars. Such long comparisons with price indexes are theoretically questionable, but that's the best we've got.
Another way of comparing: the annual earnings are 9, 13, and 18 times average manufacturing earnings in those years (estimated at 52 * average weekly earnings). 18 times (52 * average weekly earnings) in mfg today would be $616,281. So this dude was raking it in.
I don't know of any good series on top 1% earnings, but if anyone had it, it would be Ed Wolff at NYU.
Doug