HOURLY OUTPUT AND REAL COMPENSATION OF EMPLOYEES: 1909-1998
(hourly earnings in dollars, all other values are indices)
Manuf. Manuf. Business Wage Gap
Manuf. Business Average Real Real (Output CPI CPI-U
Output Output Hourly Hourly Hourly / Real (1914 (1982-84
Year per hour per hour Earnings Earnings Compens. Compens) =100) =100)
---- -------- -------- -------- -------- -------- -------- ------- -------
1909 26.9 12.8 0.19 0.21 17.4 73.4 91.3 9.1
1910 26.6 12.6 0.20 0.21 17.3 73.0 94.7 9.5
1911 25.4 12.1 0.20 0.21 17.8 68.0 95.2 9.5
1912 29.2 13.9 0.21 0.21 17.9 77.5 97.2 9.7
1913 30.6 14.6 0.21 0.22 18.1 80.3 98.9 9.9
1914 30.7 14.6 0.22 0.22 18.4 79.3 100.0 10.0
1915 34.7 16.5 0.27 0.27 22.4 73.8 101.1 10.1
1916 34.1 16.2 0.32 0.29 24.6 65.8 108.7 10.9
1917 31.7 15.1 0.37 0.29 24.3 62.2 127.7 12.8
1918 31.7 15.1 0.42 0.28 23.4 64.3 150.0 15.0
1919 30.2 14.4 0.47 0.27 22.8 63.0 172.5 17.3
1920 32.0 15.2 0.55 0.28 23.1 66.0 199.7 20.0
1921 36.9 17.5 0.51 0.29 24.0 73.2 178.1 17.8
1922 41.8 19.9 0.48 0.29 24.1 82.6 166.9 16.7
1923 40.2 19.1 0.52 0.31 25.6 74.5 169.7 17.0
1924 42.8 20.4 0.54 0.32 26.5 76.7 170.3 17.0
1925 45.6 21.7 0.54 0.31 25.9 83.9 174.8 17.5
1926 46.5 22.1 0.54 0.31 25.7 86.2 176.2 17.6
1927 47.6 22.6 0.54 0.31 26.2 86.5 172.8 17.3
1928 49.7 23.6 0.56 0.33 27.4 86.2 170.9 17.1
1929 52.0 24.7 0.56 0.33 27.4 90.2 170.9 17.1
1930 52.3 24.9 0.55 0.33 27.7 89.9 166.4 16.6
1931 54.0 25.7 0.51 0.34 28.2 91.1 151.5 15.2
1932 50.5 24.0 0.44 0.32 27.1 88.7 136.1 13.6
1933 54.9 26.1 0.44 0.34 28.6 91.3 128.8 12.9
1934 57.4 27.3 0.53 0.40 33.3 82.0 133.3 13.3
1935 61.2 29.1 0.54 0.40 33.1 88.0 136.7 13.7
1936 61.6 29.3 0.55 0.40 33.3 87.9 138.1 13.8
1937 60.7 28.9 0.62 0.43 36.3 79.6 143.1 14.3
1938 59.9 28.5 0.62 0.44 36.9 77.2 140.6 14.1
1939 65.4 31.1 0.63 0.46 38.1 81.6 138.4 13.8
1940 68.7 32.7 0.66 0.47 39.6 82.5 139.5 14.0
1941 71.2 33.9 0.73 0.50 41.7 81.2 146.5 14.7
1942 72.4 34.4 0.85 0.52 43.8 78.6 162.5 16.3
1943 73.4 34.9 0.96 0.56 46.6 74.9 172.5 17.3
1944 72.5 34.5 1.01 0.58 48.2 71.5 175.3 17.5
1945 71.5 34.0 1.02 0.57 47.6 71.4 179.3 17.9
1946 65.8 31.3 1.08 0.56 46.5 67.3 194.4 19.4
1947 69.6 33.1 1.22 0.55 45.9 72.2 222.7 22.3
1948 72.1 34.3 1.33 0.56 46.5 73.8 239.5 24.0
1949 74.9 35.6 1.38 0.58 48.7 73.1 237.2 23.7
1950 81.4 38.7 1.44 0.60 50.3 76.9 239.5 24.0
1951 81.3 38.7 1.56 0.60 50.5 76.5 258.5 25.9
1952 83.0 39.5 1.65 0.62 52.2 75.6 264.4 26.4
1953 86.9 41.3 1.74 0.65 54.6 75.7 266.7 26.7
1954 88.3 42.0 1.78 0.67 55.7 75.4 267.5 26.8
1955 94.9 45.1 1.86 0.70 58.3 77.4 266.9 26.7
1956 96.5 45.9 1.95 0.72 60.2 76.2 270.9 27.1
1957 97.6 46.4 2.05 0.73 61.2 75.8 280.3 28.0
1958 100.0 47.6 2.11 0.73 61.3 77.5 287.9 28.9
1959 106.2 50.5 2.19 0.75 63.1 80.0 290.5 29.1
1960 108.8 51.4 2.26 0.77 64.7 79.4 294.9 29.6
1961 112.6 53.2 2.32 0.78 66.6 79.9 299.0 29.9
1962 116.6 55.7 2.39 0.79 68.9 80.8 302.0 30.2
1963 121.5 57.9 2.46 0.80 70.6 82.0 306.0 30.6
1964 125.6 60.6 2.53 0.82 73.3 82.7 310.0 31.0
1965 131.0 62.7 2.61 0.83 74.8 83.8 315.0 31.5
1966 134.2 65.2 2.72 0.84 77.6 84.0 324.0 32.4
1967 135.0 66.6 2.83 0.85 79.5 83.8 334.0 33.4
1968 142.0 68.9 3.01 0.86 82.5 83.5 348.0 34.8
1969 145.7 69.2 3.19 0.87 83.8 82.6 367.0 36.7
1970 70.6 3.36 0.87 85.4 82.7 388.0 38.8
1971 73.6 87.1 84.5 40.5
1972 76.0 89.6 84.8 41.8
1973 78.4 91.6 85.6 44.4
1974 77.1 90.6 85.1 49.3
1975 79.8 91.5 87.2 53.8
1976 82.5 94.1 87.7 56.9
1977 84.0 95.3 88.1 60.6
1978 84.9 96.5 88.0 65.2
1979 84.5 95.0 88.9 72.6
1980 84.2 92.8 90.7 82.4
1981 85.8 92.1 93.2 90.9
1982 85.3 93.2 91.5 96.5
1983 88.0 94.0 93.6 99.6
1984 90.2 94.1 95.9 103.9
1985 91.7 95.3 96.2 107.6
1986 94.1 98.4 95.6 109.6
1987 94.0 98.6 95.3 113.6
1988 94.7 99.1 95.6 118.3
1989 95.5 97.2 98.3 124.0
1990 96.1 97.4 98.7 130.7
1991 96.7 98.0 98.7 136.2
1992 100.0 100.0 100.0 140.3
1993 100.1 99.5 100.6 144.5
1994 100.7 98.8 101.9 148.2
1995 101.0 98.4 102.6 152.4
1996 103.7 99.0 104.7 156.9
1997 105.4 100.5 104.9 160.5
1998 107.6 102.9 104.5 163.0
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note: The indices from 1909 to 1958 are not directly comparable to those from
1959 to 1998 due to differences in definition;
pre-1959 output was converted by multiplying by 1959 ratio of 0.4755179;
pre-1959 earnings were converted by multiplying by 1959 ratio of 83.70114;
pre-1958 CPI (1914=100) was converted by multiplying by 0.1;
Manuf. Average Hourly Earnings from 1910-1913 and 1915-1918 were obtained
via interpolation; Manuf. Real Hourly Earnings are in 1914 dollars;
1998 Output and Compensation values are the average of first 3 quarters
Source: 1999 Economic Report of the President, Tables B-49 and B-60
(online at http://www.access.gpo.gov/usbudget/fy2000/erp.html);
Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1970,
Series D 685, D 727, D 802
================================================================================
INDEX VALUE AVERAGE ANNUAL CHANGE (percent)
--------------------------------- --------------------------------------
Output Real CPI-U Output Real CPI-U
per Hourly Wage (1982-84 per Hourly Wage 1982-84
Year hour Comp. Gap =100) hour Comp. Gap =100) Decade
---- ------- ------- ------- ------- ------ ------ ------ ------ ------
1910 12.6 17.3 73.0 9.5
1920 15.2 23.1 66.0 20.0 2.03 3.31 -0.96 11.09 1910's
1930 24.9 27.7 89.9 16.6 6.34 2.00 3.62 -1.67 1920's
1940 32.7 39.6 82.5 14.0 3.14 4.31 -0.82 -1.62 1930's
1950 38.7 50.3 76.9 24.0 1.85 2.71 -0.68 7.17 1940's
1960 51.4 64.7 79.4 29.6 3.28 2.86 0.33 2.36 1950's
1970 70.6 85.4 82.7 38.8 3.74 3.20 0.41 3.11 1960's
1980 84.2 92.8 90.7 82.4 1.93 0.87 0.98 11.24 1970's
1990 96.1 97.4 98.7 130.7 1.41 0.50 0.87 5.86 1980's
1998 107.6 102.9 104.5 163.0 1.49 0.71 0.74 3.09 1990's
Note: average annual change is total percent change divided by number of years
Source: previous table
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