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Compensation of employees (United States)
Adults | Equal-split adults | Share

[Show terminology]

Age	Description
Children	The population is comprised of individuals below age 20.
Adults	The population is comprised of individuals over age 20.
All Ages	The population is comprised of individuals of all ages.

Population	Description
Female	The population looked at is comprised of female individuals only.
Male	The population looked at is comprised of male individuals only.
Individuals	The base unit is the individual (rather than the household). This is equivalent to assuming no sharing of resources within couples.
Equal-split adults	The base unit is the individual (rather than the household) but resources are split equally within couples.
Tax unit	The base unit is the tax unit defined by national fiscal administrations to measure personal income taxes.

Type	Description
Average	The annual income (or wealth) average within a given group percentile.
Shares	The income (or wealth) share held by a given group percentile.
Thresholds	The minimum income (or wealth) level required to belong to a given group percentile.

Group percentiles	Description
All	Does not separate the population based on the indicator in question (e.g. income or wealth)
Top 1%	Top 1% of the population based on the indicator in question (e.g. income or wealth)
Top 10%	Top 10% of the population based on the indicator in question (e.g. income or wealth)
Bottom 90%	Bottom 90% of the population based on the indicator in question (e.g. income or wealth)
Bottom 50%	Bottom 50% of the population based on the indicator in question (e.g. income or wealth)
...and so on...

Compensation of employees is the total remuneration, in cash or in kind, paid by employers to employees in return for work done.

For the Top 1% of the population (1913-1961)
For the Top 10% of the population (1913-1961)
For the Bottom 90% of the population (1913-1961)
For the Bottom 50% of the population (1913-1961)
Available series for this indicator

Chart for the Top 1% of the population (1913-1961)

[Show data]

Year	Top 1%	Unit
1913	1.75	Share (%)
1914	1.71	Share (%)
1915	1.65	Share (%)
1916	1.90	Share (%)
1917	2.36	Share (%)
1918	2.50	Share (%)
1919	2.44	Share (%)
1920	2.49	Share (%)
1921	3.15	Share (%)
1922	3.05	Share (%)
1923	2.91	Share (%)
1924	3.20	Share (%)
1925	3.18	Share (%)
1926	3.22	Share (%)
1927	3.45	Share (%)
1928	3.59	Share (%)
1929	3.19	Share (%)
1930	3.27	Share (%)
1931	3.63	Share (%)
1932	4.49	Share (%)
1933	4.68	Share (%)
1934	4.43	Share (%)
1935	4.10	Share (%)
1936	4.12	Share (%)
1937	3.73	Share (%)
1938	3.89	Share (%)
1939	3.80	Share (%)
1940	3.89	Share (%)
1941	3.41	Share (%)
1942	2.45	Share (%)
1943	1.53	Share (%)
1944	1.50	Share (%)
1945	1.59	Share (%)
1946	1.97	Share (%)
1947	1.92	Share (%)
1948	2.05	Share (%)
1949	2.20	Share (%)
1950	2.13	Share (%)
1951	1.92	Share (%)
1952	1.72	Share (%)
1953	1.71	Share (%)
1954	1.73	Share (%)
1955	1.61	Share (%)
1956	1.63	Share (%)
1957	1.64	Share (%)
1958	1.66	Share (%)
1959	1.58	Share (%)
1960	1.56	Share (%)
1961	1.52	Share (%)

Chart for the Top 10% of the population (1913-1961)

[Show data]

Year	Top 10%	Unit
1913	10.30	Share (%)
1914	9.95	Share (%)
1915	9.87	Share (%)
1916	10.86	Share (%)
1917	10.00	Share (%)
1918	10.05	Share (%)
1919	9.61	Share (%)
1920	10.36	Share (%)
1921	14.60	Share (%)
1922	13.85	Share (%)
1923	10.36	Share (%)
1924	11.09	Share (%)
1925	10.61	Share (%)
1926	10.58	Share (%)
1927	11.51	Share (%)
1928	12.74	Share (%)
1929	11.32	Share (%)
1930	12.47	Share (%)
1931	14.35	Share (%)
1932	17.82	Share (%)
1933	17.28	Share (%)
1934	17.64	Share (%)
1935	16.10	Share (%)
1936	16.00	Share (%)
1937	16.24	Share (%)
1938	17.04	Share (%)
1939	17.82	Share (%)
1940	18.16	Share (%)
1941	14.97	Share (%)
1942	11.39	Share (%)
1943	9.07	Share (%)
1944	10.52	Share (%)
1945	10.34	Share (%)
1946	10.37	Share (%)
1947	9.71	Share (%)
1948	10.92	Share (%)
1949	12.08	Share (%)
1950	11.89	Share (%)
1951	11.21	Share (%)
1952	11.20	Share (%)
1953	11.41	Share (%)
1954	11.52	Share (%)
1955	11.20	Share (%)
1956	11.29	Share (%)
1957	11.38	Share (%)
1958	12.03	Share (%)
1959	11.59	Share (%)
1960	11.68	Share (%)
1961	11.98	Share (%)

Chart for the Bottom 90% of the population (1913-1961)

[Show data]

Year	Bottom 90%	Unit
1913	44.22	Share (%)
1914	43.44	Share (%)
1915	43.95	Share (%)
1916	43.34	Share (%)
1917	43.29	Share (%)
1918	45.79	Share (%)
1919	44.79	Share (%)
1920	45.51	Share (%)
1921	41.24	Share (%)
1922	42.92	Share (%)
1923	46.17	Share (%)
1924	44.68	Share (%)
1925	44.29	Share (%)
1926	44.39	Share (%)
1927	44.89	Share (%)
1928	43.36	Share (%)
1929	44.23	Share (%)
1930	45.52	Share (%)
1931	46.34	Share (%)
1932	45.59	Share (%)
1933	46.79	Share (%)
1934	45.26	Share (%)
1935	43.82	Share (%)
1936	44.51	Share (%)
1937	43.66	Share (%)
1938	43.85	Share (%)
1939	43.03	Share (%)
1940	41.44	Share (%)
1941	43.30	Share (%)
1942	47.93	Share (%)
1943	52.43	Share (%)
1944	52.74	Share (%)
1945	54.21	Share (%)
1946	52.53	Share (%)
1947	52.53	Share (%)
1948	49.65	Share (%)
1949	49.86	Share (%)
1950	48.83	Share (%)
1951	50.07	Share (%)
1952	51.56	Share (%)
1953	52.36	Share (%)
1954	51.47	Share (%)
1955	50.45	Share (%)
1956	51.36	Share (%)
1957	51.44	Share (%)
1958	50.90	Share (%)
1959	50.44	Share (%)
1960	50.71	Share (%)
1961	50.08	Share (%)

Chart for the Bottom 50% of the population (1913-1961)

[Show data]

Year	Bottom 50%	Unit
1913	11.73	Share (%)
1914	11.52	Share (%)
1915	11.67	Share (%)
1916	11.48	Share (%)
1917	11.51	Share (%)
1918	12.06	Share (%)
1919	11.90	Share (%)
1920	12.07	Share (%)
1921	10.85	Share (%)
1922	11.32	Share (%)
1923	12.20	Share (%)
1924	11.66	Share (%)
1925	11.51	Share (%)
1926	11.53	Share (%)
1927	11.68	Share (%)
1928	11.31	Share (%)
1929	11.54	Share (%)
1930	11.80	Share (%)
1931	11.91	Share (%)
1932	11.67	Share (%)
1933	11.99	Share (%)
1934	11.69	Share (%)
1935	11.68	Share (%)
1936	11.94	Share (%)
1937	11.73	Share (%)
1938	11.76	Share (%)
1939	11.54	Share (%)
1940	11.26	Share (%)
1941	11.87	Share (%)
1942	14.72	Share (%)
1943	16.12	Share (%)
1944	16.21	Share (%)
1945	13.26	Share (%)
1946	14.26	Share (%)
1947	14.38	Share (%)
1948	14.14	Share (%)
1949	13.82	Share (%)
1950	14.05	Share (%)
1951	14.83	Share (%)
1952	15.42	Share (%)
1953	15.70	Share (%)
1954	14.96	Share (%)
1955	14.97	Share (%)
1956	15.41	Share (%)
1957	15.37	Share (%)
1958	14.53	Share (%)
1959	14.33	Share (%)
1960	14.33	Share (%)
1961	13.75	Share (%)

Available series for this indicator (Compensation of employees)

Adults | Equal-split adults | Share

We source all the data from the World Inequality Database.