Wage trends for telecommunications workers and nontelecommunications workers, by wage percentile, select periods, 1973 to 2019
| 1973–1979 | 1983–1986 | 2003–2006 | 2016–2019 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Telecommunications workers | ||||
| Percentile | Per hour (constant 2019$) | |||
| 10th | $14.29 | $13.99 | $12.82 | $12.55 |
| 50th | $23.13 | $26.51 | $27.77 | $27.59 |
| 90th | $38.08 | $44.54 | $53.61 | $61.32 |
| Wage relative to early (1973–1979) period | ||||
| 10th | 100.0 | 97.9 | 89.7 | 87.8 |
| 50th | 100.0 | 114.6 | 120.1 | 119.3 |
| 90th | 100.0 | 117.0 | 140.8 | 161.0 |
| All other workers (excluding telecommunications) | ||||
| Percentile | Per hour (constant 2019$) | |||
| 10th | $9.20 | $8.23 | $9.39 | $10.07 |
| 50th | $16.84 | $16.60 | $18.30 | $18.99 |
| 90th | $33.35 | $34.32 | $42.31 | $47.91 |
| Wage relative to early (1973–1979) period | ||||
| 10th | 100.0 | 89.5 | 102.1 | 109.5 |
| 50th | 100.0 | 98.6 | 108.7 | 112.8 |
| 90th | 100.0 | 102.9 | 126.8 | 143.6 |
Source: EPI analysis of Current Population Survey data (EPI 2020). Wages are adjusted for inflation using the CPI-U-RS (BLS 2020a).