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True Weekly Earnings

LISEP’s measure of the weekly earnings of all members of the workforce

For every dollar of earnings reported by the BLS,
the TWE is ...
For every dollar
earned by White workers
Black workers earn ...
For every dollar
earned by White workers
Hispanic workers earn ...
For every dollar
earned by male workers
female workers earn ...
Using data compiled by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS),we calculate the median earnings of everyone who is employed or actively seeking employment. Thus, we take the median earnings of the whole U.S. labor force as defined by the BLS.
By comparison, the BLS headline numbers only include those who are employed at full-time jobs. Thus, if a low-income worker moves from full time to part time, or becomes unemployed, the BLS metric will report that earnings have risen, giving a false sense that earnings are getting better. TWE, on the other hand, gives policymakers access to a more comprehensive indicator of how the job market is performing as a whole.
Note: Both LISEP and BLS exclude the self-employed from their sample for measurement reasons.
True
Weekly Earnings
The True Weekly Earnings (TWE), as defined by LISEP, measures the weekly earnings of all members of the workforce — including part time and jobless who are seeking work.
True Weekly Earnings
vs. Headline Weekly Earnings
$
927
True Earnings
$
1,100
Headline Earnings
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$
48,194
True Earnings
$
57,200
Headline Earnings
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True Weekly Earnings
vs. Gross Domestic Product
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True Weekly Earnings
By Income Group*
$580
Bottom Quartile
$
927
Median
$1,550
Third Quartile
$2,485
Ninth Decile
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*
In the graph above, first quartile refers to the exact person at the 25th percentile in the distribution. So this person has earnings higher than 25% of the population and lower than 75%. Third quartile refers to the person that has earnings higher than 75% of the population and lower than 25%. Ninth decile refers to the person with earnings higher than 90% and lower than 10% of the population. Note that this does not mean that the ninth decile is the average of the top 10%; rather, it is the exact 90th percentile earner.
$30,134
Bottom Quartile
$
48,194
Median
$80,618
Third Quartile
$129,208
Ninth Decile
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True Weekly Earnings
By Race
$766
Black
$732
Hispanic
$1,024
White
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$39,848
Black
$38,081
Hispanic
$53,263
White
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True Weekly Earnings
Earnings Gap: Black and Hispanic vs. White Workers
For every dollar earned by White workers, Black and Hispanic workers earn ...
75¢
Black
71¢
Hispanic
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True Weekly Earnings
By Sex
$814
Female
$1,023
Male
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$42,327
Female
$53,220
Male
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True Weekly Earnings
Earnings Gap: Female vs. Male Workers
For every dollar earned by male workers, female workers earn ...
80¢
Female
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True Weekly Earnings
By Education
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$614
No High School
$776
High School Diploma
$900
Some College
$1,354
Bachelors Degree
$1,731
Advanced Degree
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$31,912
No High School
$40,347
High School Diploma
$46,798
Some College
$70,410
Bachelors Degree
$90,011
Advanced Degree
True Weekly Earnings
Growth by Education
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11%
No High School
-8%
High School Diploma
-9%
Some College
2%
Bachelors Degree
3%
Advanced Degree
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