Growth of Income Inequality

Finally lets breakdown the Top 1% of income earners into three groups (99.0th to 99.5th, 99.5th to 99.9th, and 99.9th to 100th percentiles). The last group is graphed in red and shows the share of income going to the Top 0.1%. Their income share begins with a high of over 8% of total income then dropping below 5% and jumping back up to over 7%.

It is much more volatility than the next highest .4% (99.5th to 99.9th in lavender) or the lower .5% (99.0th to 99.5th in yellow)

Datasource: Excel file produced by Emmanual Saez and Thomas Piketty

Taking a closer look at the share of income going to the Top 5%, we see that the more dramatic change in the income share can be found among the Top 1% of income earners. Beginning with a high of almost 20% of total income of the United States going to the Top 1% then dropping to a low of 8% and creeping back up to 17%.

At the same time the share going to other 4% is more consistent, between 13% to 15%.

Datasource: Excel file produced by Emmanual Saez and Thomas Piketty

{ 1 comment }

Here, I am taking a closer look at the bottom and top halves of the Top 10%. Look at the dramatic change in income share going to the top 5% (purple line), from 35% to 20% to 32%. Again it is the most wealthy who have the extreme changes in income. (See previous graphs that I posted about the drop in income after 2000)

Also the share of income going to the top 5% in 2000 was closing in on the previous high in 1928. Then they lost ground with the stock market decline.