High income workers' share of total wages grows

AP News

10/21/2011 12:04:55 AM - AP News


There were fewer jobs, and overall pay was trending down _ except for the nation's wealthiest. The number of people making $1 million or more soared by over 18 percent from 2009, the Social Security Administration said, citing payroll data based on W-2 forms submitted by employers to the Internal Revenue Service.

Despite population growth, the number of Americans with jobs fell again last year, with total employment of just under 150.4 million _ down from 150.9 million in 2009 and 155.4 million in 2008. In all, there were 5.2 million fewer jobs than in 2007, when the deep recession began, according to the IRS data.



While the average U.S income last year was $39,959, the mean income _ the figure where half earn more and half earn less _ was much lower, $26,364. This disparity reflects the fact that "the distribution of workers by wage level is highly skewed," according to Social Security.




Social Security Administration: http://www.ssa.gov/cgi-bin/netcomp.cgi?year2010