E-PICs is a regular feature of the JEC Democrats' webpage. New charts, each highlighting economic data of interest with important policy implications, will be released periodically.

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March 3, 2004 Distribution of Earnings Growth Download this chart. From the end of 1996 to the end of 2000, full-time workers saw their usual weekly earnings grow substantially faster than inflation, and those gains in real (inflation-adjusted) wages were evident for both higher-wage and lower-wage workers. From the end of 2000 to the end of 2003, in contrast, real weekly earnings in the lower half of the distribution stagnated, while those in the upper half have continued to grow. For example, real earnings at the exact middle of the distribution (the median, or 50th percentile), rose 1.7 percent per year from 1996 to 2000 but only 0.2 percent per year from 2000 to 2003.