1 Making America Work* Jon Forman Alfred P. Murrah Professor of Law University of Oklahoma www.law.ou.edu/faculty/forman.shtml U.S. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE Education, Workforce and Income Security (EWIS) Speaker Series Washington, DC May 15, 2007 *A presentation based on Jonathan Barry Forman, Making America Work (Washington, DC: Urban Institute Press, 2006).
Making America Work*. Jon Forman Alfred P. Murrah Professor of Law University of Oklahoma www.law.ou.edu/faculty/forman.shtml U.S. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE Education, Workforce and Income Security (EWIS) Speaker Series Washington, DC May 15, 2007. - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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1
Making America Work*Jon Forman
Alfred P. Murrah Professor of Law
University of Oklahoma
www.law.ou.edu/faculty/forman.shtml
U.S. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE
Education, Workforce and Income Security (EWIS) Speaker Series
Washington, DC
May 15, 2007
*A presentation based on Jonathan Barry Forman, Making America Work (Washington, DC: Urban Institute Press, 2006).
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Figure 1. Share of Household Income
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Poorest 20% Middle 20% Richest 20%
Per
cent
Free market After taxes & transfers
3
Figure 2. How Taxes and Transfers Improved Equity, 2004
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Percent of households
Per
cen
t of
hou
seh
old
inco
me
Line of perfect equality
Lorenz curve (income before taxesand transfers)
Lorenz curve (income after taxes andtransfers)
4
Figure 3. Family Income by Percentile, 1950-2003 (2003 dollars)
$0
$20,000
$40,000
$60,000
$80,000
$100,000
$120,000
$140,000
$160,000
$180,000
1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000
20th percentile
40th percentile
60th percentile
80th percentile
95th percentile
Source: U.S. Census Bureau (2005b), table F-1.
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Figure 4. Ratio of Average Household Income of the Top 5 and 20 Percent of Households to the Average Household Income of the Bottom 20 Percent of Households, 1970-2000
10.6 9.8 10.211.3 11.9
13.2 13.8
16.214.5 14.7
17.0
19.1
22.7
24.6
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000
Year
Rat
io
Top 20%/bottom 20%
Top 5%/bottom 20%
Source: U.S. Census Bureau (2004b), table IE-3.
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Table 1. Average Annual Earnings of Full-time Workers, 2004
Doctors $128,689
Lawyers 105,716
Economists 71,672
Nurses 53,289
Police 50,063
Auto mechanics 38,967
Secretaries 32,349
Garbage collectors 31,284
Orderlies 20,959
Waiters and waitresses 8,789
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Figure 5. Distribution of Earnings, 2004
$15,600 $26,000 $36,000$50,000
$84,000
$0
$100,000
$200,000
$300,000
$400,000
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Percentile
Ear
nin
gs
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Figure 6. Distribution of Workers by Earnings Category, 2004