Low and High Income Earners Less Likely to See Salary Changes

Earn a lot? Earn a little? Then you’re less likely to move up and down the income ladder than workers in the middle of income distribution, according to a new report  (pdf) from the Small Business Administration.

The SBA’s Office of Advocacy said workers in the top and bottom ranks of earnings distribution are less likely, or about 45 to 50 percent, to see significant changes in salary than middle-income workers, who are about 75 to 82 percent likely to move up and down the salary scale.

Some other interesting highlights:

*Income mobility among female workers at 73.2 percent was much higher than male workers at 69.8 percent in the 1990s;

*Female workers also experienced higher exit rates, or about 75 to 85 percent from the lowest ranks of income than their male counterparts;

*Self-employed individuals are more mobile, that is they have bigger salary fluctuations, than paid employees. The self-employed “experience more year-to-year changes and volatility in income than payroll workers.”;

*Whites are more likely to experience self-employment than minorities; and

*Workers in small firms have less formal education than their counterparts.