Interesting interactive from Flowing Data demonstrating how income in various occupational categories has changed since 1960. Here’s what income distribution looked like in 1960 for several occupations (more occupations included on the website):

Student can click on the SELECT YEAR button and see how these income distributions change over time.

Questions for your students (be sure they go to the interactive to answer the questions):

• In 2014, what occupation has the narrowest income ranges (what is the difference between the highest and lowest salary in that occupation)?
• In 2014, what occupation has the widest income differences (what is the difference between the highest and lowest salary?)
• What do you think explains why some occupations have wider spreads than others?
• What do you notice about the dispersion of pay when toggling between the years 1960 and 2014?
• Why do you think the data scientist chose to show the data in this manner instead of just using averages or medians?
• Assume that each occupation has 50 data points (each dot is a data point).
  • In 1960, what percentage of Education and Library workers earned over $75,000 per year? What percentage of Legal professionals earned over $75,000 per year?

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Interested in more Career Resources? Check out the NGPF Career Activity: Create A CV of Failure

About the Author

Tim Ranzetta

Tim's saving habits started at seven when a neighbor with a broken hip gave him a dog walking job. Her recovery, which took almost a year, resulted in Tim getting to know the bank tellers quite well (and accumulating a savings account balance of over $300!). His recent entrepreneurial adventures have included driving a shredding truck, analyzing executive compensation packages for Fortune 500 companies and helping families make better college financing decisions. After volunteering in 2010 to create and teach a personal finance program at Eastside College Prep in East Palo Alto, Tim saw firsthand the impact of an engaging and activity-based curriculum, which inspired him to start a new non-profit, Next Gen Personal Finance.

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