It's my understanding that 170,000 per year is more than most managers will ever make in most parts of the country. However I can maybe see 170,000 making sense if it's based on household income and a household may have two manager class employees making 90,000 a year.

That said i'm still having a hard time believing the claim that a large number of households will have top 5% earnings. I'd love to see a blog post or something along those lines contexualizing that journal article.