May 27, 2005 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Highly paid healthcare occupations 

Healthcare practitioner and technical occupations, such as specialist physicians and dentists, accounted for 13 out of the 15 highest paying occupations in May 2004. 

[Chart data—TXT]

The average hourly wages for surgeons were $87.31. Two other occupations—obstetricians and gynecologists, and anesthesiologists—also had average hourly wages greater than $80.

These data are from the Occupational Employment Statistics program. More estimates of occupational employment and wages of wage and salary workers in nonfarm industries are published in Occupational Employment and Wages, May 2004 (PDF) (TXT), news release USDL 05-877.