July 23, 2003 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Occupational earnings in July 2002

Average hourly earnings of workers in the highest paid occupation were about three times those in the lowest paid in July 2002.

Mean hourly earnings by occupation, private industry, National Compensation Survey, July 2002
[Chart data—TXT]

Executive, administrative, and managerial workers had mean hourly earnings of $31.16 in July 2002, just slightly more than triple the $10.32 hourly earnings of workers in the service occupations.

Professional specialty and technical workers were the second-highest paid at $27.18 per hour, followed by precision production, craft, and repair at $18.20 per hour.

These data are from the BLS National Compensation Survey program. Wage data in this article are for workers in private industry and in State and local government. Learn more in National Compensation Survey: Occupational Wages in the United States, July 2002, Summary 03-02 (PDF 539K).

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