April 18, 2002 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Weekly earnings in the first quarter

Median weekly earnings of the nation's 97.2 million full-time wage and salary workers were $614 in the first quarter of 2002. This was 3.7 percent higher than a year earlier, compared with a gain of 1.3 percent in the Consumer Price Index for all Urban Consumers over the same period.

[Chart data—TXT]

Women who usually worked full time had median earnings of $535 per week in the first quarter of 2002, up from $508 a year earlier. Median earnings of men who worked full time were $688 in the first quarter of 2002, up from $668 a year earlier.

The female-to-male earnings ratio was 77.8 percent in the first quarter of 2002.

Data on weekly earnings are from the Current Population Survey. Figures in this article are not seasonally adjusted. Find more information on earnings in "Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage and Salary Workers: First Quarter 2002," (PDF) (TXT) news release USDL 02-224.