October 21, 2002 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Weekly earnings in the second quarter

Median weekly earnings of the nation's 98.7 million full-time wage and salary workers were $608 in the second quarter of 2002. This was 2.2 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 $521 per week in the second quarter of 2002, up from $514 a year earlier. Median earnings of men who worked full time were $683 in the second quarter of 2002, up from $667 a year earlier.

The female-to-male earnings ratio was 76.3 percent in the second 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: Second Quarter 2002" (PDF) (TXT), news release USDL 02-396.