Table 2. Average (mean) hourly earnings and dispersion percents for all civilian workers by major occupational groups in eight census divisions, all civilian workers, National Compensation Survey, 2000-2001
Major occupational groups Census divisions (1)
New England Middle Atlantic East North Central West North Central South Atlantic West South Central Mountain Pacific Dispersion percent (2)
White-collar occupations:

Professional speciality and technical

 $26.17 $31.12 $25.46 $22.23 $25.10 $25.91 $24.12 $27.42 40

Executive, administrative, and managerial

 32.83 32.26 28.44 28.48 26.67 26.67 24.94 29.13 32

Sales

 13.43 16.18 15.54 12.23 12.28 12.34 13.48 13.78 32

Administrative support

 14.09 13.95 12.28 11.87 12.51 11.91 11.74 14.20 21
Blue-collar occupations:

Precision production, craft, and repair

 17.22 19.19 17.89 16.87 16.04 15.47 17.37 18.78 24

Machine operators, assemblers, and inspectors

 11.43 12.20 13.58 12.90 11.91 10.58 10.87 11.40 28

Transportation and material moving

 14.12 14.83 14.22 12.68 12.40 12.35 14.20 14.69 20

Handlers, equipment cleaners, helpers and laborers

 10.11 11.38 11.33 10.27 9.69 9.11 9.82 11.04 25

Service occupations

 10.56 11.58 9.97 9.48 8.95 8.11 8.60 11.19 43

Footnotes:
(1) Data for the East South Central division are not shown because they do not meet BLS publication criteria.
(2) The dispersion percent shows, within an occupational group, the percentage difference between average earnings in the highest paying census division and the lowest paying division. For example, the average hourly rate of professional specialty and technical workers in the Middle Atlantic division ($31.12) exceeded the average rate of the same group in the West North Central division ($22.23) by 40 percent.

Note: Average hourly earnings of all U.S. civilian workers = $16.23.