July 18, 2003 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Earnings and educational attainment: second quarter of 2003

Median weekly earnings of the nation's 100.4 million full-time wage and salary workers were $616 in the second quarter of 2003.

[Chart data—TXT]

Full-time workers age 25 and over without a high school diploma had median weekly earnings of $394, compared with $547 for high school graduates (no college) and $969 for college graduates holding at least a bachelor's degree. 

Median weekly earnings of women with less than a high school diploma were $322. Women who had only a high school diploma had median weekly earnings of $474, while women who were college graduates (bachelor’s degrees or higher) earned $841. 

Men without a high school diploma had median weekly earnings of $437; those with a high school diploma, but no college, earned $621. Men who had at least a bachelor’s degree had median weekly earnings of $1,134.

Data on weekly earnings are from the Current Population Survey, a nationwide sample survey of households in which respondents are asked, among other things, how much each wage and salary worker usually earns. Find more information on earnings in “Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage and Salary Workers: Second Quarter 2003” (PDF) (TXT), news release USDL 03-379.

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