February 01, 2005 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Weekly earnings in fourth quarter 2004 by demographics

Median weekly earnings of the nation's 101.6 million full-time wage and salary workers were $647 in the fourth quarter of 2004.

[Chart data—TXT]

Women who usually worked full-time had median earnings of $578 per week, or 80.1 percent of the $722 median for men. The female-to-male earnings ratios were higher among blacks (96.8 percent) and Hispanics or Latinos (84.7 percent) than among whites (78.8 percent) or Asians (74.5 percent).

Median earnings for black men working at full-time jobs were $529 per week, 70.8 percent of the median for white men ($747). The difference was less among women, as black women’s median earnings ($512) were 86.9 percent of those for their white counterparts ($589). 

Overall, median earnings of Hispanics or Latinos who worked full time ($467) were lower than those of blacks ($519), whites ($671), and Asians ($698).

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: Fourth Quarter 2004" (PDF) (TXT), news release USDL 05-110.