Usual Weekly Earnings Summary
Technical information:(202) 691-6378 USDL 08-1460 http://www.bls.gov/cps/ For release: 10:00 A.M. (EDT) Media contact: (202) 691-5902 Friday, October 17, 2008 USUAL WEEKLY EARNINGS OF WAGE AND SALARY WORKERS: THIRD QUARTER 2008 Median weekly earnings of the nation's 107.2 million full-time wage and salary workers were $720 in the third quarter of 2008, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. This was 3.6 percent higher than a year earlier, compared with a gain of 5.3 percent in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) over the same period. Data on usual earnings are collected as part of the Current Popula- tion Survey, a nationwide sample survey of households in which respon- dents are asked, among other things, how much each wage and salary worker usually earns. (See the Technical Note.) Highlights from the third-quarter data are: --Women who usually worked full time had median earnings of $631 per week, or 79.3 percent of the $796 median for men. The female-to- male earnings ratios were higher among Hispanics (88.0 percent) and blacks (82.0 percent) than among whites (79.5 percent) or Asians (75.3 percent). (See table 1.) --Median earnings for black men working at full-time jobs were $646 per week, 79.2 percent of the median for white men ($816). The dif- ference was less among women, as black women's median earnings ($530) were 81.7 percent of those for their white counterparts ($649). Over- all, median earnings of Hispanics who worked full time ($529) were lower than those of blacks ($589), whites ($739), and Asians ($854). (See table 1.) --Among men, those age 45 to 54 had the highest median weekly earnings ($964). Women age 45 to 54 had median earnings of $716, essentially the same as those age 55 to 64 ($715). (See table 2.) --Among the major occupational groups, persons employed full time in managerial, professional, and related occupations had the highest me- dian weekly earnings--$1,234 for men and $916 for women. Persons em- ployed in service jobs earned the least. (See table 3.) --Full-time workers age 25 and over without a high school diploma had median weekly earnings of $471, compared with $618 for high school graduates (no college) and $1,131 for those holding at least a bache- lor's degree. Among college graduates with advanced degrees (profes- sional or master's degree and above), the highest earning 10 percent of male workers made $3,192 or more per week, compared with $2,287 or more for their female counterparts. (See table 4.)
- Usual Weekly Earnings Explanatory Note
- Table 1. Median usual weekly earnings of full-time wage and salary workers by selected characteristics, quarterly averages, not seasonally adjusted
- Table 2. Median usual weekly earnings of full-time wage and salary workers by age, race, Hispanic or Latino ethnicity, and sex, third quarter 2008 averages, not seasonally adjusted
- Table 3. Median usual weekly earnings of full-time wage and salary workers by occupation and sex, quarterly averages, not seasonally adjusted
- Table 4. Quartiles and selected deciles of usual weekly earnings of full-time wage and salary workers by selected characteristics, third quarter 2008 averages, not seasonally adjusted
- Table 5. Median usual weekly earnings of part-time wage and salary workers by selected characteristics, quarterly averages, not seasonally adjusted
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Last Modified Date: October 17, 2008