May 05, 2004 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Highest paying occupations in May 2003

The highest-paying major groups of occupations in May 2003 were management occupations and legal occupations.

Major occupational groups with highest mean hourly wages, May 2003
[Chart data—TXT]

Management had a mean hourly wage of $39.80, while legal occupations had an average wage of $37.94. The next highest paid groups were computer and mathematical science ($30.40), architecture and engineering ($28.48), business and financial operations ($26.71), and healthcare practitioner and technical ($26.62).

The BLS Occupational Employment Statistics program produced these data. Find more information on wages by occupation in May 2003 in "Occupational Employment and Wages, May 2003" (PDF) (TXT), news release USDL 04-752.