January 5, 1999 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)
Clerical, service, and agricultural
workers have low wages
Workers in clerical, service, and agricultural
occupations reported lower wages than those for other occupations during 1997. About
61 percent of service workers, 40 percent of agricultural workers, and 33 percent of
clerical workers earned less than $10.00 per hour. In comparison, only 19 percent of
all workers made less than $10.00 per hour.
![Occupational wage ranges, 1997](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20120925101435im_/http://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/images/1999/jan/wk1/art02.gif)
[Chart data—TXT]
Service occupations reported the biggest share of workers making less
than $8.50 per hour at about 47 percent.
Among clerical occupations, hotel desk clerks had the lowest wages at $7.32 per
hour. For service occupations, the $5.87 hourly wage rate for waiters and waitresses
was the lowest. In agricultural occupations, farmworkers in food and fiber crops
reported the lowest wages at $6.00 per hour.
Data on occupational employment and wages are produced by the BLS Occupational Employment Statistics program. For additional information, see News Release USDL 98-502, "Occupational Employment and Wages, 1997."
Of interest
Spotlight on Statistics: National Hispanic Heritage Month
In this Spotlight, we take a look at the Hispanic labor force—including labor force participation, employment and unemployment, educational attainment, geographic location, country of birth, earnings, consumer expenditures, time use, workplace injuries, and employment projections.
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Read more »