Earnings
This page contains information on the earnings of employed persons derived from the Current Population Survey (CPS). Data on employed and unemployed persons, hours of work, and other demographic and labor force characteristics also are available.
Earnings
Data measure usual hourly and weekly earnings of wage and salary workers. All self-employed persons are excluded, regardless of whether their businesses are incorporated. Data represent earnings before taxes and other deductions and include any overtime pay, commissions, or tips usually received. The earnings data are collected from one-fourth of the CPS total sample of approximately 60,000 households. Data are published quarterly.
- News release: Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage and Salary Workers (Quarterly)
(HTML) (PDF) (Archives)
- Databases:
- Annual tables: Weekly earnings
- Annual report: Highlights of Women's Earnings (includes earnings for men and earnings by education, age, race, and Hispanic ethnicity)
- Articles:
- Change in employment by occupation, industry, and earnings quartile, 2000–05 (December 2006)
(Abstract) (Excerpt) (PDF)
- Earnings and employment trends in the 1990s (March 2000)
(Abstract) (Excerpt) (PDF)
- From the Census Bureau: Income data (annual income from all sources)
Earnings by demographics
Earnings data are available by demographic characteristics such as age, sex, race, and Hispanic or Latino ethnicity. See also Earnings by education and Employment and unemployment by demographics.
- News release: Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage And Salary Workers (Quarterly)
(HTML) (PDF) (Archives)
- Databases:
- Annual tables: Weekly earnings
- UPDATED Table: Wives who earn more than their husbands (HTML) (XLS)
- Annual report: Highlights of Women's Earnings (includes earnings for men and earnings by education, age, race, and Hispanic ethnicity)
- Charts:
- Women’s earnings by occupation, 2011 (January 2013)
- Women’s earnings, 1979–2011 (November 2012)
- Women's earnings as a percent of men's in 2010 (January 2012)
- Earnings and employment by occupation, race, ethnicity, and sex, 2010 (September 2011)
- Women's earnings, 1979–2010 (July 2011)
- Women at Work, Spotlight on Statistics (March 2011), includes CPS and other BLS survey data
- Women's earnings and employment by industry, 2009 (February 2011)
- Usual weekly earnings in second quarter 2010 by education (July 2010)
- Women's-to-men's earnings ratio by age, 2009 (July 2010)
- Women's earnings as a percentage of men's, by race and Hispanic ethnicity, 1979–2008 (October 2009)
- Women and men in management, professional, and related occupations, 2008 (August 2009)
- Women's-to-men's earnings ratio by age, 1979–2008 (July 2009)
- Women's earnings by occupation in 2007 (October 2008)
- Earnings of women and men by race and ethnicity, 2007 (October 2008)
- Women's earnings as a percentage of men's by age, 1979–2007 (October 2008)
- Articles:
- Women still underrepresented among highest earners (March 2006)
(PDF)
- How does gender play a role in the earnings gap? an update (March 2003)
(Abstract) (Excerpt) (PDF)
Earnings by education
Data measure usual hourly and weekly earnings of wage and salary workers 25 years and over by educational attainment. See also Employment and unemployment by educational attainment.
- News release: Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage and Salary workers (Quarterly)
(HTML) (PDF) (Archives)
- Databases:
- Annual report: Highlights of Women's Earnings (includes earnings by education)
- Charts: Back to College, Spotlight on Statistics (September 2010), includes CPS and other BLS survey data
Hourly-paid workers
Data pertain only to workers who are paid hourly rates; salaried and other workers not paid by the hour are excluded. Hourly-paid workers make up approximately three-fifths of all wage and salary workers. See also Minimum wage workers.
Minimum wage workers
Statistics on hourly-paid workers with earnings at or below the prevailing Federal minimum wage.
- Annual tables: Minimum wage workers
- Annual report: Characteristics of Minimum Wage Workers
- Chart: Characteristics of minimum wage workers in 2011 (March 2012)
- Articles:
- Characteristics of minimum wage workers in 2002 (September 2003)
(Excerpt) (PDF)
- Estimating the number of minimum wage workers (January 1990)
(PDF)
Occupation and industry
Data measure usual hourly and weekly earnings of wage and salary workers by occupation and by industry. See also Employment by occupation and industry.
Union earnings
Median weekly earnings for union and non-union full-time wage and salary workers are published annually. Occupation and industry detail is available and, additionally, demographic characteristics such as age, sex, race, and Hispanic ethnicity. See also Union members.
Working poor
Annual report on persons who, during the year, spent 27 weeks or more in the labor force (working or looking for work), but whose incomes still fell below the official poverty level.
Last Modified Date: February 8, 2013