For release 10:00 a.m. (EDT) Wednesday, July 18, 2012 USDL-12-1419
Technical information: (202) 691-6378 * cpsinfo@bls.gov * www.bls.gov/cps
Media contact: (202) 691-5902 * PressOffice@bls.gov
USUAL WEEKLY EARNINGS OF WAGE AND SALARY WORKERS
SECOND QUARTER 2012
Median weekly earnings of the nation's 102.8 million full-time wage and salary
workers were $771 in the second quarter of 2012 (not seasonally adjusted),
the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. This was 2.4 percent higher
than a year earlier, compared with a gain of 1.9 percent in the Consumer Price
Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) over the same period.
Data on usual weekly earnings are collected as part of 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. (See
the Technical Note.) Data shown in this release are not seasonally adjusted
unless otherwise specified. Highlights from the second-quarter data are as
follows:
--Seasonally adjusted median weekly earnings were $773 in the
second quarter of 2012, little changed from the previous quarter
($763). (See table 1.)
--On a not seasonally adjusted basis, median weekly earnings were $771
in the second quarter of 2012. Women who usually worked full time
had median weekly earnings of $689, or 79.7 percent of the $865 median
for men. (See table 2.)
--The female-to-male earnings ratio varied by race and ethnicity.
Black women earned 92.2 percent as much as their male counterparts,
compared with Hispanic (87.5 percent), white (78.7 percent), and Asian
women (70.6 percent). (See table 2.)
--Among the major race and ethnicity groups, median weekly earnings
for black men working full time were $668, or 75.0 percent of the
median for white men ($891). The difference was smaller among
women, as black women's median weekly earnings ($616) were 87.9
percent of those for white women ($701). Overall, median weekly
earnings of Hispanics who worked full time ($576) were lower than
those of blacks ($637), whites ($792), and Asians ($930). (See
table 2.)
--Usual weekly earnings of full-time workers varied by age. Among
both men and women, median weekly earnings tend to be higher in the
older age groups. Men between the ages of 45 to 54 had median weekly
earnings of $1,003, about the same as the median for men age 55 to 64
($1,015). Usual weekly earnings were highest for women age 35 to 64;
weekly earnings were $749 for women age 35 to 44, $733 for women age
45 to 54, and $760 for women age 55 to 64. Workers age 16 to 24 had
the lowest median weekly earnings, at $429. (See table 3.)
--Among the major occupational groups, persons employed full time
in management, professional, and related occupations had the highest
median weekly earnings--$1,342 for men and $945 for women. Men and
women employed in service jobs earned the least, $529 and $435,
respectively. (See table 4.)
--By educational attainment, full-time workers age 25 and over without
a high school diploma had median weekly earnings of $483, compared
with $659 for high school graduates (no college) and $1,164 for those
holding at least a bachelor's degree. Among college graduates with
advanced degrees (professional or master's degree and above), the
highest earning 10 percent of male workers made $3,481 or more per
week, compared with $2,304 or more for their female counterparts.
(See table 5.)
