For release 10:00 a.m. (EST) Tuesday, January 24, 2017 			    USDL-17-0105

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
			      FOURTH QUARTER 2016


Median weekly earnings of the nation's 111.3 million full-time wage and salary workers
were $849 in the fourth quarter of 2016 (not seasonally adjusted), the U.S. Bureau of
Labor Statistics reported today. This was 2.9 percent higher than a year earlier,
compared with a gain of 1.8 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 in
this news release.) Data shown in this release are not seasonally adjusted unless
otherwise specified. 

Highlights from the fourth-quarter data:

   --Median weekly earnings of full-time workers were $849 in the fourth
     quarter of 2016. Women had median weekly earnings of $758, or 81.8
     percent of the $927 median for men. (See table 2.)

   --The women's-to-men's earnings ratio varied by race and ethnicity.
     White women earned 81.1 percent as much as their male counterparts,
     compared with Black women (92.1 percent), Asian women (79.2 percent),
     and Hispanic women (86.9 percent). (See table 2.)

   --Among the major race and ethnicity groups, median weekly earnings for
     Black men working at full-time jobs were $706, or 73.6 percent of the
     median for White men ($959). The difference was less among women, as
     Black women's median earnings ($650) were 83.5 percent of those for White
     women ($778). Overall, median earnings of Hispanics who worked full time
     ($646) were lower than those of Blacks ($675), Whites ($881), and Asians
     ($1,022). (See table 2.) 

   --Usual weekly earnings of full-time workers varied by age. Among men,
     those ages 55 to 64 and 45 to 54 had the highest median weekly earnings,
     at $1,113 and $1,102, respectively. For women, usual weekly earnings
     were highest for those ages 35 to 44 ($859) and 45 to 54 ($840). Workers
     age 16 to 24 had the lowest median weekly earnings, at $516. (See table 3.)

   --Among the major occupational groups, persons employed full time in
     management, professional, and related occupations had the highest
     median weekly earnings--$1,443 for men and $1,042 for women. Men and
     women employed in service jobs earned the least, $608 and $497,
     respectively. (See table 4.)
     
   --By educational attainment, full-time workers age 25 and over without a
     high school diploma had median weekly earnings of $519, compared with
     $698 for high school graduates (no college) and $1,270 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 $3,893 or more per week, compared with $2,547 or more
     for their female counterparts. (See table 5.)

   --Seasonally adjusted median weekly earnings were $843 in the fourth quarter
     of 2016, little changed from the previous quarter ($835). (See table 1.)

Annual Averages for 2015 and 2016

In addition to the data for the fourth quarter, this news release includes 2015 and 2016
annual averages on median weekly earnings for major demographic and occupational groups,
and 2016 annual average data for educational attainment groups. (See tables 7, 8, and 9.)
Annual average data on median usual weekly earnings for men and women by detailed occupational
categories will be posted online at https://www.bls.gov/cps/tables.htm when they become available. 


 ___________________________________________________________________________________
|										    |
|           Revision of Seasonally Adjusted Usual Weekly Earnings Data		    |
|										    |
|  Seasonally adjusted median usual weekly earnings data shown in table 1 of this   |
|  news release have been revised using updated seasonal adjustment factors from    |
|  the Current Population Survey, a procedure done at the end of each calendar	    |
|  year. The revisions directly affected the number of full-time wage and salary    |
|  workers and current dollar estimates of median weekly earnings; estimates of	    |
|  constant (1982-84) dollar median weekly earnings were indirectly affected.	    |
|  Seasonally adjusted estimates back to the first quarter of 2012 were subject	    |
|  to revision.									    |
|										    |
|  The Usual Weekly Earnings news release for the first quarter of 2017, scheduled  |
|  for release on April 18, 2017, will incorporate revisions to the seasonally	    |
|  adjusted data for the median weekly earnings in constant (1982-84) dollars.	    |
|  Seasonally adjusted constant (1982-84) dollar estimates back to the first	    |
|  quarter of 2012 will be subject to revision due to annual revisions to	    |
|  seasonally adjusted data for the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers    |
|  (CPI-U).									    |
|___________________________________________________________________________________|