For release 10:00 a.m. (EDT) Thursday, April 18, 2013 USDL-13-0671
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
FIRST QUARTER 2013
Median weekly earnings of the nation's 102.6 million full-time wage
and salary workers were $773 in the first quarter of 2013 (not seasonally
adjusted), the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. This was
0.5 percent higher than a year earlier, compared with a gain of 1.7 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 first-quarter data are:
--Seasonally adjusted median weekly earnings were $769 in the first
quarter of 2013, about unchanged from the previous quarter ($772).
(See table 1.)
--On a not seasonally adjusted basis, median weekly earnings were
$773 in the first quarter of 2013. Women who usually worked full time
had median weekly earnings of $704, or 81.2 percent of the $867 median
for men. (See table 2.)
--The female-to-male earnings ratio varied by race and ethnicity.
White women earned 81.4 percent as much as their male counterparts,
compared with black (89.6 percent), Hispanic (89.5 percent), and Asian
women (78.5 percent). (See table 2.)
--Among the major race and ethnicity groups, median weekly earnings
for black men working at full-time jobs were $666, or 75.0 percent of
the median for white men ($888). The difference was less among women,
as black women's median weekly earnings ($597) were 82.6 percent of
those for white women ($723). Overall, median weekly earnings of
Hispanics who worked full time ($575) were lower than those of blacks
($622), whites ($802), and Asians ($951). (See table 2.)
--Usual weekly earnings of full-time workers varied by age. Among
men, those age 45 to 54 and 55 to 64 had the highest median weekly
earnings, $1,015 and $983, respectively. Usual weekly earnings were
highest for women age 35 to 64; weekly earnings were $757 for women
age 35 to 44, $758 for women age 45 to 54, and $771 for women age 55
to 64. Workers age 16 to 24 had the lowest median weekly earnings, at
$459. (See table 3.)
--Among the major occupational groups, persons employed full time
in management, professional, and related occupations had the highest
median weekly earnings--$1,344 for men and $984 for women. Men and
women employed in service jobs earned the least, $576 and $447,
respectively. (See table 4.)
--By educational attainment, full-time workers age 25 and over
without a high school diploma had median weekly earnings of $457,
compared with $651 for high school graduates (no college) and $1,189
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 $3,844 or
more per week, compared with $2,301 or more for their female
counterparts. (See table 5.)
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| |
| Revision of Seasonally Adjusted Usual Weekly Earnings Data |
| |
| Seasonally adjusted data for median usual weekly earnings in constant |
| (1982-84) dollars have been updated using revised seasonally adjusted |
| data for the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U). |
| (Data are shown in table 1 of the release.) Seasonally adjusted constant |
| (1982-84) dollar estimates back to the first quarter of 2008 were |
| subject to revision. |
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