Weekly earnings in the first quarter of 2003

April 18, 2003

Median weekly earnings of the nation's 99.0 million full-time wage and salary workers were $620 in the first quarter of 2003.

[Chart data—TXT]

This was 1.5 percent higher than a year earlier, compared with a gain of 2.8 percent in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) over the same period.

Median earnings for Asian full-time workers were $718 per week. The median for white workers was $636, while for black workers it was $516. Median earnings of Hispanics who worked full time were $447 per week.

Data on weekly earnings are from the Current Population Survey. Figures in this article are not seasonally adjusted. Find more information on earnings in "Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage and Salary Workers: First Quarter 2003" (PDF) (TXT), news release USDL 03-177.