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Real median usual weekly earnings increased 3 percent over the year

February 01, 2016

Median weekly earnings of the nation's 109.9 million full-time wage and salary workers were $825 (not seasonally adjusted) in the fourth quarter of 2015. For those workers, real median usual weekly earnings increased 3.0 percent from the fourth quarter of 2014 to the fourth quarter of 2015. Over that period, real median usual weekly earnings increased 2.1 percent for men and 0.3 percent for women. In the fourth quarter of 2015, women who usually worked full time had median weekly earnings of $729, or 80.4 percent of the $907 median for men.

Percent change in real median usual weekly earnings of full-time wage and salary workers, not seasonally adjusted, fourth quarter 2014 to fourth quarter 2015
Characteristic Percent change

Total, 16 years and over

3.0%

Men, 16 years and over

2.1

Men, 16 to 24 years

6.5

Men, 25 years and over

2.5

Women, 16 years and over

0.3

Women, 16 to 24 years

-3.5

Women, 25 years and over

0.6

White, total

2.3

White, men

2.3

White, women

0.3

Black or African American, total

3.0

Black or African American, men

0.7

Black or African American, women

2.7

Asian, total

13.3

Asian, men

9.7

Asian, women

13.7

Hispanic or Latino ethnicity, total

3.5

Hispanic or Latino ethnicity, men

7.1

Hispanic or Latino ethnicity, women

4.3

From the fourth quarter of 2014 to the fourth quarter of 2015, among 16- to 24-year-olds who usually worked full time, real median usual weekly earnings increased 6.5 percent for men and decreased 3.5 percent for women. Among workers age 25 and older, real median usual weekly earnings increased 2.5 percent for men and 0.6 percent for women.

Among Asians who usually worked full time, real median usual weekly earnings increased 13.3 percent from the fourth quarter of 2014 to the fourth quarter of 2015. That compared with 2.3 percent for Whites, 3.0 percent for Black or African Americans, and 3.5 percent for workers of Hispanic or Latino ethnicity.

These data are from the Current Population Survey. Changes over time in the medians for specific groups may not necessarily be consistent with overall movements. To learn more, see "Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage and Salary Workers: Fourth Quarter 2015" (HTML) (PDF).

SUGGESTED CITATION

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, Real median usual weekly earnings increased 3 percent over the year at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2016/real-median-usual-weekly-earnings-increased-3-percent-over-the-year.htm (visited March 29, 2024).

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