Median weekly earnings of full-time U.S. workers

Among the major occupational groups, persons employed full-time in management, professional and related occupations had the highest median weekly earnings in 2009: $1,248 for men and $907 for women. Persons employed in service jobs had the lowest earnings: $524 for men and $418 for women. This is according to new data released by the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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Among full-time workers in sales and office occupations, men earned $737 per week in 2009 and women earned $590 per week. In natural resources, construction, and maintenance occupations, men earned $727 per week and women earned $542 per week. In production, transportation, and material moving occupations, the figures were $648 and $472 for men and women, respectively.

Women in all occupations who usually worked full time had median earnings of $657 per week in 2009, or 80.2 percent of the $819 median for men. The female-to-male earnings ratios in 2009 were higher among blacks (93.7 percent) and Hispanics (89.5 percent) than among whites (79.2 percent) or Asians (81.8 percent).

Data on median usual weekly earnings is from the Current Population Survey. The figures used here are 2009 annual averages. To learn more, see "Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage and Salary Workers: Fourth Quarter 2009" (HTML) (PDF), news release USDL 10-0067.