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How much money do I make?: activity
Introduction
This activity is designed to get young students thinking about different occupations and reflecting on what they may want to be when they grow up. They will get an idea of how much money each worker makes in these occupations, and learn how to find pay and education data using the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Career Exploration webpage.
Objectives
After completing this activity, students will have a better understanding of how much money workers make in these occupations and what level of education is needed. Additionally, teachers will become more familiar with the Career Exploration web page so that they may use it as a resource in the classroom when students inquire further about pay and education needed for occupations.
Activity
Students will match the pay and education needed for each occupation and write down what they think each worker makes with the corresponding education needed for each occupation on the activity page. Students will find the annual median pay and education for each worker using the Career Exploration web page. As a classroom activity, students can discuss what they learned about the careers, compare the pay, education needed, and what intrigued them most about these careers.
Additional resources
Students may also use the BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook (OOH) and BLS Career Resource Guide as sources of career information to help them identify the types of careers they may be interested in. Students can learn about the variety of occupations categorized within the various career fields.
Have fun playing games while learning about BLS data.
Workers
Pay and education
- $50,160; High school diploma or equivalent
- $66,020; High school diploma or equivalent
- $38,950; High school diploma or equivalent
- $61,350; Bachelor’s degree
- $100,370; Doctoral or professional degree
- $77,600; Bachelor’s degree
- $88,050; Bachelor’s degree
- $127,990; Doctoral or professional degree
