Department of Labor Logo United States Department of Labor
Dot gov

The .gov means it's official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you're on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics

The Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) program produces employment and wage estimates annually for approximately 830 occupations. These estimates are available for the nation as a whole, for individual states, and for metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas; national occupational estimates for specific industries are also available.

Notices

  • May 2024 OEWS data for Colorado and its areas are now available Read More »
  • Notice Regarding Suspension of Publication of Colorado Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics Read More »
  • Notice Regarding Suspension of Publication of Colorado Employment and Unemployment Data Read More »

Video

Info For Survey Participants

BLS Survey Respondent Respondents homepage.
see more »

News Releases

Production occupations have mean wage of $50,090 in May 2024

04/02/2025

Production occupations had employment of 8.7 million and an annual mean wage of $50,090 in May 2024. Miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators (1.5 million) and first-line supervisors of production and operating workers (685,140) were the largest production occupations.
HTML | PDF | RSS


Next Release

The May 2024 Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics were released on April 2, 2025.
read more »

Publications

The Economics Daily

The Economics Daily article image

Lifeguards had hourly mean wages over $21.00 in two states and the District of Columbia in 2024

In the heat of summer, it’s tempting to cool down by taking a dip at the pool or beach. Let’s take a closer look at the wages and employment of those who keep us safe while we enjoy our fun in the sun. read more »

Beyond the Numbers

Beyond the Numbers article image

Employment and wages for alternate definitions of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) occupations

Analyzing data for STEM occupations can be challenging because many definitions of STEM exist. This Beyond the Numbers (BTN) article provides research and analysis of STEM occupations by presenting employment and wage data for different definitions of STEM, based on options for defining STEM developed by the interagency SOCPC. This article uses a special tabulation of May 2023 OEWS data to look at national STEM employment and wages for alternate SOCPC definitions. read more »

Spotlight on Statistics

Spotlight on Statistics article image

A Look at Jobs Paying Less Than $15.00 Per Hour

In response to the Great Depression, the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 instituted numerous labor law reforms. These reforms included establishing a federal minimum wage of $0.25 per hour ($5.49 per hour in today’s dollars). The minimum wage was later increased, and its scope extended to cover more workers. The most recent update, bringing the federal minimum wage up to its current value of $7.25 per hour, became effective 15 years ago in 2009. read more »