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.

Average wage for the highest paying occupational group nearly five times that of the lowest paying group

November 30, 2011

Annual mean wages by occupational group ranged from $21,240 for food preparation and serving related occupations to $105,440 for management occupations.

Annual mean wages for the highest and lowest paying occupational groups, May 2010
[Chart data]

Nearly every management occupation had an average wage above the U.S. all-occupations mean of $44,410, while nearly all food preparation and serving related occupations had an annual mean wage of less than $25,000.

Although healthcare practitioners and technical occupations included some of the highest paying individual occupations, this group also included occupations with more moderate wages, such as dietetic technicians ($28,820).

Among the low-paying occupational groups, transportation and material moving had the highest paying individual occupations, including air traffic controllers ($110,280). However, the largest occupation in this group— laborers and hand freight, stock, and material movers—had an average wage of $25,710.

These data are from Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) program. To learn more about employment and earnings in various occupations, see the OES chart book, “Occupational Employment and Wages, 2010,” Bulletin 2769, October 2011.

SUGGESTED CITATION

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, Average wage for the highest paying occupational group nearly five times that of the lowest paying group at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2011/ted_20111130.htm (visited March 29, 2024).

OF INTEREST
spotlight
Recent editions of Spotlight on Statistics


triangle