Usual Weekly Earnings Summary

For release 10:00 a.m. (ET) Thursday, October 17, 2024 		                       USDL-24-2143

Technical information:  (202) 691-6378  *  cpsinfo@bls.gov  *  www.bls.gov/cps
Media contact:          (202) 691-5902  *  PressOffice@bls.gov


                      USUAL WEEKLY EARNINGS OF WAGE AND SALARY WORKERS
                                     THIRD QUARTER 2024


Median weekly earnings of the nation's 120.8 million full-time wage and salary workers were
$1,165 in the third quarter of 2024 (not seasonally adjusted), the U.S. Bureau of Labor
Statistics reported today. This was 4.2 percent higher than a year earlier, compared with a
gain of 2.6 percent in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) over the same
period. 

Data on usual weekly earnings are collected as part of the Current Population Survey, a
nationwide sample survey of households in which respondents are asked, among other things, how
much each wage and salary worker usually earns. (See the Technical Note in this news release.)
Data shown in this news release are not seasonally adjusted unless otherwise specified. 

Highlights from the third-quarter data: 

 --Median weekly earnings of full-time workers were $1,165 in the third quarter of 2024. Women
   had median weekly earnings of $1,054, or 83.4 percent of the $1,264 median for men. (See
   table 2.) 

 --The women's-to-men's earnings ratio varied by race and ethnicity. White women earned 82.7
   percent as much as their male counterparts, compared with 94.7 percent for Black women,
   74.3 percent for Asian women, and 85.6 percent for Hispanic women. (See table 2.) 

 --Among the major race and ethnicity groups, median earnings of Hispanics who worked full
   time ($904) were lower than those of Blacks ($962), Whites ($1,184), and Asians ($1,568).
   By sex, median weekly earnings for Black men were $987, or 76.4 percent of the median for
   White men ($1,292). Median earnings for Hispanic men were $964, or 74.6 percent of the
   median for White men. The differences were smaller among women, as Black women's median
   earnings were $935, or 87.5 percent of those for White women ($1,069), and earnings for
   Hispanic women were $825, or 77.2 percent of those for White women. Earnings of Asian men
   ($1,876) and women ($1,393) were higher than those of their White counterparts. (See
   table 2.) 

 --By age, usual weekly earnings were highest for men ages 45 to 64: median weekly earnings
   were $1,484 for men ages 45 to 54 and $1,490 for men ages 55 to 64. Among women, usual
   weekly earnings were highest for workers ages 35 to 54: median weekly earnings were $1,160
   for women ages 35 to 44 and $1,166 for women ages 45 to 54. Men and women ages 16 to 24 had
   the lowest median weekly earnings, $774 and $720, respectively. Men's and women's earnings
   were closer among younger workers than older workers; for example, women ages 16 to 24
   earned 93.0 percent as much as men in the same age group, while the women's-to-men's
   earnings ratio was 73.7 percent for those age 55 and over. (See table 3.) 

 --Among the major occupational groups, people employed full time in management, professional,
   and related occupations had the highest median weekly earnings--$1,884 for men and $1,392
   for women. People employed in service occupations earned the least--$830 for men, and $720
   for women. (See table 4.) 

 --By educational attainment, full-time workers age 25 and over without a high school diploma
   had median weekly earnings of $734, high school graduates (no college) had earnings of $946,
   and those holding at least a bachelor's degree had earnings of $1,697. Among college 
   graduates with advanced degrees (master's, professional, and doctoral degrees), the highest
   earning 10 percent of male workers made $5,054 or more per week, and their female 
   counterparts made $3,582 or more. (See table 5.) 

 --Seasonally adjusted median weekly earnings increased to $1,165 in the third quarter of 2024,
   little changed from the previous quarter ($1,151). (See table 1.)


 ____________________________________________________________________________________________
|											     |
|                 Revision of Seasonally Adjusted Usual Weekly Earnings Data		     |
| 											     |
| The Usual Weekly Earnings news release for the fourth quarter of 2024, scheduled for	     |
| release in January 2025, will incorporate annual revisions to seasonally adjusted data     |
| for the number of full-time wage and salary workers and median weekly earnings in current  |
| dollars. (See table 1.) Estimates for constant (1982-84) dollar median weekly earnings     |
| also will be affected by revisions to the current dollar series. Seasonally adjusted 	     |
| estimates back to the first quarter of 2020 will be subject to revision.		     |
|____________________________________________________________________________________________|