Women and men in management, professional, and related occupations, 2008
August 07, 2009
Women working in full-time management, business, and financial operations jobs had median weekly earnings of $941 in 2008, more than women earned in any other major occupational category. The second-highest paying job group was professional and related occupations, in which women earned $867 per week.
In management, business, and finance, the highest paying occupations for women were chief executives and computer and information systems managers. Within professional and related occupations, women working as pharmacists or lawyers had the highest median weekly earnings.
Although women are more likely than men to work in professional and related occupations, they are not as well represented in the higher paying job groups within this broad category.
In 2008, only 9 percent of female professionals were employed in the high-paying computer and engineering fields, compared with 45 percent of male professionals. Professional women were more likely to work in the education and health care occupations, in which pay was generally lower. Sixty-eight percent of female professionals worked in these fields in 2008, compared with 29 percent of male professionals.
These earnings data are from the Current Population Survey. More BLS data on the subject of women's earnings may be found in "Highlights of Women's Earnings in 2008" (PDF), BLS Report 1017.
SUGGESTED CITATION
Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, Women and men in management, professional, and related occupations, 2008 on the Internet at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2009/ted_20090807.htm (visited August 24, 2017).
OF INTEREST
Recent editions of Spotlight on Statistics
-
Women in the workforce before, during, and after the Great Recession
A look at trends and projections in the labor force participation of women from the 1950s to 2024. -
Employer-sponsored healthcare coverage across wage groups
A look at the relationship between employee wages and access to, participation in, and costs of employer-sponsored medical, dental, and vision care benefit plans. -
Sports and Exercise
A look at participation and time spent in sports and exercise activities. -
Women at Work
A look at women's labor force participation and earnings, how women spend their time and money, the nature of fatal work injuries, and labor force projections for the future.
