Median weekly earnings by race, ethnicity, and occupation, first quarter 2012

Median weekly earnings of the nation's 100.8 million full-time wage and salary workers were $769 in the first quarter of 2012, not seasonally adjusted. Among the major occupational groups, persons employed full time in management, professional, and related occupations had the highest median weekly earnings—$1,309 for men and $959 for women. Men and women employed in service jobs earned the least, $563 and $450, respectively.

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Among the major race and ethnicity groups, median weekly earnings for black men working at full-time jobs were $677, or 77.5 percent of the median for white men ($874). The difference was less among women, as black women's median weekly earnings ($602) were 84.4 percent of those for white women ($713).

Overall, women who usually worked full time had median weekly earnings of $697, or 82.2 percent of the percent of the median for men ($848).

These data on earnings are produced by the Current Population Survey. To learn more, see "Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage and Salary Workers — First Quarter 2012" (HTML) (PDF), news release USDL-12-0715.