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In 2011, women working full time in management, business, and financial operations jobs had the highest median weekly earnings of any major occupational category ($977). Within this occupation group, women who were chief executives and computer and information systems managers had median weekly earnings of $1,464 and $1,543, respectively.
Occupation | Employment | Median weekly earnings |
---|---|---|
Total, 16 years and over | 44,486,000 | $684 |
Management, business, and financial operations occupations | 7,386,000 | 977 |
Chief executives | 245,000 | 1,464 |
Computer and information systems managers | 138,000 | 1,543 |
Human resource workers | 406,000 | 912 |
Accountants and auditors | 852,000 | 956 |
Professional and related occupations | 13,139,000 | 919 |
Social workers | 554,000 | 798 |
Lawyers | 242,000 | 1,631 |
Elementary and middle school teachers | 1,973,000 | 933 |
Designers | 201,000 | 816 |
Pharmacists | 110,000 | 1,898 |
Physicians and surgeons | 206,000 | 1,527 |
Registered nurses | 1,937,000 | 1,034 |
Service occupations | 6,991,000 | 433 |
Waiters and waitresses | 559,000 | 389 |
Maids and housekeeping cleaners | 638,000 | 392 |
Hairdressers, hairstylists, and cosmetologists | 259,000 | 440 |
Sales and office occupations | 13,977,000 | 602 |
Advertising sales agents | 112,000 | 772 |
Real estate brokers and sales agents | 204,000 | 676 |
Office clerks, general | 673,000 | 594 |
The second highest paying job group for women was professional and related occupations in 2011, with median weekly earnings of $919. Within this group, women who were lawyers ($1,631), pharmacists ($1,898), and physicians ($1,527) had the highest earnings. Women who were registered nurses ($1,034) or elementary and middle school teachers ($933) represented the largest occupations in the professional and related group, and were among the largest occupations of women overall.
In 2011, women who worked full time in the service occupations group had about the lowest median weekly earnings at $443. For example, women working full time as maids and housekeeping cleaners and as waiters and waitresses had median weekly earnings of $392 and $389, respectively.
These data are from the Current Population Survey. Earnings data in this article are median usual weekly earnings of full-time wage and salary workers. Full-time workers are those who usually work 35 hours or more per week at their sole or principal job. To learn more, see "Highlights of Women's Earnings in 2011,” BLS Report 1038 (PDF).
Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, Women’s earnings by occupation, 2011 at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2013/ted_20130102.htm (visited October 31, 2024).