1

Technical information: (202) 691-6569

 http://www.bls.gov/oes/

Media contact: 691-5902

USDL 04-752

For release: 10:00 A.M. EDT

Friday, April 30, 2004

OCCUPATIONAL EMPLOYMENT AND WAGES, MAY 2003

Health care-related occupations, including specialist physicians and dentists, accounted for 8 of the 10

highest-paying occupations in May 2003, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department

of Labor. The average hourly wages for these health-related occupations ranged from $91.48 for surgeons

to $63.08 for dentists. The lowest-paying occupations included fast-food cooks who earned $7.23 per hour

and hair shampooers who earned $7.27 per hour. Five of the six lowest-paying occupations were related to

food preparation and serving.

Retail salespersons and cashiers were the largest occupations in the United States, with about 4 million

and 3.5 million employees, respectively. Occupations with more than 2 million workers included general

office clerks; hand laborers and material movers; registered nurses; waiters and waitresses; janitors and

cleaners, except maids and housekeeping cleaners; and combined food preparation and serving workers,

including fast food. (See table 1.)

0 5,000,000 10,000,000 15,000,000 20,000,000 25,000,000

Food preparation and serving related ($8.31)

Farming, fishing, and forestry ($9.71)

Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance ($10.12)

Personal care and service ($10.28)

Healthcare support ($10.94)

Transportation and material moving ($13.27)

Office and administrative support ($13.59)

Production ($13.80)

Sales and related ($15.02)

Protective service ($16.39)

Community and social services ($17.03)

Installation, maintenance, and repair ($17.41)

Construction and extraction ($17.62)

Education, training, and library ($19.55)

Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media ($20.49)

Life, physical, and social science ($25.58)

Healthcare practitioner and technical ($26.62)

Business and financial operations ($26.71)

Architecture and engineering ($28.48)

Computer and mathematical science ($30.40)

Legal ($37.94)

Management ($39.80)

Employment level

.7%

5.2%

 3.9%

.9%

1.2%

6.1%

4.8%

4.1%

1.3% 

2.4%

10.6%

8.2%

17.8%

7.4%

2.5%

2.3%

3.3%

.4%

8.0%

2.2%

1.9%

4.8%

Chart 1. Mean hourly wage and percent of total employment by major occupational group, May 2003 Occupational group (with mean hourly wage shown in parentheses)
2

Management .....................................................

Business and financial operations .......................

Computer and mathematical science ..................

Architecture and engineering .............................

Life, physical, and social science .......................

Community and social services ..........................

Legal................................................................

Education, training, and library ...........................

Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media ....

Healthcare practitioner and technical .................

Healthcare support ............................................

Protective service .............................................

Food preparation and serving related..................

Building and grounds cleaning and

 maintenance .................................................

Personal care and service .................................

Sales and related...............................................

Office and administrative support.......................

Farming, fishing, and forestry.............................

Construction and extraction ...............................

Installation, maintenance, and repair ...................

Production ........................................................

Transportation and material moving....................

$17.00

 to

$21.49

$21.50

 to

$27.24

$27.25

 to

$34.49

Wage range

Under

 $8.50

 $8.50

 to

$10.74

Major occupational group $10.75

 to

$13.49

$13.50

 to

$16.99

$34.50

 to

$43.74

$43.75

 and

 over

 1.3

 1.7

 .9

 .6

2.2

 7.2

 1.5

11.9

13.3

 2.8

25.5

17.1

67.4

42.8

50.3

36.9

15.2

56.8

 7.3

7.5

18.0

26.3

1.3

 2.1

 1.5

1.9

4.3

11.3

 2.5

8.7

10.1

 5.1

31.2

14.5

17.4

24.6

21.4

16.6

19.8

17.3

12.2

10.6

19.9

19.3

 3.0

5.7

 3.4

4.4

 8.5

18.5

5.9

10.0

12.2

8.3

23.2

15.0

8.6

16.0

11.5

11.3

22.6

11.2

16.6

15.3

20.3

18.0

 5.9

12.5

 7.3

 8.7

13.7

21.5

10.7

15.0

14.9

13.2

13.4

14.5

 4.0

9.5

7.1

9.4

19.5

7.2

18.8

19.4

17.4

15.0

19.1

12.9

14.8

17.4

18.5

14.0

18.7

15.2

20.0

13.8

14.4

17.6

20.7

12.2

11.3

13.7

21.4

18.8

20.9

18.4

13.3

13.3

16.8

13.5

20.7

1.2

13.2

.6

 1.6

 2.6

6.3

5.7

 2.0

14.4

16.6

8.1

6.2

16.0

17.5

21.7

21.0

15.3

 6.8

11.4

10.8

9.3

13.0

 .3

7.8

 .2

 .4

1.2

 1.9

.7

9.0

 7.3

3.1

 2.2

 16.6

10.9

19.5

17.0

10.8

2.2

10.7

5.0

5.7

6.9

.1

3.2

.1

.1

.6

3.0

.6

.3

3.2

2.0

.8

.7

32.4

9.1

14.0

10.7

9.2

.8

30.1

3.1

5.8

10.0

-

.9

-

-

.6

4.0

.3

.1

.8

.5

.2

1.0

Table A. Wage distribution by major occupational group, May 2003

(Percent distribution)

5.1

These statistics for wage and salary workers are from the Occupational Employment Statistics (OES)

survey, a federal-state cooperative program between BLS and State Workforce Agencies. The OES survey

provides estimates of employment and hourly and annual wages for wage and salary workers in 22 major

occupational groups and in 770 detailed occupations.

Management and legal occupational groups were the highest paying of the 22 major occupational groups.

About 30 percent of the workers in these two occupational groups earned more than $43.74 per hour. (See

table A.) The occupational group with the highest employment level in May 2003 was office and

administrative support workers, followed by sales and related workers, production workers, and food

preparation and serving workers. (See chart 1.)

The occupational groups with the lowest average wages were food preparation and serving related;

farming, fishing, and forestry; building and grounds cleaning and maintenance; and personal care and service.

At least 40 percent of all workers in each of these groups earned less than $8.50 per hour.

 4.4

1.8

9.6

4.7

8.1

4.4

5.0
3

Major groups whose wages were concentrated in the middle included business and financial operations

occupations; life, physical, and social science occupations; community and social services occupations;

education, training, and library occupations; healthcare practitioner and technical occupations; construction

and extraction occupations; and installation, maintenance, and repair occupations.

Table 1 shows employment and wage estimates for detailed occupations within each group. The OES

program also provides national occupational employment and wage data by industry, and cross-industry

estimates for all states and 334 metropolitan areas. May 2003 OES data for states and metropolitan areas

and the national employment and wage data by industry will be available on the BLS Web site in early May.

The OES survey is designed to estimate employment and wages at detailed industry and area levels with

a desired level of reliability based on a sample of 1.2 million establishments, collected in six semiannual panels

over a 3-year period.
Management occupations

Business and financial operations occupations

Computer and mathematical science occupations

Architecture and engineering occupations

Life, physical, and social science occupations

Community and social services occupations

Legal occupations

Education, training, and library occupations

Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media occupations

Healthcare practitioner and technical occupations

Healthcare support occupations

Protective service occupations

Food preparation and serving related occupations

Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance occupations

Personal care and service occupations

Sales and related occupations

Office and administrative support occupations

Farming, fishing, and forestry occupations

Construction and extraction occupations

Installation, maintenance, and repair occupations

Production occupations

Transportation and material moving occupations

Military specific occupations (not surveyed in OES).

Technical Note

Scope of the survey

The Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) survey is a

semiannual mail survey measuring occupational employment and

wage rates for wage and salary workers in nonfarm establishments,

by industry, in the United States. (Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin

Islands also are surveyed, but their data are not included in this

release.) In 2002, the OES survey switched from industry coding

based on the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) system to that

based on the North American Industry Classification System

(NAICS). The nationwide response rate for the May 2003 survey

was 79 percent for establishments, covering 72 percent of weighted

employment.

In November 2002, the OES survey changed from an annual survey

of 400,000 establishments to a semiannual survey of 200,000

establishments. The OES survey samples and contacts

establishments in May and November of each year and, over 3 years,

contacts approximately 1.2 million establishments. The full 3-year

sample allows the production of estimates at fine levels of geographic,

industrial, and occupational detail.

In order to maintain adequate geographic, industrial, and

occupational coverage through the implementation of NAICS and

semiannual sampling, May 2003 data were combined with samples

from November 2002, 2001, 2000, and a subset of certainty units

collected in 1999. Note that May 2003 and November 2002 are

semiannual samples while 2001 and 2000 are annual samples. Data

from 1999 were added to provide complete coverage of the certainty

strata. The total sample size is 1.2 million establishments. Estimates

from the OES survey are based on data collected using the Standard

Occupational Classification (SOC) system. A brief description of

this classification system is provided below.

The Standard Occupational Classification system

In 1999, the OES survey began using the Office of Management

and Budget’s (OMB) occupational classification system, the

Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) system. The SOC

system is the first OMB-required occupational classification system

for federal agencies. The OES survey categorizes workers in 1 of the

770 detailed occupations. Together, these detailed occupations

comprise 23 major occupational groups. The major groups are as

follows:

For more information about the SOC system, please see the

Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Web site at http://www.bls.gov/soc.

The industry coding system

As noted earlier, in 2002, the OES survey switched from using

the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) system to using the

North American Industry Classification System (NAICS). For

more information about NAICS, see the BLS Web site at

http://www.bls.gov/bls/naics.htm.

The OES survey includes establishments in NAICS sectors 11

(logging and agricultural support activities only), 21, 22, 23, 31-33,

42, 44-45, 48-49, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 61, 62, 71, 72, 81 (except

private households), state government, and local government. Data

for the U.S. Postal Service and the federal government are universe

counts obtained from the Postal Service and the Office of Personnel

Management, respectively. An establishment is defined as an

economic unit that processes goods or provides services, such as a

factory, mine, or store. The establishment is generally at a single

physical location and is engaged primarily in one type of economic

activity.

The OES survey covers all full- and part-time wage and salary

workers in nonfarm industries. The survey does not include the selfemployed owners and partners in unincorporated firms, household

workers, or unpaid family workers.

Survey coverage

BLS funds the survey and provides the procedures and technical

support, while the State Workforce Agencies (SWAs) collect the

data. BLS produces cross-industry NAICS estimates for the nation,

states, and metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs). NAICS estimates

are produced for 3-digit, 4-digit, and selected 5-digit industry levels.

BLS releases all cross-industry and national estimates, and the SWAs

release industry estimates at the state and MSA levels.

State Unemployment Insurance (UI) files provide the universe

from which the OES survey draws its sample. The employment

benchmarks are obtained from reports submitted by employers to the

UI program. Supplemental sources are used for rail transportation

(NAICS 4821) and Guam because they do not report to the UI

program. The OES survey sample is stratified by area, industry, and

size class. Size classes are defined as follows:

UI reporting units with 250 or more employees are sampled with

virtual certainty across a 3-year period. Generally, one-sixth of the

certainty units are sampled in each panel in each state. Some states,

however, sampled more than one-sixth of their certainty units in the

May 2003 survey to make up for a shortfall in a previous sample.

Concepts

Occupational employment is the estimate of total wage and salary

employment in an occupation across the industries in which that

1 1 to 4

2 5 to 9

3 10 to 19

4 20 to 49

5 50 to 99

6 100 to 249

7 250 and above

Size class Number of employees
occupation was reported. The OES survey defines employment as

the number of workers who can be classified as full-time or part-time

employees, including workers on paid vacations or other types of

leave; workers on unpaid short-term absences; salaried officers,

executives, and staff members of incorporated firms; employees

temporarily assigned to other units; and employees for whom the

reporting unit is their permanent duty station regardless of whether

that unit prepares their paycheck.

The OES survey form sent to an establishment contains between

50 and 225 SOC occupations selected on the basis of the sampled

establishment’s industry classification and size class. To reduce

paperwork and respondent burden, no survey form contains every

SOC occupation. Thus, data for specific occupations are collected primarily from establishments in industries that are the

predominant employers of workers in those occupations. Each

survey form is structured, however, to allow a respondent to provide detailed occupational information for each worker at the

establishment; that is, unlisted occupations can be added to the

survey form.

Wages for the OES survey are straight-time, gross pay, exclusive

of premium pay. Base rate, cost-of-living allowances, guaranteed

pay, hazardous-duty pay, incentive pay including commissions and

production bonuses, tips, and on-call pay are included. Excluded are

back pay, jury duty pay, overtime pay, severance pay, shift

differentials, non-production bonuses, employer cost for

supplementary benefits, and tuition reimbursements.

The OES survey collects wage data in 12 intervals. Employers

report the number of employees in an occupation for each wage range.

The wage intervals used for the May 2003 survey are as follows:

Mean hourly wage. The mean hourly wage rate for an occupation

is the total wages that all workers in the occupation earn in an hour

divided by the total employment of the occupation. To calculate the

mean hourly wage of each occupation, total weighted hourly wages are

summed across all intervals and divided by the occupation’s weighted

survey employment. The mean wage for each interval is based on occupational wage data collected by the BLS Office of Compensation and

Working Conditions for the National Compensation Survey (NCS).

The mean hourly wage value for the highest wage interval, $70.00

and over, is calculated after excluding data for pilots. Pilots comprise

a large portion of the employment from the NCS that falls into the

highest interval, and about one percent of the workers reported for

the OES survey makes $70.00 and over. Since pilots work fewer

hours than workers in other occupations, their hourly wage rates are

much higher than other occupations. After excluding pilots from the

calculation, the mean wage rate for the highest interval was computed

separately for May 2003, November 2002, 2001, 2000, and 1999.

Then the average of these five mean wage rates was derived and used for

all of the $70.00 and over data in the May 2003 survey. The wage rates

for this interval do not go through any wage updating procedures.

Percentile wage. The p-th percentile wage range for an occupation

is the wage where p percent of all workers earn that amount or less

and where (100-p) percent of all workers earn that amount or more.

This statistic is calculated by uniformly distributing the workers

inside each wage interval, ranking the workers from lowest paid to

highest paid, and calculating the product of the total employment for

the occupation and the desired percentile to determine the worker

that earns the p-th percentile wage rate.

Annual wage. Many employees are paid at an hourly rate by their

employers and may work more than or less than 40 hours per week.

Annual wage estimates in this release are calculated by multiplying

the mean hourly wage by a “year-round, full-time” figure of 2,080

hours (52 weeks by 40 hours). Thus, annual wage estimates may not

represent the actual annual pay received by the employee if they

work more or less than 2,080 hours per year. Alternatively, some

workers are paid based on an annual amount, but they generally do

not work the usual 2,080 hours per year. Since the OES survey does

not collect the actual number of hours worked, hourly rates cannot

be calculated with a reasonable degree of confidence from annual rates.

For this reason, the annual salary is directly calculated from reported

survey data, and only annual wages are estimated for these

occupations. Occupations that typically have a work year of less

than 2,080 hours include musical and entertainment occupations,

pilots and flight attendants, and teachers.

Hourly versus annual wage reporting. For each occupation,

respondents are asked to report the number of employees paid within

specific wage intervals. The intervals are defined both as hourly rates

and the corresponding annual rates, where the annual rate for an

occupation is calculated by multiplying the hourly wage rate by a

typical work year of 2,080 hours. The responding establishment can

reference either the hourly or the annual rate, but they are instructed

to report the hourly rate for part-time workers.

Estimation methodology

Beginning in November 2002, the OES survey samples

approximately 200,000 establishments semiannually in November

and May of each year, for a combined sample of 1.2 million different

establishments over six semiannual panels. Until 2002, the survey

sampled approximately 400,000 establishments in the fourth quarter

of each year, for a 3-year combined sample size of 1.2 million. While

estimates can be made from a single year or 2 years of data, the OES

survey has been designed to produce estimates at a desired level of

precision using the full 3 years, or 6 panels, of data. The 3-year

sample allows the production of estimates at fine levels of geographic,

industrial, and occupational detail.

Producing estimates using the 3 years of sample data provides

significant sampling error reductions (particularly for small

geographic areas and occupations); however, it also has some quality

limitations in that it requires the adjustment of earlier year’s data to

the current reference period, a procedure referred to as “wage

updating.”

Wage updating. As noted above, combining multiple years of data

has both statistical advantages and limitations. Significant reductions

in sampling error can be achieved by taking advantage of 3 years of

Interval

Hourly

Wages

Annual

Range A Under $6.75 Under $14,040

Range B $6.75 to $8.49 $14,040 to $17,679

Range C $8.50 to $10.74 $17,680 to $22,359

Range D $10.75 to $13.49 $22,360 to $28,079

Range E $13.50 to $16.99 $28,080 to $35,359

Range F $17.00 to $21.49 $35,360 to $44,719

Range G $21.50 to $27.24 $44,720 to $56,679

Range H $27.25 to $34.49 $56,680 to $71,759

Range I $34.50 to $43.74 $71,760 to $90,999

Range J $43.75 to $55.49 $91,000 to $115,439

Range K $55.50 to $69.99 $115,440 to $145,599

Range L $70.00 and over $145,600 and over
data, which covers over 70 percent of the employment in the United

States. This feature is particularly important in improving the

reliability of estimates for small domains in the population (that is,

wage and employment estimates for detailed occupations in small

areas). Combining multiple years of data also has been necessary to

obtain full coverage of establishments with 250 or more workers that

are sampled with certainty.

Starting with the 1997 estimates, the OES program has used the

BLS Employment Cost Index (ECI) to adjust survey data from prior

years or panels before combining them with the current panel’s data.

The wage updating procedure assumes that each occupation’s wage

rate, as measured in the earlier year or panel, moves according to the

average movement of the broader occupational division that

encompasses it and that there are no major geographic, industrial, or

detailed occupational differences.

May 2003 OES survey estimates. The May 2003 OES survey

estimates are based on data collected from establishments in the

November 2002, 2001, and 2000 samples plus a subset of certainty

units collected in 1999. The May 2003 estimates used the wageupdating methodology introduced in 1997. In addition, a “nearest

neighbor” hot deck imputation procedure was used to impute

occupational employment totals for establishments that reported no

employment data. For establishments that reported (or imputed)

occupational employment totals but did not report an employment

distribution across the wage intervals, a variation of mean imputation

was used to impute the distribution. During estimates processing,

OES employment data were benchmarked to the average employment

for May 2003 and November 2002 from the BLS Quarterly Census

of Employment and Wages.

Reliability of the estimates. Estimates calculated from a sample

survey are subject to two types of error: sampling and nonsampling.

Sampling error occurs when estimates are calculated from a subset

(i.e., sample) of the population instead of the full population. When

a sample of the population is surveyed, there is a chance that the

sample estimate of the characteristic of interest may differ from the

population value of that characteristic. Differences between the

sample estimate and the population value will vary depending on the

sample selected. This variability can be estimated by calculating the

standard error (SE) of the sample estimate. If we were to repeat the

sampling and estimation process countless times using the same

survey design, approximately 90 percent of the intervals created by

adding and subtracting 1.645 SEs from the sample estimate would

include the population value. These intervals are called 90-percent

confidence intervals. The OES survey, however, usually uses the

relative standard error (RSE) of a sample estimate instead of its SE

to measure sampling error. RSE is defined as the SE of a sample

estimate divided by the sample estimate itself. This statistic provides

the user with a measure of the relative precision of the sample

estimate. RSEs are calculated for both occupational employment and

mean wage rate estimates. Occupational employment RSEs are

calculated using a subsample, random group replication technique

called the Jackknife. Mean wage rate RSEs are calculated using a

variance components model that accounts for both the observed and

unobserved components of the wage data. The variances of the

unobserved components are estimated using wage data from the BLS

National Compensation Survey. In general, estimates based on many

establishments have lower RSEs than estimates based on few

establishments. If the distributional assumptions of the models are

violated, the resulting confidence intervals may not reflect the

prescribed level of confidence.

Nonsampling error occurs for a variety of reasons, none of which

are directly connected to sampling. Examples of nonsampling error

include: nonresponse, data incorrectly reported by the respondent,

mistakes made in entering collected data into the database, and

mistakes made in editing and processing the collected data.

Additional information

The May 2003 OES national data by occupation, comparable to

data in table 1, will be available soon on the Internet (http://

www.bls.gov/oes). Users also may access each occupation’s

definition and percentile wages. The May 2003 cross-industry data

for states and metropolitan areas will be available on the BLS Web

site in early May. Industry staffing patterns at the 3-, 4-, and selected

5-digit NAICS levels also will be available from the Internet beginning

in early May. These data will include industry-specific occupational

employment and wage data.

For additional information, contact the Office of Employment and

Unemployment Statistics, Division of Occupational Employment

Statistics, Room 2135, 2 Massachusetts Avenue, NE, Washington,

DC, 20212; telephone 202-691-6569 (e-mail: oesinfo@bls.gov).

Information in this release will be made available to sensory

impaired individuals upon request. Voice phone: 202-691-5200;

TDD message referral phone number: 1-800-877-8339.
Table 1. National employment and wage data from the Occupational Employment Statistics survey by occupation, May 2003

Hourly Annual1

Management occupations

Chief executives................................................................................................................. 389,880 $67.58 $140,580 $64.78

General and operations managers..................................................................................... 1,892,060 42.64 88,700 35.00

Legislators.......................................................................................................................... 65,280 15.14 31,490 7.90

Advertising and promotions managers............................................................................... 71,100 35.18 73,170 29.01

Marketing managers.......................................................................................................... 182,600 44.32 92,190 40.01

Sales managers................................................................................................................. 314,180 44.15 91,840 38.69

Public relations managers.................................................................................................. 58,490 35.94 74,750 31.16

Administrative services managers..................................................................................... 278,300 30.67 63,780 27.37

Computer and information systems managers.................................................................. 266,020 45.78 95,230 43.15

Financial managers............................................................................................................ 521,750 41.92 87,190 37.16

Human resources managers.............................................................................................. 171,530 36.15 75,190 33.08

Industrial production managers.......................................................................................... 166,350 36.88 76,710 33.90

Purchasing managers........................................................................................................ 91,060 34.17 71,080 31.22

Transportation, storage, and distribution managers........................................................... 97,450 33.50 69,670 30.57

Farm, ranch, and other agricultural managers................................................................... 5,420 25.04 52,080 22.83

Construction managers...................................................................................................... 196,110 35.96 74,790 31.96

Education administrators, preschool and child care center/program................................. 56,030 19.37 40,290 16.59

Education administrators, elementary and secondary school............................................ 206,310 (2) 76,210 (2)

Education administrators, postsecondary.......................................................................... 98,160 35.60 74,040 32.04

Engineering managers....................................................................................................... 194,940 47.94 99,710 45.42

Food service managers...................................................................................................... 229,960 20.20 42,010 17.91

Funeral directors................................................................................................................ 23,080 25.82 53,710 21.48

Gaming managers.............................................................................................................. 3,560 30.91 64,300 27.46

Lodging managers............................................................................................................. 30,760 19.70 40,980 17.16

Medical and health services managers.............................................................................. 226,160 34.92 72,630 31.04

Natural sciences managers................................................................................................ 41,810 45.19 93,990 41.28

Postmasters and mail superintendents.............................................................................. 26,060 24.51 50,980 24.10

Property, real estate, and community association managers............................................. 156,120 22.86 47,550 18.46

Social and community service managers........................................................................... 116,020 23.77 49,440 21.85

Business and financial operations occupations

Agents and business managers of artists, performers, and athletes................................. 12,380 31.81 66,160 26.27

Purchasing agents and buyers, farm products................................................................... 15,550 22.86 47,550 20.60

Wholesale and retail buyers, except farm products........................................................... 138,630 23.72 49,350 20.28

Purchasing agents, except wholesale, retail, and farm products....................................... 237,210 24.07 50,060 22.43

Claims adjusters, examiners, and investigators................................................................. 234,190 22.58 46,960 21.18

Insurance appraisers, auto damage................................................................................... 11,450 21.14 43,960 20.99

Compliance officers, except agriculture, construction, health and safety,

 and transportation....................................................................................................... 154,600 24.23 50,390 22.49

Cost estimators.................................................................................................................. 184,620 25.03 52,050 23.22

Emergency management specialists................................................................................. 9,760 23.41 48,680 21.68

Employment, recruitment, and placement specialists........................................................ 164,020 22.95 47,730 19.60

Compensation, benefits, and job analysis specialists........................................................ 86,450 23.86 49,620 22.53

Training and development specialists................................................................................ 199,460 22.83 47,490 21.23

Management analysts........................................................................................................ 423,880 35.19 73,190 30.09

Meeting and convention planners...................................................................................... 32,980 20.47 42,570 18.78

Accountants and auditors................................................................................................... 924,640 26.65 55,430 23.59

Appraisers and assessors of real estate............................................................................ 61,070 23.99 49,900 20.97

Budget analysts.................................................................................................................. 55,560 27.56 57,330 26.21

Credit analysts.................................................................................................................... 68,910 25.25 52,530 21.65

Financial analysts............................................................................................................... 165,420 33.67 70,040 28.87

Personal financial advisors................................................................................................ 85,670 38.12 79,290 28.22

Insurance underwriters....................................................................................................... 96,890 25.56 53,170 22.75

Financial examiners........................................................................................................... 22,720 30.66 63,770 28.36

Loan counselors................................................................................................................. 30,810 18.12 37,700 16.09

Loan officers....................................................................................................................... 237,150 26.73 55,590 22.43

Tax examiners, collectors, and revenue agents................................................................. 71,060 22.62 47,060 20.57

Tax preparers..................................................................................................................... 50,410 15.69 32,630 12.76

Computer and mathematical science occupations

Computer and information scientists, research.................................................................. 23,210 40.64 84,530 39.23

Computer programmers..................................................................................................... 431,640 31.01 64,510 29.49

Computer software engineers, applications....................................................................... 392,140 36.42 75,750 34.87

Computer software engineers, systems software.............................................................. 285,760 37.69 78,400 36.65

Computer support specialists............................................................................................. 482,990 20.50 42,640 18.96

Computer systems analysts............................................................................................... 474,780 31.82 66,180 30.85

Database administrators.................................................................................................... 100,890 29.54 61,440 27.98

Network and computer systems administrators................................................................. 237,980 28.43 59,140 26.95

Network systems and data communications analysts........................................................ 148,030 29.84 62,060 28.42

Actuaries............................................................................................................................ 14,680 41.22 85,730 34.86

Mathematicians.................................................................................................................. 2,470 37.00 76,960 37.64

See footnotes at end of table.

Mean wages

Occupation Employment Median hourly 

wages
Hourly Annual1

Computer and mathematical science occupations 3⁄4 Continued

Operations research analysts............................................................................................. 58,080 $29.66 $61,700 $28.03

Statisticians........................................................................................................................ 18,370 29.79 61,970 28.64

Mathematical technicians................................................................................................... 2,180 19.87 41,320 17.57

Architecture and engineering occupations

Architects, except landscape and naval............................................................................. 91,010 31.18 64,850 27.86

Landscape architects......................................................................................................... 18,910 26.39 54,900 24.27

Cartographers and photogrammetrists.............................................................................. 8,940 22.37 46,520 21.24

Surveyors........................................................................................................................... 51,490 21.06 43,810 19.64

Aerospace engineers......................................................................................................... 70,740 36.54 76,000 35.83

Agricultural engineers......................................................................................................... 2,270 27.11 56,380 24.51

Biomedical engineers......................................................................................................... 6,980 32.20 66,980 30.61

Chemical engineers........................................................................................................... 32,490 36.66 76,250 35.46

Civil engineers.................................................................................................................... 206,350 31.07 64,620 29.73

Computer hardware engineers........................................................................................... 72,550 38.15 79,350 36.53

Electrical engineers............................................................................................................ 146,150 34.66 72,090 33.48

Electronics engineers, except computer............................................................................ 137,320 35.16 73,140 34.31

Environmental engineers................................................................................................... 45,480 31.16 64,820 30.19

Health and safety engineers, except mining safety engineers and inspectors................... 29,920 30.01 62,420 28.68

Industrial engineers............................................................................................................ 156,780 30.91 64,290 30.23

Marine engineers and naval architects............................................................................... 4,960 34.52 71,800 33.89

Materials engineers............................................................................................................ 23,120 31.19 64,870 30.25

Mechanical engineers........................................................................................................ 207,810 31.75 66,040 30.72

Mining and geological engineers, including mining safety engineers................................ 4,730 31.78 66,090 30.06

Nuclear engineers.............................................................................................................. 16,010 41.12 85,520 40.18

Petroleum engineers.......................................................................................................... 11,630 41.86 87,070 40.34

Architectural and civil drafters............................................................................................ 97,800 18.84 39,190 18.12

Electrical and electronics drafters...................................................................................... 33,720 21.56 44,840 20.06

Mechanical drafters............................................................................................................ 74,010 20.88 43,430 19.96

Aerospace engineering and operations technicians.......................................................... 13,900 25.91 53,890 25.33

Civil engineering technicians.............................................................................................. 90,060 18.89 39,290 18.30

Electrical and electronic engineering technicians.............................................................. 177,940 21.70 45,150 20.98

Electro-mechanical technicians.......................................................................................... 25,820 19.68 40,930 18.88

Environmental engineering technicians............................................................................. 17,630 19.01 39,530 17.88

Industrial engineering technicians...................................................................................... 64,260 21.68 45,090 20.13

Mechanical engineering technicians.................................................................................. 50,510 20.84 43,340 20.14

Surveying and mapping technicians................................................................................... 57,740 15.39 32,000 14.19

Life, physical, and social science occupations

Agricultural and food scientists.......................................................................................... 16,200 25.77 53,600 23.80

Biochemists and biophysicists........................................................................................... 14,430 32.27 67,120 29.95

Microbiologists.................................................................................................................... 14,110 27.49 57,190 25.21

Zoologists and wildlife biologists........................................................................................ 12,880 24.57 51,100 23.72

Conservation scientists...................................................................................................... 13,780 25.08 52,160 24.63

Foresters............................................................................................................................ 9,840 23.44 48,760 22.75

Epidemiologists.................................................................................................................. 3,770 28.30 58,860 26.22

Medical scientists, except epidemiologists......................................................................... 60,830 32.38 67,360 28.47

Astronomers....................................................................................................................... 770 40.90 85,070 42.45

Physicists........................................................................................................................... 12,390 42.48 88,350 41.17

Atmospheric and space scientists...................................................................................... 6,490 31.65 65,830 31.57

Chemists............................................................................................................................ 82,600 28.11 58,460 25.79

Materials scientists............................................................................................................. 7,410 34.09 70,900 33.15

Environmental scientists and specialists, including health................................................. 61,660 25.23 52,490 23.46

Geoscientists, except hydrologists and geographers......................................................... 26,090 37.73 78,480 32.91

Hydrologists........................................................................................................................ 7,060 28.60 59,490 27.43

Economists......................................................................................................................... 12,300 37.41 77,810 33.78

Market research analysts................................................................................................... 142,190 29.65 61,670 26.28

Survey researchers............................................................................................................ 16,850 15.76 32,770 11.83

Clinical, counseling, and school psychologists.................................................................. 100,180 27.80 57,820 25.10

Industrial-organizational psychologists............................................................................... 1,330 34.26 71,260 30.98

Sociologists........................................................................................................................ 3,060 28.16 58,570 26.16

Urban and regional planners.............................................................................................. 30,770 25.58 53,210 24.73

Anthropologists and archeologists..................................................................................... 4,550 21.28 44,270 19.54

Geographers...................................................................................................................... 700 27.26 56,690 27.33

Historians........................................................................................................................... 2,350 21.78 45,310 20.14

Political scientists............................................................................................................... 4,840 38.93 80,980 39.12

Agricultural and food science technicians.......................................................................... 15,990 14.87 30,920 13.81

Biological technicians......................................................................................................... 49,550 16.62 34,570 15.69

See footnotes at end of table.

Mean wages

Occupation Employment Median hourly 

wages

Table 1. National employment and wage data from the Occupational Employment Statistics survey by occupation, May 20033⁄4 

Continued
Hourly Annual1

Life, physical, and social science occupations 3⁄4 Continued

Chemical technicians......................................................................................................... 64,020 $18.51 $38,500 $17.82

Geological and petroleum technicians............................................................................... 10,150 20.21 42,040 19.58

Nuclear technicians............................................................................................................ 6,970 28.64 59,570 28.47

Environmental science and protection technicians, including health................................. 27,800 17.97 37,380 16.97

Forensic science technicians............................................................................................. 8,830 21.43 44,580 20.18

Forest and conservation technicians.................................................................................. 30,140 14.29 29,730 12.93

Community and social services occupations

Substance abuse and behavioral disorder counselors...................................................... 65,170 15.95 33,170 14.99

Educational, vocational, and school counselors................................................................ 214,360 22.59 46,990 21.46

Marriage and family therapists........................................................................................... 22,150 19.33 40,210 17.71

Mental health counselors................................................................................................... 83,450 16.48 34,280 15.05

Rehabilitation counselors................................................................................................... 115,690 14.06 29,240 12.79

Child, family, and school social workers............................................................................ 256,160 17.64 36,700 16.25

Medical and public health social workers........................................................................... 103,270 19.10 39,730 18.48

Mental health and substance abuse social workers........................................................... 96,990 16.88 35,120 15.88

Health educators................................................................................................................ 42,780 19.47 40,490 18.00

Probation officers and correctional treatment specialists................................................... 86,810 20.00 41,600 18.64

Social and human service assistants................................................................................. 300,310 12.24 25,450 11.47

Clergy................................................................................................................................. 38,170 17.76 36,950 16.25

Directors, religious activities and education....................................................................... 11,840 15.60 32,460 13.45

Legal occupations

Lawyers.............................................................................................................................. 516,220 51.83 107,800 43.98

Administrative law judges, adjudicators, and hearing officers............................................ 16,850 33.46 69,590 31.81

Arbitrators, mediators, and conciliators.............................................................................. 4,640 26.06 54,210 22.77

Judges, magistrate judges, and magistrates...................................................................... 24,640 42.09 87,540 46.31

Paralegals and legal assistants.......................................................................................... 206,700 19.57 40,710 18.23

Court reporters................................................................................................................... 15,370 22.26 46,310 20.31

Law clerks.......................................................................................................................... 41,550 15.88 33,030 15.27

Title examiners, abstractors, and searchers...................................................................... 47,840 18.69 38,880 16.39

Education, training, and library occupations

Business teachers, postsecondary..................................................................................... 68,260 (2) 62,450 (2)

Computer science teachers, postsecondary...................................................................... 34,470 (2) 56,210 (2)

Mathematical science teachers, postsecondary................................................................. 41,880 (2) 55,510 (2)

Architecture teachers, postsecondary................................................................................ 5,270 (2) 64,300 (2)

Engineering teachers, postsecondary................................................................................ 28,990 (2) 74,630 (2)

Agricultural sciences teachers, postsecondary.................................................................. 11,260 (2) 66,780 (2)

Biological science teachers, postsecondary....................................................................... 51,780 (2) 68,880 (2)

Forestry and conservation science teachers, postsecondary............................................ 2,660 (2) 66,740 (2)

Atmospheric, earth, marine, and space sciences teachers, postsecondary...................... 8,420 (2) 68,370 (2)

Chemistry teachers, postsecondary................................................................................... 17,100 (2) 61,820 (2)

Environmental science teachers, postsecondary............................................................... 3,620 (2) 62,960 (2)

Physics teachers, postsecondary....................................................................................... 11,870 (2) 67,430 (2)

Anthropology and archeology teachers, postsecondary..................................................... 4,690 (2) 64,320 (2)

Area, ethnic, and cultural studies teachers, postsecondary............................................... 7,490 (2) 60,520 (2)

Economics teachers, postsecondary.................................................................................. 11,420 (2) 70,590 (2)

Geography teachers, postsecondary.................................................................................. 3,910 (2) 59,200 (2)

Political science teachers, postsecondary.......................................................................... 12,320 (2) 62,880 (2)

Psychology teachers, postsecondary................................................................................. 27,250 (2) 59,180 (2)

Sociology teachers, postsecondary.................................................................................... 13,990 (2) 56,830 (2)

Health specialties teachers, postsecondary....................................................................... 88,130 (2) 73,660 (2)

Nursing instructors and teachers, postsecondary.............................................................. 36,330 (2) 53,480 (2)

Education teachers, postsecondary................................................................................... 44,880 (2) 51,830 (2)

Library science teachers, postsecondary........................................................................... 4,110 (2) 53,660 (2)

Criminal justice and law enforcement teachers, postsecondary........................................ 9,610 (2) 49,180 (2)

Law teachers, postsecondary............................................................................................. 11,470 (2) 91,420 (2)

Social work teachers, postsecondary................................................................................. 6,470 (2) 55,830 (2)

Art, drama, and music teachers, postsecondary................................................................ 60,120 (2) 52,770 (2)

Communications teachers, postsecondary........................................................................ 20,420 (2) 52,400 (2)

English language and literature teachers, postsecondary.................................................. 56,540 (2) 51,780 (2)

Foreign language and literature teachers, postsecondary................................................. 19,710 (2) 50,920 (2)

History teachers, postsecondary........................................................................................ 18,110 (2) 56,550 (2)

Philosophy and religion teachers, postsecondary.............................................................. 15,890 (2) 53,600 (2)

Graduate teaching assistants............................................................................................. 121,760 (2) 26,440 (2)

Home economics teachers, postsecondary....................................................................... 4,500 (2) 52,600 (2)

Recreation and fitness studies teachers, postsecondary................................................... 14,780 (2) 47,050 (2)

Vocational education teachers, postsecondary.................................................................. 121,090 20.80 43,270 19.10

Preschool teachers, except special education................................................................... 368,870 10.67 22,190 9.53

Kindergarten teachers, except special education............................................................... 162,660 (2) 42,380 (2)

Elementary school teachers, except special education...................................................... 1,432,800 (2) 44,350 (2)

See footnotes at end of table.

Occupation

Mean wages

Employment

Table 1. National employment and wage data from the Occupational Employment Statistics survey by occupation, May 20033⁄4 

Continued

Median hourly 

wages
Hourly Annual1

Education, training, and library occupations 3⁄4 Continued

Middle school teachers, except special and vocational education..................................... 604,370 (2) $44,830 (2)

Vocational education teachers, middle school................................................................... 17,430 (2) 44,930 (2)

Secondary school teachers, except special and vocational education.............................. 1,011,240 (2) 46,790 (2)

Vocational education teachers, secondary school............................................................. 101,190 (2) 46,100 (2)

Special education teachers, preschool, kindergarten, and elementary school.................. 207,530 (2) 45,920 (2)

Special education teachers, middle school........................................................................ 93,790 (2) 44,920 (2)

Special education teachers, secondary school.................................................................. 131,190 (2) 47,530 (2)

Adult literacy, remedial education, and GED teachers and instructors.............................. 62,510 20.47 42,570 18.10

Self-enrichment education teachers................................................................................... 136,680 16.15 33,590 14.34

Archivists, curators, and museum technicians................................................................... 21,030 19.21 39,960 17.14

Librarians............................................................................................................................ 153,330 21.89 45,520 21.22

Library technicians............................................................................................................. 108,940 12.29 25,570 11.65

Audio-visual collections specialists.................................................................................... 8,970 16.80 34,940 15.67

Farm and home management advisors............................................................................. 12,010 20.10 41,800 19.20

Instructional coordinators................................................................................................... 96,690 24.09 50,100 22.82

Teacher assistants............................................................................................................. 1,234,030 (2) 20,220 (2)

Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media occupations

Art directors........................................................................................................................ 24,000 33.70 70,100 29.93

Fine artists, including painters, sculptors, and illustrators.................................................. 9,690 20.97 43,610 17.03

Multi-media artists and animators...................................................................................... 32,910 25.42 52,880 22.08

Commercial and industrial designers................................................................................. 33,390 26.41 54,920 25.16

Fashion designers.............................................................................................................. 11,270 30.12 62,650 25.42

Floral designers.................................................................................................................. 69,730 10.00 20,810 9.45

Graphic designers.............................................................................................................. 151,950 19.85 41,300 17.61

Interior designers................................................................................................................ 46,240 21.39 44,480 19.29

Merchandise displayers and window trimmers................................................................... 59,150 11.99 24,940 10.59

Set and exhibit designers................................................................................................... 8,060 18.78 39,070 16.90

Actors................................................................................................................................. 51,840 (2) 48,940 (2)

Producers and directors..................................................................................................... 54,370 (2) 64,550 (2)

Athletes and sports competitors......................................................................................... 11,840 (2) 90,410 (2)

Coaches and scouts........................................................................................................... 105,070 (2) 33,570 (2)

Umpires, referees, and other sports officials...................................................................... 8,790 (2) 27,820 (2)

Dancers.............................................................................................................................. 15,390 12.76 26,540 9.45

Choreographers................................................................................................................. 14,810 17.16 35,700 14.92

Music directors and composers......................................................................................... 9,000 (2) 41,450 (2)

Musicians and singers........................................................................................................ 50,600 (2) 51,580 (2)

Announcers........................................................................................................................ 49,370 14.25 29,640 10.07

News analysts, reporters and correspondents................................................................... 60,230 19.27 40,090 15.02

Public relations specialists................................................................................................. 147,970 23.19 48,230 20.48

Editors................................................................................................................................ 108,990 22.83 47,490 19.93

Technical writers................................................................................................................ 44,690 26.15 54,390 24.80

Writers and authors............................................................................................................ 43,740 24.26 50,460 20.35

Interpreters and translators................................................................................................ 21,910 17.22 35,820 16.10

Audio and video equipment technicians............................................................................. 37,370 16.88 35,110 14.81

Broadcast technicians........................................................................................................ 32,750 16.62 34,560 13.51

Radio operators.................................................................................................................. 2,060 15.80 32,870 14.57

Sound engineering technicians.......................................................................................... 11,840 22.49 46,780 18.41

Photographers.................................................................................................................... 57,740 14.23 29,590 12.04

Camera operators, television, video, and motion picture................................................... 21,430 18.34 38,140 16.51

Film and video editors........................................................................................................ 15,100 22.32 46,420 19.52

Healthcare practitioner and technical occupations

Chiropractors...................................................................................................................... 20,210 39.72 82,630 31.72

Dentists.............................................................................................................................. 97,090 63.08 131,210 57.85

Dietitians and nutritionists.................................................................................................. 46,190 20.68 43,020 20.21

Optometrists....................................................................................................................... 22,740 45.70 95,060 41.07

Pharmacists....................................................................................................................... 215,030 37.80 78,620 38.72

Anesthesiologists............................................................................................................... 23,790 88.89 184,880 (3)

Family and general practitioners........................................................................................ 111,990 67.13 139,640 64.11

Internists, general............................................................................................................... 50,140 76.99 160,130 (3)

Obstetricians and gynecologists......................................................................................... 19,180 86.86 180,660 (3)

Pediatricians, general......................................................................................................... 26,910 68.90 143,300 64.50

Psychiatrists....................................................................................................................... 19,530 66.97 139,300 64.41

Surgeons............................................................................................................................ 49,730 91.48 190,280 (3)

Physician assistants........................................................................................................... 60,030 31.15 64,790 31.57

Podiatrists........................................................................................................................... 7,800 51.17 106,430 45.22

Registered nurses.............................................................................................................. 2,246,430 24.63 51,230 23.82

Audiologists........................................................................................................................ 10,030 25.23 52,490 23.93

Occupational therapists...................................................................................................... 81,380 25.87 53,810 25.27

See footnotes at end of table.

Occupation Employment Median hourly 

wages

Table 1. National employment and wage data from the Occupational Employment Statistics survey by occupation, May 20033⁄4 

Continued

Mean wages
Hourly Annual1

Healthcare practitioner and technical occupations 3⁄4 Continued

Physical therapists............................................................................................................. 134,970 $29.02 $60,350 $27.75

Radiation therapists............................................................................................................ 13,990 30.83 64,130 26.06

Recreational therapists....................................................................................................... 22,860 15.82 32,920 15.32

Respiratory therapists........................................................................................................ 87,180 20.07 41,750 19.79

Speech-language pathologists........................................................................................... 86,640 25.10 52,210 24.06

Veterinarians...................................................................................................................... 43,890 36.00 74,880 31.13

Medical and clinical laboratory technologists..................................................................... 146,900 21.38 44,480 20.98

Medical and clinical laboratory technicians........................................................................ 146,160 14.88 30,940 14.24

Dental hygienists................................................................................................................ 146,360 28.13 58,520 27.10

Cardiovascular technologists and technicians................................................................... 43,300 18.44 38,350 17.99

Diagnostic medical sonographers...................................................................................... 37,240 24.39 50,740 24.02

Nuclear medicine technologists......................................................................................... 17,550 26.57 55,260 24.79

Radiologic technologists and technicians.......................................................................... 173,030 20.03 41,660 19.53

Emergency medical technicians and paramedics.............................................................. 181,750 12.95 26,930 11.75

Dietetic technicians............................................................................................................ 26,870 11.64 24,210 10.78

Pharmacy technicians........................................................................................................ 211,270 11.47 23,860 10.94

Psychiatric technicians....................................................................................................... 56,000 13.60 28,290 12.39

Respiratory therapy technicians......................................................................................... 25,470 17.11 35,590 16.75

Surgical technologists........................................................................................................ 73,250 15.74 32,740 15.45

Veterinary technologists and technicians........................................................................... 53,730 11.76 24,470 11.22

Licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses............................................................ 682,590 15.97 33,210 15.57

Medical records and health information technicians.......................................................... 148,380 12.77 26,550 11.79

Opticians, dispensing......................................................................................................... 63,780 13.74 28,570 12.67

Orthotists and prosthetists.................................................................................................. 4,880 27.38 56,950 23.90

Occupational health and safety specialists and technicians.............................................. 42,580 23.57 49,020 22.88

Athletic trainers................................................................................................................... 11,750 (2) 34,860 (2)

Healthcare support occupations

Home health aides............................................................................................................. 583,880 9.22 19,180 8.77

Nursing aides, orderlies, and attendants............................................................................ 1,341,650 10.12 21,050 9.85

Psychiatric aides................................................................................................................ 57,770 11.48 23,880 11.01

Occupational therapist assistants...................................................................................... 18,940 18.04 37,530 17.98

Occupational therapist aides.............................................................................................. 6,060 12.21 25,390 10.95

Physical therapist assistants.............................................................................................. 52,440 17.67 36,750 17.60

Physical therapist aides...................................................................................................... 36,870 10.71 22,270 10.08

Massage therapists............................................................................................................ 29,940 16.49 34,310 13.78

Dental assistants................................................................................................................ 272,030 13.57 28,230 13.32

Medical assistants.............................................................................................................. 362,670 11.99 24,940 11.62

Medical equipment preparers............................................................................................. 37,140 11.66 24,260 11.23

Medical transcriptionists..................................................................................................... 97,810 13.59 28,270 13.26

Pharmacy aides.................................................................................................................. 61,170 9.42 19,600 8.84

Veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers..................................................... 64,490 9.28 19,310 8.66

Protective service occupations

First-line supervisors/managers of correctional officers..................................................... 33,760 23.00 47,850 21.88

First-line supervisors/managers of police and detectives.................................................. 101,740 30.39 63,200 29.98

First-line supervisors/managers of fire fighting and prevention workers............................ 59,000 28.24 58,750 27.40

Fire fighters........................................................................................................................ 273,120 18.41 38,280 17.82

Fire inspectors and investigators....................................................................................... 12,320 22.76 47,340 21.99

Forest fire inspectors and prevention specialists............................................................... 1,460 19.72 41,010 18.31

Bailiffs................................................................................................................................. 16,760 16.81 34,970 16.57

Correctional officers and jailers.......................................................................................... 417,420 16.87 35,090 15.94

Detectives and criminal investigators................................................................................. 87,480 26.17 54,440 25.19

Fish and game wardens..................................................................................................... 6,850 21.41 44,540 19.90

Parking enforcement workers............................................................................................ 9,870 14.22 29,570 13.55

Police and sheriff's patrol officers....................................................................................... 609,960 21.62 44,960 21.16

Transit and railroad police.................................................................................................. 5,470 22.09 45,940 21.23

Animal control workers....................................................................................................... 12,290 12.93 26,900 12.38

Private detectives and investigators................................................................................... 30,460 16.87 35,080 14.62

Gaming surveillance officers and gaming investigators..................................................... 7,560 12.51 26,030 11.86

Security guards.................................................................................................................. 964,260 10.34 21,520 9.45

Crossing guards................................................................................................................. 70,820 9.86 20,510 9.07

Food preparation and serving related occupations

Chefs and head cooks....................................................................................................... 118,870 15.68 32,620 13.82

First-line supervisors/managers of food preparation and serving workers......................... 694,040 12.90 26,840 11.88

Cooks, fast food................................................................................................................. 612,960 7.23 15,030 6.95

Cooks, institution and cafeteria.......................................................................................... 406,010 9.31 19,350 8.80

Cooks, restaurant............................................................................................................... 734,870 9.62 20,020 9.26

Cooks, short order.............................................................................................................. 227,360 8.30 17,260 7.90

Food preparation workers.................................................................................................. 852,890 8.34 17,340 7.92

See footnotes at end of table.

Occupation

Mean wages

Employment Median hourly 

wages

Table 1. National employment and wage data from the Occupational Employment Statistics survey by occupation, May 20033⁄4 

Continued
Hourly Annual1

Food preparation and serving related occupations 3⁄4 Continued

Bartenders.......................................................................................................................... 470,020 $8.14 $16,930 $7.23

Combined food preparation and serving workers, including fast food............................... 2,047,100 7.34 15,260 7.00

Counter attendants, cafeteria, food concession, and coffee shop..................................... 461,700 7.76 16,140 7.38

Waiters and waitresses...................................................................................................... 2,125,100 7.58 15,780 6.78

Food servers, nonrestaurant.............................................................................................. 194,260 8.28 17,220 7.65

Dining room and cafeteria attendants and bartender helpers............................................ 393,500 7.38 15,350 7.01

Dishwashers....................................................................................................................... 492,620 7.45 15,490 7.21

Hosts and hostesses, restaurant, lounge, and coffee shop............................................... 294,300 7.77 16,170 7.40

Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance occupations

First-line supervisors/managers of housekeeping and janitorial workers.......................... 203,770 14.90 31,000 13.78

First-line supervisors/managers of landscaping, lawn service, and

 groundskeeping workers............................................................................................. 95,450 17.71 36,840 16.23

Janitors and cleaners, except maids and housekeeping cleaners..................................... 2,064,350 9.77 20,320 8.85

Maids and housekeeping cleaners..................................................................................... 896,370 8.42 17,520 7.98

Pest control workers........................................................................................................... 58,500 12.75 26,510 12.01

Landscaping and groundskeeping workers........................................................................ 819,780 10.39 21,610 9.59

Pesticide handlers, sprayers, and applicators, vegetation................................................. 23,450 12.60 26,210 12.25

Tree trimmers and pruners................................................................................................. 40,710 13.11 27,270 12.32

Personal care and service occupations

Gaming supervisors........................................................................................................... 26,280 19.64 40,860 19.31

Slot key persons................................................................................................................. 15,000 11.98 24,930 11.13

First-line supervisors/managers of personal service workers............................................ 110,630 15.67 32,590 14.18

Animal trainers................................................................................................................... 6,990 12.65 26,310 10.75

Nonfarm animal caretakers................................................................................................ 85,440 9.08 18,890 8.26

Gaming dealers.................................................................................................................. 76,120 7.86 16,350 6.83

Gaming and sports book writers and runners.................................................................... 15,820 10.04 20,880 9.05

Motion picture projectionists............................................................................................... 10,450 9.98 20,750 8.24

Ushers, lobby attendants, and ticket takers....................................................................... 109,290 7.94 16,520 7.07

Amusement and recreation attendants.............................................................................. 236,070 7.89 16,400 7.23

Costume attendants........................................................................................................... 3,400 13.80 28,700 12.22

Locker room, coatroom, and dressing room attendants.................................................... 21,420 8.60 17,890 8.25

Embalmers......................................................................................................................... 7,630 17.48 36,360 16.51

Funeral attendants............................................................................................................. 28,120 9.66 20,090 8.91

Barbers............................................................................................................................... 17,570 11.16 23,210 9.73

Hairdressers, hairstylists, and cosmetologists................................................................... 335,860 10.49 21,810 8.99

Makeup artists, theatrical and performance....................................................................... 720 16.68 34,700 14.09

Manicurists and pedicurists................................................................................................ 32,670 9.21 19,150 8.52

Shampooers....................................................................................................................... 15,300 7.27 15,120 6.90

Skin care specialists........................................................................................................... 16,820 12.65 26,310 11.08

Baggage porters and bellhops........................................................................................... 55,880 10.53 21,900 8.51

Concierges......................................................................................................................... 16,710 11.31 23,520 10.48

Tour guides and escorts..................................................................................................... 27,390 9.71 20,190 9.04

Travel guides...................................................................................................................... 5,450 15.17 31,540 13.24

Flight attendants................................................................................................................. 107,100 (2) 47,670 (2)

Transportation attendants, except flight attendants and baggage porters......................... 28,580 9.99 20,770 9.05

Child care workers.............................................................................................................. 469,150 8.37 17,400 7.90

Personal and home care aides.......................................................................................... 487,200 8.18 17,020 7.91

Fitness trainers and aerobics instructors........................................................................... 177,790 14.71 30,590 11.78

Recreation workers............................................................................................................ 265,640 10.12 21,040 8.94

Residential advisors........................................................................................................... 49,650 10.89 22,650 10.06

Sales and related occupations

First-line supervisors/managers of retail sales workers..................................................... 1,175,310 17.10 35,560 14.75

First-line supervisors/managers of non-retail sales workers.............................................. 327,180 32.46 67,520 26.78

Cashiers............................................................................................................................. 3,462,010 8.14 16,940 7.58

Gaming change persons and booth cashiers..................................................................... 30,760 9.84 20,470 9.63

Counter and rental clerks................................................................................................... 442,310 9.95 20,690 8.48

Parts salespersons............................................................................................................. 236,090 13.04 27,120 11.78

Retail salespersons............................................................................................................ 3,992,930 10.70 22,260 8.70

Advertising sales agents.................................................................................................... 141,340 23.26 48,390 18.58

Insurance sales agents...................................................................................................... 277,120 25.85 53,770 19.25

Securities, commodities, and financial services sales agents........................................... 245,280 40.94 85,150 29.10

Travel agents...................................................................................................................... 103,840 14.00 29,110 13.05

Sales representatives, wholesale and manufacturing, technical and scientific 

 products....................................................................................................................... 390,080 31.42 65,360 27.46

Sales representatives, wholesale and manufacturing, except technical 

 and scientific products................................................................................................. 1,421,660 25.23 52,480 21.09

See footnotes at end of table.

Employment Median hourly 

wages

Table 1. National employment and wage data from the Occupational Employment Statistics survey by occupation, May 20033⁄4 

Continued

Mean wages

Occupation
Hourly Annual1

Sales and related occupations 3⁄4 Continued

Demonstrators and product promoters.............................................................................. 95,300 $12.07 $25,110 $9.74

Models................................................................................................................................ 1,560 14.89 30,980 11.67

Real estate brokers............................................................................................................ 40,590 33.62 69,920 23.91

Real estate sales agents.................................................................................................... 123,490 21.61 44,950 15.68

Sales engineers.................................................................................................................. 73,200 34.85 72,490 32.59

Telemarketers.................................................................................................................... 404,150 10.86 22,590 9.55

Door-to-door sales workers, news and street vendors, and related workers..................... 21,600 13.97 29,050 11.67

Office and administrative support occupations

First-line supervisors/managers of office and administrative support workers.................. 1,412,470 20.46 42,550 18.99

Switchboard operators, including answering service......................................................... 217,700 10.69 22,230 10.27

Telephone operators.......................................................................................................... 45,310 14.31 29,770 13.48

Bill and account collectors.................................................................................................. 417,100 13.74 28,580 12.98

Billing and posting clerks and machine operators.............................................................. 487,420 13.13 27,310 12.64

Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks................................................................... 1,750,680 13.93 28,980 13.35

Gaming cage workers........................................................................................................ 18,370 10.94 22,760 10.61

Payroll and timekeeping clerks.......................................................................................... 194,330 14.75 30,670 14.22

Procurement clerks............................................................................................................ 72,820 14.79 30,770 14.49

Tellers................................................................................................................................. 538,890 10.07 20,940 9.94

Brokerage clerks................................................................................................................ 75,380 17.46 36,310 16.39

Correspondence clerks...................................................................................................... 27,460 13.49 28,050 12.88

Court, municipal, and license clerks................................................................................... 100,310 14.15 29,430 13.20

Credit authorizers, checkers, and clerks............................................................................ 73,860 14.22 29,580 13.08

Customer service representatives...................................................................................... 1,902,850 13.73 28,560 12.74

Eligibility interviewers, government programs.................................................................... 89,410 16.23 33,750 15.87

File clerks........................................................................................................................... 249,270 10.43 21,690 9.84

Hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks................................................................................... 180,410 8.77 18,240 8.39

Interviewers, except eligibility and loan.............................................................................. 190,160 11.44 23,790 10.86

Library assistants, clerical.................................................................................................. 109,900 10.23 21,280 9.58

Loan interviewers and clerks.............................................................................................. 179,080 14.34 29,830 13.62

New accounts clerks.......................................................................................................... 105,300 13.17 27,400 12.47

Order clerks........................................................................................................................ 303,320 12.77 26,560 12.05

Human resources assistants, except payroll and timekeeping.......................................... 165,760 15.44 32,120 14.93

Receptionists and information clerks................................................................................. 1,058,790 10.65 22,150 10.25

Reservation and transportation ticket agents and travel clerks.......................................... 165,990 14.00 29,130 12.60

Cargo and freight agents.................................................................................................... 61,770 16.29 33,880 15.38

Couriers and messengers.................................................................................................. 118,210 10.00 20,790 9.39

Police, fire, and ambulance dispatchers............................................................................ 89,620 14.27 29,690 13.60

Dispatchers, except police, fire, and ambulance................................................................ 161,790 15.80 32,870 14.61

Meter readers, utilities........................................................................................................ 51,790 14.67 30,510 13.80

Postal service clerks.......................................................................................................... 78,520 18.83 39,170 19.13

Postal service mail carriers................................................................................................ 344,580 18.87 39,240 19.05

Postal service mail sorters, processors, and processing machine operators.................... 224,250 17.79 37,010 18.78

Production, planning, and expediting clerks....................................................................... 277,030 17.32 36,030 16.74

Shipping, receiving, and traffic clerks................................................................................. 767,470 12.11 25,200 11.38

Stock clerks and order fillers.............................................................................................. 1,576,620 10.33 21,490 9.38

Weighers, measurers, checkers, and samplers, recordkeeping........................................ 77,770 13.07 27,180 11.80

Executive secretaries and administrative assistants.......................................................... 1,418,640 17.22 35,810 16.39

Legal secretaries................................................................................................................ 264,080 17.87 37,170 17.15

Medical secretaries............................................................................................................ 349,370 13.08 27,210 12.50

Secretaries, except legal, medical, and executive............................................................. 1,845,860 12.76 26,540 12.22

Computer operators........................................................................................................... 160,170 15.32 31,870 14.41

Data entry keyers............................................................................................................... 339,010 11.34 23,590 10.86

Word processors and typists.............................................................................................. 191,180 13.65 28,400 13.05

Desktop publishers............................................................................................................. 33,590 16.15 33,590 15.19

Insurance claims and policy processing clerks.................................................................. 239,580 14.33 29,800 13.71

Mail clerks and mail machine operators, except postal service......................................... 152,360 10.91 22,700 10.47

Office clerks, general......................................................................................................... 2,926,160 11.43 23,780 10.80

Office machine operators, except computer...................................................................... 90,470 11.42 23,760 10.68

Proofreaders and copy markers......................................................................................... 24,700 12.76 26,550 11.77

Statistical assistants........................................................................................................... 20,970 15.11 31,430 14.37

Farming, fishing, and forestry occupations

First-line supervisors/managers of farming, fishing, and forestry workers......................... 20,620 18.14 37,730 16.76

Farm labor contractors....................................................................................................... 3,340 10.29 21,390 7.79

Agricultural inspectors........................................................................................................ 13,670 15.09 31,390 13.83

Animal breeders................................................................................................................. 1,750 14.25 29,640 12.02

Graders and sorters, agricultural products......................................................................... 51,210 8.53 17,740 7.78

Agricultural equipment operators....................................................................................... 21,330 9.47 19,690 8.59

Farmworkers and laborers, crop, nursery, and greenhouse.............................................. 233,450 8.02 16,670 7.43

See footnotes at end of table.

Table 1. National employment and wage data from the Occupational Employment Statistics survey by occupation, May 20033⁄4 

Continued

Median hourly 

wages

Occupation Employment

Mean wages
Hourly Annual1

Farming, fishing, and forestry occupations 3⁄4 Continued

Farmworkers, farm and ranch animals............................................................................... 42,890 $8.84 $18,390 $8.12

Forest and conservation workers....................................................................................... 9,170 11.24 23,380 9.58

Fallers................................................................................................................................. 9,620 15.31 31,850 13.46

Logging equipment operators............................................................................................ 28,190 13.52 28,130 13.00

Log graders and scalers..................................................................................................... 4,900 13.94 28,990 13.01

Construction and extraction occupations

First-line supervisors/managers of construction trades and extraction workers................ 516,540 25.06 52,130 23.43

Boilermakers...................................................................................................................... 20,270 20.92 43,510 20.79

Brickmasons and blockmasons......................................................................................... 107,900 20.36 42,350 19.98

Stonemasons..................................................................................................................... 13,710 17.36 36,110 16.35

Carpenters.......................................................................................................................... 852,080 17.75 36,920 16.47

Carpet installers................................................................................................................. 37,720 17.00 35,360 15.82

Floor layers, except carpet, wood, and hard tiles............................................................... 15,070 17.19 35,760 16.75

Floor sanders and finishers................................................................................................ 6,700 14.14 29,420 13.08

Tile and marble setters....................................................................................................... 36,900 17.95 37,340 17.12

Cement masons and concrete finishers............................................................................. 180,540 16.23 33,760 14.80

Terrazzo workers and finishers.......................................................................................... 6,140 14.64 30,460 13.32

Construction laborers......................................................................................................... 837,650 13.64 28,380 11.86

Paving, surfacing, and tamping equipment operators........................................................ 57,980 15.86 32,980 14.06

Pile-driver operators........................................................................................................... 4,390 22.72 47,260 23.16

Operating engineers and other construction equipment operators.................................... 343,640 18.39 38,260 16.84

Drywall and ceiling tile installers......................................................................................... 111,970 17.56 36,530 16.19

Tapers................................................................................................................................ 33,540 19.33 40,200 18.81

Electricians......................................................................................................................... 584,010 21.20 44,090 20.04

Glaziers.............................................................................................................................. 46,230 17.16 35,690 15.53

Insulation workers.............................................................................................................. 52,170 15.83 32,940 14.04

Painters, construction and maintenance............................................................................ 247,880 15.36 31,960 14.12

Paperhangers..................................................................................................................... 8,910 16.45 34,220 15.40

Pipelayers........................................................................................................................... 51,940 15.38 32,000 13.73

Plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters............................................................................... 433,600 20.89 43,450 19.69

Plasterers and stucco masons........................................................................................... 53,530 17.17 35,720 15.90

Reinforcing iron and rebar workers.................................................................................... 30,250 18.91 39,330 16.80

Roofers............................................................................................................................... 118,390 15.78 32,820 14.43

Sheet metal workers.......................................................................................................... 189,590 18.16 37,780 16.83

Structural iron and steel workers........................................................................................ 70,420 20.49 42,610 19.58

Helpers--brickmasons, blockmasons, stonemasons, and tile and marble setters............. 59,890 12.99 27,010 11.64

Helpers--carpenters............................................................................................................ 98,180 10.93 22,740 10.37

Helpers--electricians........................................................................................................... 93,520 12.01 24,980 11.27

Helpers--painters, paperhangers, plasterers, and stucco masons..................................... 29,130 10.97 22,820 9.81

Helpers--pipelayers, plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters.............................................. 77,580 11.50 23,920 10.77

Helpers--roofers................................................................................................................. 21,490 10.64 22,140 9.96

Construction and building inspectors................................................................................. 79,720 21.36 44,430 20.50

Elevator installers and repairers......................................................................................... 21,470 26.86 55,860 26.90

Fence erectors................................................................................................................... 22,550 12.18 25,340 10.85

Hazardous materials removal workers............................................................................... 36,590 17.30 35,970 15.72

Highway maintenance workers.......................................................................................... 140,450 14.21 29,550 13.77

Rail-track laying and maintenance equipment operators................................................... 11,170 16.91 35,170 17.29

Septic tank servicers and sewer pipe cleaners.................................................................. 16,310 14.26 29,670 13.45

Segmental pavers.............................................................................................................. 1,710 14.30 29,740 12.76

Derrick operators, oil and gas............................................................................................ 15,080 15.58 32,400 14.69

Rotary drill operators, oil and gas....................................................................................... 14,830 17.99 37,420 16.78

Service unit operators, oil, gas, and mining....................................................................... 12,640 15.93 33,140 14.41

Earth drillers, except oil and gas........................................................................................ 19,970 16.46 34,230 15.65

Explosives workers, ordnance handling experts, and blasters........................................... 5,140 17.52 36,450 16.97

Continuous mining machine operators............................................................................... 7,610 17.18 35,730 17.17

Mine cutting and channeling machine operators................................................................ 4,460 17.49 36,370 17.56

Rock splitters, quarry.......................................................................................................... 3,240 13.76 28,620 12.88

Roof bolters, mining........................................................................................................... 3,980 18.49 38,460 18.54

Roustabouts, oil and gas.................................................................................................... 32,720 11.84 24,640 10.70

Helpers--extraction workers............................................................................................... 28,860 13.21 27,480 12.63

Installation, maintenance, and repair occupations

First-line supervisors/managers of mechanics, installers, and repairers........................... 445,520 24.53 51,020 23.37

Computer, automated teller, and office machine repairers................................................ 144,370 16.98 35,310 16.24

Radio mechanics................................................................................................................ 6,890 18.80 39,100 17.82

Telecommunications equipment installers and repairers, except line installers................ 195,500 22.31 46,400 23.19

Avionics technicians........................................................................................................... 21,420 20.98 43,630 20.73

Electric motor, power tool, and related repairers................................................................ 26,070 16.19 33,660 15.53

Electrical and electronics installers and repairers, transportation equipment.................... 17,370 18.91 39,330 18.89

Electrical and electronics repairers, commercial and industrial equipment....................... 83,820 19.96 41,520 20.29

See footnotes at end of table.

Occupation

Table 1. National employment and wage data from the Occupational Employment Statistics survey by occupation, May 20033⁄4 

Continued

Median hourly 

wages

Employment

Mean wages
Hourly Annual1

Installation, maintenance, and repair occupations 3⁄4 Continued

Electrical and electronics repairers, powerhouse, substation, and relay............................ 20,700 $24.28 $50,500 $25.02

Electronic equipment installers and repairers, motor vehicles........................................... 14,590 13.64 28,360 12.64

Electronic home entertainment equipment installers and repairers................................... 33,340 14.10 29,330 13.14

Security and fire alarm systems installers.......................................................................... 46,850 16.81 34,960 16.00

Aircraft mechanics and service technicians....................................................................... 117,180 21.37 44,460 20.94

Automotive body and related repairers.............................................................................. 173,590 17.19 35,760 15.93

Automotive glass installers and repairers.......................................................................... 18,550 13.61 28,320 13.06

Automotive service technicians and mechanics................................................................ 690,780 16.02 33,320 14.97

Bus and truck mechanics and diesel engine specialists.................................................... 248,450 17.27 35,930 16.81

Farm equipment mechanics............................................................................................... 33,310 13.58 28,240 13.21

Mobile heavy equipment mechanics, except engines........................................................ 115,090 18.07 37,590 17.69

Rail car repairers................................................................................................................ 15,810 18.52 38,530 19.04

Motorboat mechanics......................................................................................................... 18,890 14.63 30,420 14.02

Motorcycle mechanics........................................................................................................ 13,690 14.06 29,250 13.29

Outdoor power equipment and other small engine mechanics.......................................... 24,740 12.46 25,920 11.93

Bicycle repairers................................................................................................................. 6,870 9.99 20,780 9.63

Recreational vehicle service technicians........................................................................... 12,520 13.83 28,770 13.11

Tire repairers and changers............................................................................................... 82,340 10.72 22,300 10.02

Mechanical door repairers.................................................................................................. 10,860 15.75 32,760 14.24

Control and valve installers and repairers, except mechanical door.................................. 37,840 20.34 42,310 20.45

Heating, air conditioning, and refrigeration mechanics and installers................................ 212,200 17.69 36,790 16.90

Home appliance repairers.................................................................................................. 37,510 15.17 31,550 14.37

Industrial machinery mechanics......................................................................................... 192,300 19.06 39,640 18.48

Maintenance and repair workers, general.......................................................................... 1,230,880 15.05 31,300 14.33

Maintenance workers, machinery....................................................................................... 89,160 16.41 34,130 15.86

Millwrights........................................................................................................................... 64,910 20.74 43,150 20.38

Refractory materials repairers, except brickmasons.......................................................... 3,390 18.29 38,030 17.74

Electrical power-line installers and repairers...................................................................... 95,190 22.82 47,460 23.54

Telecommunications line installers and repairers.............................................................. 148,060 19.02 39,560 19.01

Camera and photographic equipment repairers................................................................. 4,640 15.81 32,890 15.01

Medical equipment repairers.............................................................................................. 23,500 18.91 39,330 18.25

Musical instrument repairers and tuners............................................................................ 5,550 16.10 33,490 13.89

Watch repairers.................................................................................................................. 3,700 14.68 30,540 13.16

Coin, vending, and amusement machine servicers and repairers..................................... 35,370 13.77 28,650 13.36

Commercial divers............................................................................................................. 2,690 18.27 38,000 16.48

Fabric menders, except garment....................................................................................... 1,720 14.14 29,410 12.70

Locksmiths and safe repairers........................................................................................... 19,340 14.68 30,540 13.83

Manufactured building and mobile home installers............................................................ 13,160 11.65 24,230 11.23

Riggers............................................................................................................................... 12,550 17.07 35,510 16.25

Signal and track switch repairers....................................................................................... 8,680 21.32 44,350 21.01

Helpers--installation, maintenance, and repair workers..................................................... 148,890 11.25 23,400 10.21

Production occupations

First-line supervisors/managers of production and operating workers............................... 705,270 22.45 46,690 21.02

Aircraft structure, surfaces, rigging, and systems assemblers........................................... 26,150 18.23 37,920 18.60

Coil winders, tapers, and finishers..................................................................................... 33,590 12.17 25,320 11.48

Electrical and electronic equipment assemblers................................................................ 245,700 12.20 25,380 11.28

Electromechanical equipment assemblers........................................................................ 54,690 13.09 27,230 12.52

Engine and other machine assemblers.............................................................................. 50,410 16.31 33,920 15.58

Structural metal fabricators and fitters............................................................................... 85,330 14.60 30,380 13.94

Fiberglass laminators and fabricators................................................................................ 31,820 12.30 25,580 11.87

Team assemblers............................................................................................................... 1,138,100 12.10 25,160 11.14

Timing device assemblers, adjusters, and calibrators....................................................... 5,280 13.55 28,180 12.79

Bakers................................................................................................................................ 157,110 10.86 22,600 10.09

Butchers and meat cutters................................................................................................. 132,370 13.07 27,180 12.30

Meat, poultry, and fish cutters and trimmers...................................................................... 150,440 9.17 19,060 8.69

Slaughterers and meat packers......................................................................................... 122,490 9.94 20,680 9.82

Food and tobacco roasting, baking, and drying machine operators and tenders.............. 17,800 12.79 26,600 11.89

Food batchmakers............................................................................................................. 74,650 11.24 23,390 10.53

Food cooking machine operators and tenders................................................................... 34,480 10.99 22,860 10.31

Computer-controlled machine tool operators, metal and plastic........................................ 126,150 14.74 30,650 14.14

Numerical tool and process control programmers............................................................. 17,820 19.24 40,020 18.43

Extruding and drawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic.......... 93,600 13.08 27,210 12.72

Forging machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic................................. 41,230 14.28 29,700 13.10

Rolling machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic................................... 42,090 14.44 30,040 13.88

Cutting, punching, and press machine setters, operators, and tenders,

 metal and plastic......................................................................................................... 260,560 12.70 26,410 12.12

Drilling and boring machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic.......... 48,730 14.22 29,570 13.29

Grinding, lapping, polishing, and buffing machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, 

 metal and plastic......................................................................................................... 97,660 13.83 28,770 12.80

Lathe and turning machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic........... 70,300 15.04 31,290 14.57

See footnotes at end of table.

Employment

Mean wages

Occupation

Table 1. National employment and wage data from the Occupational Employment Statistics survey by occupation, May 20033⁄4 

Continued

Median hourly 

wages
Hourly Annual1

Production occupations 3⁄4 Continued

Milling and planing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic................ 28,580 $14.91 $31,020 $14.48

Machinists.......................................................................................................................... 368,740 16.30 33,900 15.91

Metal-refining furnace operators and tenders.................................................................... 17,810 15.65 32,550 15.24

Pourers and casters, metal................................................................................................ 12,770 14.33 29,810 13.64

Model makers, metal and plastic........................................................................................ 7,900 20.98 43,630 20.90

Patternmakers, metal and plastic....................................................................................... 6,090 18.19 37,830 17.45

Foundry mold and coremakers.......................................................................................... 20,770 14.01 29,130 13.05

Molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders,

 metal and plastic......................................................................................................... 144,140 12.36 25,720 11.51

Multiple machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic.......................... 100,320 15.20 31,620 13.97

Tool and die makers........................................................................................................... 104,210 21.10 43,900 20.67

Welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers........................................................................... 354,300 15.06 31,330 14.25

Welding, soldering, and brazing machine setters, operators, and tenders........................ 53,750 15.18 31,580 13.99

Heat treating equipment setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic...................... 27,290 14.39 29,930 13.63

Lay-out workers, metal and plastic..................................................................................... 12,540 16.08 33,450 15.37

Plating and coating machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic............... 40,800 13.00 27,030 12.34

Tool grinders, filers, and sharpeners.................................................................................. 22,320 15.02 31,250 14.22

Bindery workers.................................................................................................................. 81,840 11.81 24,570 10.82

Bookbinders....................................................................................................................... 6,550 14.74 30,660 13.87

Job printers......................................................................................................................... 54,790 15.65 32,560 14.83

Prepress technicians and workers..................................................................................... 82,970 15.95 33,170 15.22

Printing machine operators................................................................................................ 189,900 14.93 31,050 14.11

Laundry and dry-cleaning workers..................................................................................... 217,820 8.64 17,960 8.14

Pressers, textile, garment, and related materials............................................................... 87,500 8.61 17,900 8.27

Sewing machine operators................................................................................................. 265,200 9.12 18,960 8.51

Shoe and leather workers and repairers............................................................................ 8,090 9.98 20,750 9.40

Shoe machine operators and tenders................................................................................ 6,020 10.24 21,300 9.89

Sewers, hand..................................................................................................................... 18,790 9.57 19,900 8.65

Tailors, dressmakers, and custom sewers......................................................................... 32,150 11.62 24,170 10.51

Textile bleaching and dyeing machine operators and tenders........................................... 24,280 10.56 21,960 10.30

Textile cutting machine setters, operators, and tenders.................................................... 32,170 10.47 21,770 9.87

Textile knitting and weaving machine setters, operators, and tenders.............................. 47,720 11.42 23,740 11.37

Textile winding, twisting, and drawing out machine setters, operators, and tenders......... 60,550 11.08 23,040 10.62

Extruding and forming machine setters, operators, and tenders, synthetic 

 and glass fibers........................................................................................................... 26,700 13.68 28,460 13.55

Fabric and apparel patternmakers..................................................................................... 10,310 16.30 33,910 13.72

Upholsterers....................................................................................................................... 39,660 12.97 26,980 12.18

Cabinetmakers and bench carpenters............................................................................... 126,350 12.56 26,120 11.81

Furniture finishers............................................................................................................... 28,770 11.82 24,590 11.13

Model makers, wood.......................................................................................................... 3,820 14.19 29,520 12.24

Patternmakers, wood......................................................................................................... 3,470 14.93 31,060 14.25

Sawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, wood ................................................... 55,130 11.12 23,130 10.65

Woodworking machine setters, operators, and tenders, except sawing............................ 89,410 11.28 23,470 10.76

Nuclear power reactor operators........................................................................................ 3,710 29.99 62,380 29.72

Power distributors and dispatchers.................................................................................... 10,270 26.73 55,590 26.45

Power plant operators........................................................................................................ 33,250 24.15 50,220 24.45

Stationary engineers and boiler operators......................................................................... 48,880 21.32 44,340 20.87

Water and liquid waste treatment plant and system operators.......................................... 95,870 16.89 35,130 16.30

Chemical plant and system operators................................................................................ 56,270 21.10 43,880 21.18

Gas plant operators............................................................................................................ 11,180 23.53 48,940 23.45

Petroleum pump system operators, refinery operators, and gaugers................................ 40,980 22.97 47,780 24.02

Chemical equipment operators and tenders...................................................................... 59,720 18.75 39,000 18.62

Separating, filtering, clarifying, precipitating, and still machine setters, operators, 

 and tenders................................................................................................................. 37,360 15.99 33,260 15.25

Crushing, grinding, and polishing machine setters, operators, and tenders...................... 43,320 13.57 28,230 12.96

Grinding and polishing workers, hand................................................................................ 43,910 12.03 25,030 11.10

Mixing and blending machine setters, operators, and tenders........................................... 106,610 13.94 28,990 13.43

Cutters and trimmers, hand................................................................................................ 30,110 12.01 24,980 10.79

Cutting and slicing machine setters, operators, and tenders............................................. 70,960 13.06 27,170 12.53

Extruding, forming, pressing, and compacting machine setters, operators, and tenders.. 73,990 13.84 28,780 13.05

Furnace, kiln, oven, drier, and kettle operators and tenders.............................................. 30,320 14.63 30,430 13.95

Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers......................................................... 497,300 14.65 30,470 13.34

Jewelers and precious stone and metal workers............................................................... 30,360 14.48 30,120 13.06

Dental laboratory technicians............................................................................................. 45,480 15.40 32,030 14.10

Medical appliance technicians........................................................................................... 11,270 14.82 30,820 13.41

Ophthalmic laboratory technicians..................................................................................... 30,300 11.42 23,760 10.67

Packaging and filling machine operators and tenders....................................................... 400,680 11.40 23,700 10.45

Coating, painting, and spraying machine setters, operators, and tenders......................... 93,110 13.06 27,160 12.37

Painters, transportation equipment.................................................................................... 46,600 17.56 36,520 16.39

Painting, coating, and decorating workers......................................................................... 29,590 11.36 23,640 10.41

See footnotes at end of table.

Occupation Employment

Mean wages

Median hourly 

wages

Table 1. National employment and wage data from the Occupational Employment Statistics survey by occupation, May 20033⁄4 

Continued
Hourly Annual1

Production occupations 3⁄4 Continued

Photographic process workers........................................................................................... 27,170 $11.19 $23,280 $9.79

Photographic processing machine operators..................................................................... 54,750 10.14 21,100 9.11

Semiconductor processors................................................................................................. 50,160 14.14 29,410 13.29

Cementing and gluing machine operators and tenders..................................................... 25,390 11.98 24,920 11.24

Cleaning, washing, and metal pickling equipment operators and tenders......................... 17,590 11.99 24,950 11.07

Cooling and freezing equipment operators and tenders.................................................... 7,920 11.46 23,830 10.31

Etchers and engravers....................................................................................................... 8,800 11.94 24,840 10.69

Molders, shapers, and casters, except metal and plastic.................................................. 37,600 12.70 26,420 11.91

Paper goods machine setters, operators, and tenders...................................................... 109,600 14.29 29,720 13.91

Tire builders........................................................................................................................ 14,830 17.59 36,590 19.01

Helpers--production workers.............................................................................................. 452,700 10.09 20,980 9.42

Transportation and material moving occupations

Aircraft cargo handling supervisors.................................................................................... 9,440 19.63 40,830 17.64

First-line supervisors/managers of helpers, laborers, and material movers, hand............ 154,750 19.19 39,920 18.16

First-line supervisors/managers of transportation and material-moving machine

 and vehicle operators.................................................................................................. 214,030 22.58 46,960 21.08

Airline pilots, copilots, and flight engineers........................................................................ 79,770 (2) 129,880 (2)

Commercial pilots............................................................................................................... 19,980 (2) 57,950 (2)

Air traffic controllers............................................................................................................ 23,040 44.83 93,240 46.28

Airfield operations specialists............................................................................................. 5,660 20.85 43,380 18.79

Ambulance drivers and attendants, except emergency medical technicians..................... 17,650 9.73 20,230 9.14

Bus drivers, transit and intercity......................................................................................... 194,400 14.98 31,160 14.29

Bus drivers, school............................................................................................................. 467,840 11.05 22,990 10.86

Driver/sales workers........................................................................................................... 380,120 11.38 23,660 9.79

Truck drivers, heavy and tractor-trailer............................................................................... 1,528,630 16.51 34,330 16.01

Truck drivers, light or delivery services.............................................................................. 943,840 12.76 26,530 11.58

Taxi drivers and chauffeurs................................................................................................ 131,570 10.22 21,260 9.14

Locomotive engineers........................................................................................................ 30,450 24.60 51,160 22.11

Locomotive firers................................................................................................................ 680 21.67 45,080 22.75

Rail yard engineers, dinkey operators, and hostlers.......................................................... 5,680 19.30 40,140 18.01

Railroad brake, signal, and switch operators..................................................................... 13,850 23.10 48,040 21.59

Railroad conductors and yardmasters................................................................................ 34,720 24.36 50,670 21.31

Subway and streetcar operators......................................................................................... 9,880 22.13 46,020 22.97

Sailors and marine oilers.................................................................................................... 27,570 15.36 31,950 14.44

Captains, mates, and pilots of water vessels..................................................................... 24,040 25.50 53,050 24.51

Motorboat operators........................................................................................................... 3,680 14.71 30,590 12.51

Ship engineers................................................................................................................... 8,900 26.39 54,900 26.01

Bridge and lock tenders..................................................................................................... 3,270 16.93 35,220 17.97

Parking lot attendants........................................................................................................ 113,490 8.50 17,670 8.00

Service station attendants.................................................................................................. 96,250 8.71 18,110 8.11

Traffic technicians.............................................................................................................. 6,460 16.85 35,040 16.15

Transportation inspectors................................................................................................... 27,890 23.67 49,240 23.84

Conveyor operators and tenders........................................................................................ 58,780 12.56 26,120 11.87

Crane and tower operators................................................................................................. 47,420 18.73 38,950 17.86

Dredge operators............................................................................................................... 3,030 14.17 29,470 13.37

Excavating and loading machine and dragline operators.................................................. 68,740 16.59 34,520 15.46

Loading machine operators, underground mining.............................................................. 3,560 15.64 32,530 15.46

Hoist and winch operators.................................................................................................. 8,560 17.78 36,990 15.40

Industrial truck and tractor operators.................................................................................. 604,350 13.46 27,990 12.68

Cleaners of vehicles and equipment.................................................................................. 320,840 9.15 19,030 8.27

Laborers and freight, stock, and material movers, hand.................................................... 2,255,780 10.41 21,650 9.58

Machine feeders and offbearers......................................................................................... 159,160 11.27 23,430 10.57

Packers and packagers, hand............................................................................................ 901,890 8.85 18,410 8.14

Gas compressor and gas pumping station operators........................................................ 6,190 21.20 44,100 20.97

Pump operators, except wellhead pumpers....................................................................... 12,260 18.60 38,680 18.00

Wellhead pumpers............................................................................................................. 8,560 15.73 32,720 14.89

Refuse and recyclable material collectors.......................................................................... 138,480 12.51 26,030 11.56

Shuttle car operators.......................................................................................................... 3,040 18.17 37,800 18.79

Tank car, truck, and ship loaders....................................................................................... 16,210 17.13 35,630 15.90

2 Hourly wage rates for occupations where workers typically work fewer than 2,080 hours per year are not available.

3 Represents a wage above $70.00 per hour.

Occupation

1

 Annual wages have been calculated by multiplying the hourly mean wage by a "year-round, full-time" hours figure of 2,080 hours; for those 

occupations where there is not an hourly mean wage published, the annual wage has been directly calculated from the reported survey 

data.

Mean wages

Employment Median hourly 

wages

Table 1. National employment and wage data from the Occupational Employment Statistics survey by occupation, May 20033⁄4 

Continued