Seattle-Tacoma-Bremerton, WA

National Compensation Survey

February 1999

________________________________________________________________________________________________

U.S. Department of Labor

Alexis M. Herman, Secretary

Bureau of Labor Statistics

Katharine G. Abraham, Commissioner

August 1999

Bulletin 3095-45
iii

Preface

Data shown in this bulletin were collected as part of the

Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) National Compensation

Survey (NCS). The survey could not have been conducted

without the cooperation of the many private firms and government jurisdictions that provided pay data included in

this bulletin. The Bureau thanks these respondents for their

cooperation.

Field economists of the Bureau of Labor Statistics collected and reviewed the survey data. The Office of Compensation and Working Conditions, in cooperation with the

Office of Field Operations and the Office of Technology

and Survey Processing in the BLS National Office, designed the survey, processed the data, and prepared the

survey for publication.

For additional information regarding this survey, please

contact any BLS regional office at the address and telephone number listed on the inside back cover of this bulletin. You may also write to the Bureau of Labor Statistics

at: Division of Compensation Data Analysis and Planning,

2 Massachusetts Avenue, NE, Room 4175, Washington,

DC 20212-0001, or call (202) 606-6199, or send e-mail to

ocltinfo@bls.gov.

The data contained in this bulletin are also available at

http://stats.bls.gov/comhome.htm, the BLS Internet site.

Data are in three formats: An ASCII file containing the

published table formats; an ASCII file containing positional

columns of data for manipulation as a data base or spreadsheet; and a Portable Document Format (PDF) file containing the entire bulletin.

Results of earlier surveys of this area are also available

from BLS regional offices, the Division of Compensation

Data Analysis, or at the BLS Internet site.

Material in this bulletin is in the public domain and,

with appropriate credit, may be reproduced without permission. This information will be made available to sensory

impaired individuals upon request. Voice phone: (202)

606-7828; Federal Relay Service: 1-800-877-8339.
v

Contents

Page

Introduction................................................................................................................................................ 1

Tables:

A-1. Hourly earnings for selected occupations, all workers, all industries........................................... 2

A-2. Hourly earnings for selected occupations, all workers, private industry and

 State and local government........................................................................................................... 6

A-3. Hourly earnings for selected occupations, full-time and part-time workers,

 all industries ................................................................................................................................. 10

A-4. Weekly and annual earnings and hours for selected occupations,

 full-time workers only, all industries ............................................................................................ 14

B-1. Mean hourly earnings by occupational group and levels, all industries,

 private industry, State and local government, full-time and part-time workers ............................ 17

B-2. Mean hourly earnings for selected occupations and levels, all industries,

 private industry, State and local government, full-time and part-time workers ............................ 21

C-1. Mean hourly earnings by occupational group and selected characteristics,

 all industries ................................................................................................................................. 26

C-2. Mean hourly earnings by occupational group and industry division,

 private industry, all workers ......................................................................................................... 27

C-3. Mean hourly earnings by occupational group and establishment employment size,

 private industry, all workers ......................................................................................................... 28

C-4. Number of workers represented by occupational group ............................................................... 29

Appendixes:

A. Technical Note................................................................................................................................. A - 1

 Table 1. Number of establishments studied and represented......................................................... A - 5

 Table 2. Relative standard errors................................................................................................... A - 6

 Table 3. Average work levels ........................................................................................................ A-10

B. Occupational Classifications............................................................................................................ B - 1

C. Generic Leveling Criteria................................................................................................................. C - 1

D. Evaluating Your Firm’s Jobs ........................................................................................................... D - 1

E. A Guide for Users of Prior BLS Wage Surveys............................................................................... E - 1
1

Introduction

The tables in this bulletin summarize the NCS survey results for the Seattle-Tacoma-Bremerton, WA metropolitan

area. Tabulations provide information on earnings of

workers in a variety of occupations and at a wide range of

work levels. Also contained in this bulletin are information

on the program, a technical note describing survey procedures, and several appendixes with detailed information on

occupational classifications and the generic leveling methodology.

NCS products

The National Compensation Survey of the Bureau of Labor

Statistics provides data on the occupational wages and employee benefits for localities, broad geographic regions,

and the Nation as a whole. The Employment Cost Index, a

quarterly measure of the change in employer costs for

wages and benefits, will be derived from the NCS. Another

product, Employer Costs for Employee Compensation,

measures employers’ average hourly costs for total compensation, that is, wages and benefits. Still another NCS

product measures the incidence of benefit plans and their

provisions. This bulletin is limited to data on occupational

wages and salaries.

About the tables

The tables that follow present data on straight-time occupational earnings. Straight-time earnings include wages

and salaries, incentive pay, cost-of-living adjustments, and

hazard pay. These earnings exclude premium pay for

overtime, vacations, holidays, nonproduction bonuses, and

tips. A total of 480 detailed occupations are used to describe all occupations in the civilian nonfarm economy (excluding the Federal Government and private households).

Table A-1 presents straight-time earnings for detailed

occupations. Data are not shown for any occupations if

they would raise concerns about the confidentiality of the

survey respondent or if the data are insufficient to support

reliable estimates. The earnings shown include the mean

for each occupation, as well as earnings for selected percentiles in each occupation.

Table A-2 compares the type of data and details shown

in table A-1 for the private industry and State and local

government sector.

Table A-3 compares the type of data and details shown

in table A-1 for full-time and part-time workers. The definitions of full-time and part-time workers are those used in

the surveyed establishments.

Table A-4 presents the weekly and annual straight-time

earnings for full-time employees in specific occupations

across all industries. For the weekly and annual earnings,

the mean and median earnings and the mean hours are

shown. The mean hours reflect hours employees are

scheduled to work, excluding overtime hours.

Table B-1 presents mean straight-time hourly earnings

for groups of occupations and for levels of job requirements related to occupations in the group. Separate data

are also shown for private industry and government workers, and for full-time and part-time workers in all industries. (See appendix C, Generic Leveling Criteria, for more

information on job ranking in this survey. Average work

levels for published occupation groups and their component occupations are presented in appendix table 3.)

Table B-2 also presents mean straight-time hourly

earnings, but for detailed occupations at several levels of

job requirements for each detailed occupation.

Table C-1 presents mean straight-time hourly earnings

for occupation groups and selected occupation characteristics. The occupation characteristics include full-time and

part-time status, union and nonunion status, and time or incentive pay status. Union workers’ wages are determined

through collective bargaining. Time workers’ wages are

based solely on hourly rate or salary. Incentive workers’

wages are at least partially based on productivity payments

such as piece rates, commissions and production bonuses.

Table C-2 presents mean straight-time hourly earnings

for occupation groups and industry division of employers;

these are limited to the private sector.

Table C-3 presents mean straight-time hourly earnings

for occupation groups and the employment size of employers; these are also limited to the private sector.

Table C-4 presents the employment scope of this survey. The occupation employment estimates shown relate to

all employers in the area surveyed, not just the surveyed

employers.
Table A-1. Hourly earnings1 for selected occupations, all workers2, all industries,

Seattle-Tacoma-Bremerton, WA, February 1999

Occupation3

All industries

Mean

Percentiles

10 25 Median

50 75 90

All occupations ....................................................................... $18.00 $7.50 $10.45 $15.46 $22.12 $29.79

All occupations excluding sales ............................................ 18.22 7.69 10.69 15.78 22.41 29.92

White-collar occupations ................................................... 21.32 9.58 12.88 18.07 25.86 33.65

White-collar occupations excluding sales ......................... 22.16 10.54 13.50 18.91 26.44 34.10

Professional specialty and technical occupations ............ 26.17 14.13 17.74 22.83 28.70 34.44

Professional specialty occupations ............................... 27.84 15.62 19.47 24.34 30.03 35.27

Engineers, architects, and surveyors ....................... – – – – – –

Electrical and electronic engineers ....................... 32.13 21.86 22.30 32.00 40.36 44.46

Mathematical and computer scientists ..................... 25.80 19.08 21.95 25.02 29.23 33.80

Computer systems analysts and scientists ........... 26.33 19.43 22.67 25.08 30.05 33.91

Operations and systems researchers and

analysts .......................................................... 22.47 16.16 18.98 21.70 27.40 27.40

Natural scientists ...................................................... 25.91 20.66 21.46 23.22 29.98 32.69

Medical scientists ................................................. 29.79 13.60 22.50 29.98 31.96 42.79

Health related occupations ....................................... 24.55 16.24 19.53 23.29 26.73 30.20

Physicians ............................................................ 46.95 16.70 17.54 49.28 63.62 90.00

Registered nurses ................................................ 24.06 18.55 21.05 24.34 26.73 29.05

Therapists, N.E.C. ................................................ 14.11 11.58 12.78 14.38 15.02 15.53

Teachers, college and university .............................. 33.58 20.39 25.16 32.49 39.68 47.11

Teachers, except college and university .................. 25.39 12.01 20.04 26.81 32.05 34.72

Prekindergarten and kindergarten ........................ 12.78 7.92 8.27 9.28 12.98 27.25

Elementary school teachers ................................. 28.08 19.23 23.31 28.72 32.88 35.31

Secondary school teachers .................................. 27.85 18.52 22.58 28.90 33.03 34.54

Teachers, special education ................................. 27.46 19.73 22.51 27.80 31.40 34.94

Teachers, N.E.C. .................................................. 24.75 15.94 21.46 25.74 29.94 31.92

Substitute teachers ............................................... 13.34 13.07 13.07 13.07 14.00 14.02

Vocational and educational counselors ................ 22.07 12.67 14.13 15.34 31.70 34.73

Librarians, archivists, and curators ........................... 24.23 18.03 18.61 23.30 30.11 32.47

Social scientists and urban planners ........................ 17.99 9.39 13.12 16.71 22.20 27.93

Psychologists ........................................................ 15.89 9.39 12.14 14.52 18.47 23.59

Social, recreation, and religious workers .................. 17.86 12.51 16.00 18.61 19.54 20.16

Social workers ...................................................... 17.69 12.51 15.98 18.61 19.54 19.54

Lawyers and judges .................................................. 35.04 22.36 26.64 35.97 40.09 48.56

Lawyers ................................................................ 34.28 21.83 26.64 34.88 38.47 46.15

Writers, authors, entertainers, athletes, and

professionals, N.E.C. .......................................... – – – – – –

Designers ............................................................. 19.91 16.27 16.88 18.48 22.28 25.32

Editors and reporters ............................................ 18.50 12.77 14.90 16.05 22.12 27.61

Technical occupations .................................................. 19.54 11.67 14.25 16.59 20.87 26.00

Clinical laboratory technologists and technicians 16.85 10.69 12.00 18.31 21.06 22.17

Health record technologists and technicians ........ 13.72 10.43 11.55 11.66 17.23 17.55

Radiological technicians ....................................... 16.93 14.15 16.42 16.60 17.97 19.79

Licensed practical nurses ..................................... 14.88 12.48 13.84 15.21 15.72 16.86

Health technologists and technicians, N.E.C. ....... 14.70 11.94 13.23 14.59 15.29 16.96

Electrical and electronic technicians ..................... 19.31 8.58 15.38 18.80 26.00 26.40

Engineering technicians, N.E.C. ........................... 18.44 13.88 15.46 16.44 20.44 24.42

Drafters ................................................................. 17.23 11.67 15.29 16.10 22.00 22.00

Legal assistants .................................................... 19.09 15.09 16.67 18.87 21.47 23.04

Technical and related occupations, N.E.C. .......... 17.16 11.09 12.50 17.36 18.96 24.06

Executive, administrative, and managerial occupations ... 28.83 16.41 20.36 26.82 34.83 43.94

Executives, administrators, and managers ............... 32.57 18.75 24.04 31.92 38.46 46.38

Financial managers .............................................. 27.59 19.86 23.06 24.56 32.28 37.93

Personnel and labor relations managers .............. 36.70 28.85 33.63 35.31 43.47 43.47

Purchasing managers ........................................... 35.15 26.98 32.49 33.05 35.09 47.70

Managers, marketing, advertising and public

relations .......................................................... 41.21 29.10 29.10 36.06 42.91 85.14

Administrators, education and related fields ......... 32.46 15.00 28.23 33.94 37.78 41.49

Managers, medicine and health ........................... 25.25 14.97 15.71 20.65 29.18 51.00

Managers, service organizations, N.E.C. ............. 21.93 12.30 14.06 18.70 21.37 40.87

Managers and administrators, N.E.C. .................. 34.59 22.23 27.19 33.17 39.11 49.04

Management related occupations ............................ 22.48 15.22 17.72 21.14 24.98 30.77

Accountants and auditors ..................................... 21.48 14.95 17.66 20.07 23.01 30.72

Other financial officers .......................................... 24.51 13.82 16.73 20.24 27.53 31.20

Management analysts .......................................... 23.05 16.49 19.00 21.30 29.55 29.55

See footnotes at end of table.

2
Table A-1. Hourly earnings1 for selected occupations, all workers2, all industries,

Seattle-Tacoma-Bremerton, WA, February 1999 — Continued

Occupation3

All industries

Mean

Percentiles

10 25 Median

50 75 90

White-collar occupations (-Continued)

Executive, administrative, and managerial occupations 

(-Continued)

Management related occupations (-Continued)

Personnel, training, and labor relations

specialists ....................................................... $27.20 $17.26 $24.14 $25.36 $34.73 $34.90

Purchasing agents and buyers, N.E.C. ................ 20.84 16.82 17.72 20.46 23.08 24.81

Management related occupations, N.E.C. ............ 21.86 14.46 17.24 18.73 29.65 31.00

Sales occupations ............................................................ 14.74 6.53 7.88 12.10 17.13 26.44

Supervisors, sales occupations ............................ 18.32 8.77 11.72 16.42 20.62 26.44

Sales occupations, other business services ......... 16.46 8.36 11.25 14.62 20.38 23.57

Sales representatives, mining, manufacturing,

and wholesale ................................................. 25.85 13.75 13.75 14.65 26.86 42.13

Sales workers, motor vehicles and boats ............. 21.78 8.50 12.68 20.39 27.20 35.47

Sales workers, parts ............................................. 15.31 9.50 13.27 14.70 16.82 19.71

Sales workers, other commodities ........................ 9.46 5.74 6.84 8.84 10.86 14.33

Cashiers ............................................................... 9.31 6.15 6.73 8.00 12.60 15.10

Administrative support occupations, including clerical ..... 13.21 8.96 10.67 12.83 15.33 18.06

Supervisors, general office ................................... 16.89 13.51 14.28 15.05 19.86 21.22

Supervisors, distribution, scheduling, and

adjusting clerks ............................................... 16.53 14.49 14.49 15.00 17.78 22.25

Secretaries ........................................................... 14.10 10.00 12.15 13.75 16.00 19.21

Stenographers ...................................................... 13.52 12.18 13.05 13.50 14.25 14.60

Typists .................................................................. 13.32 10.27 11.80 12.95 14.18 17.24

Transportation ticket and reservation agents ....... 12.98 7.28 8.86 12.71 18.06 18.72

Receptionists ........................................................ 10.10 8.32 9.00 9.90 11.07 12.98

Information clerks, N.E.C. ..................................... 11.09 8.12 9.58 10.49 13.14 13.76

Order clerks .......................................................... 13.45 9.00 10.71 12.21 16.88 19.40

Personnel clerks except payroll and timekeeping 14.61 13.13 13.13 13.32 16.44 18.00

Library clerks ........................................................ 11.32 7.67 8.39 11.71 13.31 13.99

File clerks ............................................................. 9.58 7.08 8.40 9.50 10.68 12.61

Records clerks, N.E.C. ......................................... 12.79 9.48 10.00 12.68 14.88 17.31

Bookkeepers, accounting and auditing clerks ...... 13.05 9.91 11.00 12.65 14.24 16.55

Billing clerks .......................................................... 14.76 12.04 12.04 15.00 17.39 18.55

Dispatchers ........................................................... 13.62 10.30 12.27 13.67 14.43 18.11

Production coordinators ........................................ 20.20 13.83 13.83 17.60 31.35 32.51

Traffic, shipping and receiving clerks ................... 12.81 8.58 10.10 11.41 14.07 17.87

Stock and inventory clerks .................................... 15.99 10.10 12.35 15.30 20.51 21.78

Material recording, scheduling, and distribution

clerks, N.E.C. .................................................. 14.45 6.75 9.82 14.73 18.75 19.72

Insurance adjusters, examiners, and

investigators ................................................... 13.03 11.00 12.23 12.99 13.77 15.35

Investigators and adjusters except insurance ...... 12.50 9.20 10.00 11.64 15.12 16.75

General office clerks ............................................. 13.03 8.66 10.47 13.01 15.78 15.78

Data entry keyers ................................................. 10.81 8.50 8.71 10.70 12.80 12.80

Teachers’ aides .................................................... 11.25 9.56 10.04 10.82 11.84 13.18

Administrative support occupations, N.E.C. ......... 12.66 10.00 11.11 12.50 13.95 16.84

Blue-collar occupations ..................................................... 16.00 8.27 11.47 15.62 20.14 24.38

Precision production, craft, and repair occupations .......... 19.46 13.08 15.76 18.90 22.66 25.93

Supervisors, mechanics and repairers ................. 22.12 19.94 19.94 22.00 23.68 25.00

Automobile mechanics ......................................... 19.88 14.35 16.57 18.06 21.53 27.16

Bus, truck, and stationary engine mechanics ....... 21.15 17.98 19.97 20.43 21.50 24.82

Industrial machinery repairers .............................. 17.53 14.33 15.15 17.58 20.14 20.14

Mechanics and repairers, N.E.C. .......................... 16.43 13.33 14.49 17.35 17.44 18.83

Carpenters ............................................................ 21.23 10.50 17.07 21.26 25.50 26.71

Electricians ........................................................... 25.94 21.90 24.15 27.00 27.50 27.50

Construction trades, N.E.C. .................................. 17.50 15.95 16.12 16.86 20.24 20.69

Supervisors, production occupations .................... 18.73 14.00 15.49 18.27 23.40 26.65

Machinists ............................................................. 20.16 14.00 17.35 18.57 25.69 25.93

Stationary engineers ............................................. 17.37 14.55 15.86 17.49 18.83 21.98

Machine operators, assemblers, and inspectors .............. 13.44 7.51 9.54 12.46 16.03 21.52

Numerical control machine operators ................... 18.37 10.38 15.27 20.66 22.92 22.92

Molding and casting machine operators ............... 10.98 7.50 8.49 9.98 12.86 15.18

Printing press operators ....................................... 14.68 11.55 12.51 13.94 16.42 19.13

See footnotes at end of table.

3
Table A-1. Hourly earnings1 for selected occupations, all workers2, all industries,

Seattle-Tacoma-Bremerton, WA, February 1999 — Continued

Occupation3

All industries

Mean

Percentiles

10 25 Median

50 75 90

Blue-collar occupations (-Continued)

Machine operators, assemblers, and inspectors 

(-Continued)

Miscellaneous machine operators, N.E.C. ........... $12.03 $7.58 $8.57 $11.89 $14.24 $17.47

Welders and cutters .............................................. 16.24 13.26 14.79 17.00 18.38 18.38

Assemblers ........................................................... 13.00 8.20 10.25 12.28 15.61 19.21

Production inspectors, checkers and examiners .. 19.71 10.13 15.45 22.79 25.90 26.32

Transportation and material moving occupations ............. 16.00 8.24 11.25 15.74 19.50 23.47

Truck drivers ......................................................... 15.46 10.13 12.25 15.89 18.92 21.19

Bus drivers ............................................................ 14.30 10.78 12.61 13.37 16.07 21.37

Parking lot attendants ........................................... 7.62 6.75 6.75 7.27 8.05 8.63

Motor transportation occupations, N.E.C. ............. 10.10 6.97 7.25 8.00 10.44 20.05

Industrial truck and tractor equipment operators .. 15.12 8.24 9.50 12.23 18.50 27.95

Miscellaneous material moving equipment

operators, N.E.C. ............................................ 19.91 13.76 15.45 18.58 24.75 24.75

Handlers, equipment cleaners, helpers, and laborers ...... 11.97 6.53 8.40 11.41 15.40 17.98

Groundskeepers and gardeners except farm ....... 13.18 8.00 9.10 14.28 16.92 16.92

Construction laborers ........................................... 16.34 15.16 15.40 15.97 15.97 21.84

Production helpers ................................................ 11.37 7.16 8.92 9.85 12.32 15.82

Stock handlers and baggers ................................. 10.27 5.78 5.85 9.90 13.46 15.17

Freight, stock, and material handlers, N.E.C. ....... 12.39 7.50 8.75 12.28 15.62 18.55

Vehicle washers and equipment cleaners ............ 8.62 6.39 7.31 8.35 9.00 10.89

Hand packers and packagers ............................... 10.06 7.50 9.00 9.88 10.87 13.12

Laborers except construction, N.E.C. ................... 10.99 6.49 7.02 10.97 13.38 15.71

Service occupations ........................................................... 10.34 5.71 6.52 8.53 11.60 18.25

Protective service occupations ................................. 14.04 5.71 6.50 12.03 20.93 24.87

Supervisors, police and detectives ....................... 29.47 27.86 27.86 28.52 29.94 31.96

Firefighting occupations ........................................ 21.69 18.38 20.56 22.42 23.40 23.81

Police and detectives, public service .................... 22.95 18.25 19.92 23.42 25.81 27.78

Guards and police except public service .............. 8.10 5.71 5.87 6.50 7.70 13.95

Protective service occupations, N.E.C. ................ 10.43 8.53 9.02 10.23 10.72 17.91

Food service occupations ......................................... 7.75 5.15 5.90 6.90 9.00 11.30

Supervisors, food preparation and service

occupations .................................................... 11.86 8.61 10.00 11.30 12.09 16.17

Waiters and waitresses ........................................ 5.77 4.93 5.15 5.61 5.70 6.72

Cooks ................................................................... 9.70 6.68 7.86 10.05 11.59 12.25

Food counter, fountain, and related occupations 6.77 5.53 6.13 6.39 6.65 9.37

Kitchen workers, food preparation ........................ 7.28 6.50 6.50 6.98 7.92 8.44

Waiters’/Waitresses’ assistants ............................ 5.99 5.59 5.69 6.00 6.32 6.50

Food preparation occupations, N.E.C. ................. 7.87 6.13 6.50 7.50 8.68 10.48

See footnotes at end of table.

4
Table A-1. Hourly earnings1 for selected occupations, all workers2, all industries,

Seattle-Tacoma-Bremerton, WA, February 1999 — Continued

Occupation3

All industries

Mean

Percentiles

10 25 Median

50 75 90

Service occupations (-Continued)

Health service occupations ....................................... $9.62 $6.75 $8.56 $9.41 $10.71 $12.07

Health aides, except nursing ................................ 10.63 8.60 9.55 10.74 12.00 12.33

Nursing aides, orderlies and attendants ............... 9.46 6.75 8.29 9.19 10.55 11.80

Cleaning and building service occupations .............. 9.68 6.95 8.30 9.25 11.63 12.65

Supervisors, cleaning and building service

workers ........................................................... 13.93 11.56 12.24 12.75 17.64 17.64

Maids and housemen ........................................... 8.02 6.67 6.86 7.52 8.79 10.10

Janitors and cleaners ........................................... 9.52 7.13 8.33 9.04 11.15 12.27

Personal service occupations ................................... 11.09 5.15 6.12 8.20 11.48 22.14

Attendants, amusement and recreation facilities .. 7.43 4.90 5.40 6.17 7.85 9.55

Early childhood teachers’ assistants .................... 9.80 7.50 8.00 9.64 11.35 11.88

Child care workers, N.E.C. ................................... 8.25 5.51 6.33 9.19 9.84 9.95

Service occupations, N.E.C. ................................. 9.96 6.12 6.52 9.23 11.67 15.14

1 Earnings are the straight-time hourly wages or salaries paid

to employees. They include incentive pay, cost-of-living

adjustments, and hazard pay. Excluded are premium pay for

overtime, vacations, holidays, nonproduction bonuses, and tips. 

The mean is computed by totaling the pay of all workers and

dividing by the number of workers, weighted by hours. The 10th,

25th, 50th, 75th and 90th percentiles designate position in the

earnings distribution. At the 50th percentile, the median, half of

the workers receive the same as or more than the rate shown,

and half receive the same as or less than the rate shown. At the

25th percentile, one-fourth of the workers earn the same as or

less than the rate shown. At the 75th percentile, one-fourth earn

the same as or more than the rate shown. The 10th and 90th

percentiles follow the same logic. 2 All workers include full-time and part-time workers.

Employees are classified as working either a full-time or a

part-time schedule based on the definition used by each

establishment. Therefore, a worker with a 35-hour-per-week

schedule might be considered a full-time employee in one

establishment, but classified as part-time in another firm, where a

40-hour week is the minimum full-time schedule. 3 A classification system including about 480 individual

occupations is used to cover all workers in the civilian economy.

Individual occupations are classified into one of nine major

occupational groups. 

NOTE: Dashes indicate that no data were reported or that data

did not meet publication criteria. Overall occupational groups and

occupational levels may include data for categories not shown

separately. N.E.C. means "not elsewhere classified." 

NOTE: Individual and average wage rates were collected in this

update survey. A procedure was put into place to "move" the

positional statistics where averages were collected. This

procedure compares current locality survey data–at the quote

level–with the same quote from the prior survey. Individual rates

from the prior survey are moved by the average change in mean

wages for the occupation.

5
Table A-2. Hourly earnings1 for selected occupations, all workers2, private industry and State and local government,

Seattle-Tacoma-Bremerton, WA, February 1999

Occupation3

Private industry State and local government

Mean

Percentiles

Mean

Percentiles

10 25 Median

50 75 90 10 25 Median50 75 90

All occupations ..................................................... $17.13 $7.02 $9.48 $14.13 $20.68 $28.37 $21.18 $12.08 $14.79 $19.56 $25.48 $32.74

All occupations excluding sales .......................... 17.34 7.13 9.66 14.42 21.06 28.50 21.18 12.08 14.90 19.60 25.48 32.74

White-collar occupations ................................. 20.82 8.96 12.10 16.67 24.76 33.17 22.73 12.58 15.70 21.11 28.23 34.44

White-collar occupations excluding sales ....... 21.91 9.95 12.75 17.69 25.83 33.91 22.74 12.62 15.70 21.13 28.23 34.44

Professional specialty and technical

occupations .............................................. 26.85 12.51 16.65 22.00 27.61 33.91 25.10 16.43 19.47 23.57 30.37 35.01

Professional specialty occupations ............. 28.87 13.27 18.25 23.97 29.07 34.86 26.42 18.38 20.53 25.02 31.56 35.40

Engineers, architects, and surveyors ..... – – – – – – – –––––

Electrical and electronic engineers ..... 32.13 21.86 22.30 32.00 40.36 44.46 – –––––

Mathematical and computer scientists ... 26.19 18.98 21.77 25.50 30.23 33.91 23.59 19.54 22.80 24.87 25.02 26.17

Computer systems analysts and

scientists ....................................... 26.91 19.43 22.55 26.01 30.94 34.56 23.59 19.54 22.80 24.87 25.02 26.17

Operations and systems researchers

and analysts ................................. 22.47 16.16 18.98 21.70 27.40 27.40 – –––––

Natural scientists .................................... 29.86 13.60 22.87 29.98 31.96 42.79 – –––––

Medical scientists ............................... 29.79 13.60 22.50 29.98 31.96 42.79 – –––––

Health related occupations ..................... 25.04 15.02 18.98 23.87 27.09 30.04 23.84 18.19 20.53 22.86 25.94 30.35

Registered nurses .............................. 23.92 18.51 20.56 24.34 26.73 28.94 24.35 18.82 21.93 24.21 26.74 29.09

Teachers, college and university ............ 24.65 17.29 20.43 23.19 30.00 31.73 – –––––

Teachers, except college and university 12.63 7.77 8.50 9.83 14.13 23.75 27.80 19.02 23.10 28.56 32.63 35.09

Prekindergarten and kindergarten ...... 9.38 7.65 8.19 8.75 10.00 11.80 – –––––

Elementary school teachers ............... 20.19 12.01 13.97 17.80 24.99 32.62 28.29 19.63 23.56 29.00 32.97 35.31

Secondary school teachers ................ 21.29 12.40 14.71 19.99 26.25 30.76 28.25 19.20 23.11 29.75 33.08 34.54

Teachers, special education ............... – – – – – – 27.46 19.73 22.51 27.80 31.40 34.94

Teachers, N.E.C. ................................ 18.62 6.50 10.39 21.61 25.09 27.83 – –––––

Librarians, archivists, and curators ......... – – – – – – 24.23 18.03 18.61 23.30 30.11 32.47

Social scientists and urban planners ...... – – – – – – 24.89 20.32 21.11 24.15 27.93 29.48

Social, recreation, and religious workers 14.62 12.51 12.51 13.14 16.00 21.93 19.33 16.71 17.72 19.54 19.54 20.16

Social workers .................................... 14.62 12.51 12.51 13.14 16.00 21.93 19.14 16.50 17.71 19.47 19.54 19.54

Lawyers and judges ................................ 35.49 21.74 26.99 36.63 40.44 52.23 33.87 23.49 24.67 34.12 38.48 48.56

Lawyers .............................................. 35.49 21.74 26.99 36.63 40.44 52.23 30.43 23.37 23.49 32.02 36.66 36.66

Writers, authors, entertainers, athletes,

and professionals, N.E.C. ................. – – – – – – 20.19 11.99 14.90 16.05 29.84 34.77

Designers ........................................... 19.91 16.27 16.88 18.48 22.28 25.32 – –––––

Editors and reporters .......................... 19.98 12.77 15.05 17.58 23.00 29.57 – –––––

Technical occupations ................................ 20.54 11.40 14.13 17.21 22.00 26.40 16.71 13.51 14.90 16.43 18.31 21.20

Clinical laboratory technologists and

technicians .................................... – – – – – – 19.11 13.78 17.44 20.25 21.39 22.37

Licensed practical nurses ................... 14.63 12.48 13.50 15.00 15.51 16.66 15.54 14.22 15.51 15.65 16.09 16.86

Health technologists and technicians,

N.E.C. ........................................... 14.23 10.85 11.80 13.23 14.29 17.83 – –––––

Electrical and electronic technicians ... 19.31 8.58 15.38 18.80 26.00 26.40 – –––––

Drafters ............................................... 17.23 11.67 15.29 16.10 22.00 22.00 – –––––

Legal assistants .................................. 19.68 15.77 17.11 18.87 22.00 24.17 – –––––

Technical and related occupations,

N.E.C. ........................................... 16.78 11.09 12.32 14.80 18.96 25.00 – –––––

Executive, administrative, and managerial

occupations .............................................. 29.20 15.29 19.90 27.90 35.11 42.83 27.75 18.63 21.05 24.14 32.64 46.38

Executives, administrators, and

managers .......................................... 32.14 18.27 24.04 31.59 37.44 48.08 34.71 21.64 26.44 33.85 46.38 46.38

Financial managers ............................ 27.59 19.86 23.06 24.56 32.28 37.93 – –––––

Personnel and labor relations

managers ...................................... 34.80 28.85 28.85 33.63 35.31 37.04 – –––––

Managers, marketing, advertising and

public relations .............................. 41.21 29.10 29.10 36.06 42.91 85.14 – –––––

Administrators, education and related

fields ............................................. 18.16 11.82 12.36 15.00 23.74 24.04 35.84 31.61 32.92 34.43 41.11 41.56

Managers, medicine and health ......... 25.25 14.97 15.71 20.65 29.18 51.00 – –––––

Managers, service organizations,

N.E.C. ........................................... 21.93 12.30 14.06 18.70 21.37 40.87 – –––––

Managers and administrators, N.E.C. 34.55 22.23 27.19 33.17 38.80 49.04 – –––––

Management related occupations .......... 22.27 14.95 16.73 20.16 24.98 32.05 22.80 17.51 19.54 23.01 25.82 29.65

Accountants and auditors ................... 21.57 13.61 16.73 18.01 26.72 33.76 – –––––

Other financial officers ........................ 25.50 16.15 17.58 20.92 28.85 31.20 – –––––

See footnotes at end of table.

6
Table A-2. Hourly earnings1 for selected occupations, all workers2, private industry and State and local government,

Seattle-Tacoma-Bremerton, WA, February 1999 — Continued

Occupation3

Private industry State and local government

Mean

Percentiles

Mean

Percentiles

10 25 Median

50 75 90 10 25 Median50 75 90

White-collar occupations (-Continued)

Executive, administrative, and managerial

occupations (-Continued)

Management related occupations 

(-Continued)

Management analysts ........................ $19.90 $15.80 $17.02 $19.90 $21.33 $24.42 – –––––

Management related occupations,

N.E.C. ........................................... 21.17 12.94 16.00 18.96 23.19 32.05 $23.11 $17.50 $17.51 $18.73 $30.77 $30.77

Sales occupations .......................................... 14.75 6.53 7.88 12.11 17.18 26.44 – –––––

Supervisors, sales occupations .......... 18.32 8.77 11.72 16.42 20.62 26.44 – –––––

Sales occupations, other business

services ........................................ 16.46 8.36 11.25 14.62 20.38 23.57 – –––––

Sales representatives, mining,

manufacturing, and wholesale ...... 25.85 13.75 13.75 14.65 26.86 42.13 – –––––

Sales workers, motor vehicles and

boats ............................................. 21.78 8.50 12.68 20.39 27.20 35.47 – –––––

Sales workers, parts ........................... 15.31 9.50 13.27 14.70 16.82 19.71 – –––––

Sales workers, other commodities ...... 9.46 5.74 6.84 8.84 10.86 14.33 – –––––

Cashiers ............................................. 9.30 6.15 6.72 7.88 13.68 15.10 – –––––

Administrative support occupations, including

clerical ...................................................... 13.16 8.65 10.27 12.73 15.57 18.22 13.42 10.28 11.48 12.98 14.97 16.80

Supervisors, general office ................. 16.11 13.51 13.77 14.94 19.86 21.03 – –––––

Supervisors, distribution, scheduling,

and adjusting clerks ...................... 16.53 14.49 14.49 15.00 17.78 22.25 – –––––

Secretaries ......................................... 14.39 9.32 12.00 14.00 16.67 19.82 13.30 11.41 12.16 12.98 13.92 15.96

Transportation ticket and reservation

agents ........................................... 12.69 7.28 8.86 12.14 16.71 18.06 – –––––

Receptionists ...................................... 9.98 8.16 8.77 9.88 10.81 12.81 – –––––

Order clerks ........................................ 13.45 9.00 10.71 12.21 16.88 19.40 – –––––

Library clerks ...................................... 11.64 8.24 11.23 11.71 11.71 15.12 11.26 7.59 8.36 12.17 13.31 13.99

File clerks ........................................... 9.47 7.08 7.79 9.16 11.77 12.61 – –––––

Records clerks, N.E.C. ....................... 12.75 9.48 10.00 12.22 15.04 17.31 – –––––

Bookkeepers, accounting and auditing

clerks ............................................ 12.80 9.73 11.00 12.36 13.86 15.80 14.66 11.33 13.51 13.73 17.16 17.95

Billing clerks ........................................ 13.71 11.53 12.04 12.52 15.00 15.00 – –––––

Production coordinators ...................... 20.20 13.83 13.83 17.60 31.35 32.51 – –––––

Traffic, shipping and receiving clerks 12.81 8.58 10.10 11.41 14.07 17.87 – –––––

Stock and inventory clerks .................. 15.90 10.05 12.35 15.30 20.51 21.78 – –––––

Material recording, scheduling, and

distribution clerks, N.E.C. ............. 14.45 6.75 9.82 14.73 18.75 19.72 – –––––

Insurance adjusters, examiners, and

investigators ................................. 13.03 11.00 12.23 12.99 13.77 15.35 – –––––

Investigators and adjusters except

insurance ...................................... 12.50 9.20 10.00 11.64 15.12 16.75 – –––––

General office clerks ........................... 12.77 8.22 9.93 12.34 15.78 15.78 13.67 10.16 10.98 14.23 15.33 16.80

Data entry keyers ............................... 10.81 8.50 8.71 10.70 12.80 12.80 – –––––

Teachers’ aides .................................. – – – – – – 11.25 9.56 10.04 10.82 11.84 13.18

Administrative support occupations,

N.E.C. ........................................... 12.17 8.00 10.41 12.48 12.80 16.84 13.64 11.44 11.87 13.07 15.70 16.48

Blue-collar occupations ................................... 15.73 8.01 10.84 15.17 19.94 24.41 18.14 13.33 15.40 17.48 20.80 22.59

Precision production, craft, and repair

occupations .............................................. 19.30 12.91 15.43 18.71 22.73 25.93 20.75 16.51 17.44 20.51 22.59 27.00

Supervisors, mechanics and repairers 21.90 19.94 19.94 21.76 23.68 25.00 – –––––

Automobile mechanics ....................... 19.88 14.35 16.48 17.98 22.03 27.32 – –––––

Bus, truck, and stationary engine

mechanics .................................... 21.35 18.23 19.97 20.43 21.62 27.63 – –––––

Industrial machinery repairers ............ 17.53 14.33 15.15 17.58 20.14 20.14 – –––––

Mechanics and repairers, N.E.C. ........ 15.83 13.03 13.84 15.96 17.76 20.62 – –––––

Carpenters .......................................... 21.23 10.50 17.07 21.26 25.50 26.71 – –––––

Electricians ......................................... 26.00 21.90 24.15 27.50 27.50 30.25 – –––––

Supervisors, production occupations .. 18.73 14.00 15.49 18.27 23.40 26.65 – –––––

Machinists ........................................... 20.16 14.00 17.35 18.57 25.69 25.93 – –––––

Machine operators, assemblers, and

inspectors ................................................. 13.44 7.51 9.54 12.46 16.03 21.52 – –––––

See footnotes at end of table.

7
Table A-2. Hourly earnings1 for selected occupations, all workers2, private industry and State and local government,

Seattle-Tacoma-Bremerton, WA, February 1999 — Continued

Occupation3

Private industry State and local government

Mean

Percentiles

Mean

Percentiles

10 25 Median

50 75 90 10 25 Median50 75 90

Blue-collar occupations (-Continued)

Machine operators, assemblers, and

inspectors (-Continued)

Numerical control machine operators $18.37 $10.38 $15.27 $20.66 $22.92 $22.92 – –––––

Molding and casting machine

operators ...................................... 10.98 7.50 8.49 9.98 12.86 15.18 – –––––

Printing press operators ..................... 14.68 11.55 12.51 13.94 16.42 19.13 – –––––

Miscellaneous machine operators,

N.E.C. ........................................... 12.03 7.58 8.57 11.89 14.24 17.47 – –––––

Welders and cutters ............................ 16.24 13.26 14.79 17.00 18.38 18.38 – –––––

Assemblers ......................................... 13.00 8.20 10.25 12.28 15.61 19.21 – –––––

Production inspectors, checkers and

examiners ..................................... 19.71 10.13 15.45 22.79 25.90 26.32 – –––––

Transportation and material moving

occupations .............................................. 15.66 8.00 10.32 14.98 19.12 23.91 $17.40 $12.72 $14.10 $17.67 $20.44 $21.67

Truck drivers ....................................... 15.37 10.00 12.05 15.67 19.09 21.19 – –––––

Bus drivers .......................................... – – – – – – 15.31 11.85 13.29 14.11 16.88 21.47

Parking lot attendants ......................... 7.54 6.75 6.75 7.24 8.01 8.63 – –––––

Motor transportation occupations,

N.E.C. ........................................... 10.10 6.97 7.25 8.00 10.44 20.05 – –––––

Industrial truck and tractor equipment

operators ...................................... 15.12 8.24 9.50 12.23 18.50 27.95 – –––––

Miscellaneous material moving

equipment operators, N.E.C. ........ 20.68 12.66 15.45 23.83 24.75 27.17 17.62 15.56 15.64 18.58 18.98 20.44

Handlers, equipment cleaners, helpers, and

laborers ..................................................... 11.50 6.50 8.00 10.38 14.14 17.40 14.96 9.10 14.28 15.40 15.97 18.08

Production helpers .............................. 11.37 7.16 8.92 9.85 12.32 15.82 – –––––

Stock handlers and baggers ............... 10.27 5.78 5.85 9.90 13.46 15.17 – –––––

Freight, stock, and material handlers,

N.E.C. ........................................... 12.39 7.50 8.75 12.28 15.62 18.55 – –––––

Vehicle washers and equipment

cleaners ........................................ 8.62 6.39 7.31 8.35 9.00 10.89 – –––––

Hand packers and packagers ............. 10.06 7.50 9.00 9.88 10.87 13.12 – –––––

Laborers except construction, N.E.C. 10.98 6.50 7.03 10.97 13.13 15.71 – –––––

Service occupations ......................................... 8.71 5.70 6.50 7.95 9.71 11.97 17.04 10.23 12.08 15.27 22.66 25.44

Protective service occupations ............... 8.08 5.71 5.98 6.50 8.15 13.23 21.03 14.55 16.99 21.58 24.19 27.86

Supervisors, police and detectives ..... – – – – – – 29.47 27.86 27.86 28.52 29.94 31.96

Firefighting occupations ...................... – – – – – – 21.69 18.38 20.56 22.42 23.40 23.81

Police and detectives, public service .. – – – – – – 22.95 18.25 19.92 23.42 25.81 27.78

Guards and police except public

service .......................................... 7.99 5.71 5.84 6.50 7.50 13.75 – –––––

Food service occupations ....................... 7.57 5.15 5.78 6.86 8.50 11.06 10.66 8.08 9.30 10.21 11.63 13.88

Supervisors, food preparation and

service occupations ...................... 11.72 8.61 10.00 11.06 12.02 17.30 – –––––

Waiters and waitresses ...................... 5.77 4.93 5.15 5.61 5.70 6.72 – –––––

Cooks ................................................. 9.43 6.56 7.61 9.36 11.25 12.00 – –––––

Kitchen workers, food preparation ...... 7.21 6.50 6.50 6.86 7.83 8.36 – –––––

Waiters’/Waitresses’ assistants .......... 5.99 5.59 5.69 6.00 6.32 6.50 – –––––

Food preparation occupations, N.E.C. 7.54 6.13 6.50 7.09 8.37 9.51 – –––––

See footnotes at end of table.

8
Table A-2. Hourly earnings1 for selected occupations, all workers2, private industry and State and local government,

Seattle-Tacoma-Bremerton, WA, February 1999 — Continued

Occupation3

Private industry State and local government

Mean

Percentiles

Mean

Percentiles

10 25 Median

50 75 90 10 25 Median50 75 90

Service occupations (-Continued)

Health service occupations ..................... $9.23 $6.75 $8.19 $9.19 $10.29 $11.31 $12.53 $10.32 $11.01 $12.73 $13.88 $14.90

Health aides, except nursing .............. 10.46 8.50 9.55 10.51 12.00 12.33 – –––––

Nursing aides, orderlies and

attendants ..................................... 9.04 6.75 8.09 9.11 10.11 10.88 12.88 10.51 11.40 13.25 14.55 14.90

Cleaning and building service

occupations ...................................... 9.09 6.87 7.84 8.33 10.30 11.66 12.12 11.14 12.08 12.09 12.79 13.25

Supervisors, cleaning and building

service workers ............................. 13.92 11.44 12.24 12.75 17.64 17.64 – –––––

Maids and housemen ......................... 7.98 6.67 6.86 7.48 8.71 10.08 – –––––

Janitors and cleaners ......................... 8.78 6.95 8.00 8.33 10.00 10.71 12.12 11.34 12.08 12.09 12.79 13.25

Personal service occupations ................. 11.12 5.15 6.12 8.00 11.66 22.14 10.69 9.19 9.84 10.36 11.35 12.45

Attendants, amusement and

recreation facilities ........................ 7.43 4.90 5.40 6.17 7.85 9.55 – –––––

Child care workers, N.E.C. ................. – – – – – – 9.67 9.19 9.19 9.64 9.95 11.02

Service occupations, N.E.C. ............... 9.96 6.12 6.52 9.23 11.67 15.14 – –––––

1 Earnings are the straight-time hourly wages or salaries paid to employees. They

include incentive pay, cost-of-living adjustments, and hazard pay. Excluded are premium

pay for overtime, vacations, holidays, nonproduction bonuses, and tips. The mean is

computed by totaling the pay of all workers and dividing by the number of workers,

weighted by hours. The 10th, 25th, 50th, 75th and 90th percentiles designate position in

the earnings distribution. At the 50th percentile, the median, half of the workers receive

the same as or more than the rate shown, and half receive the same as or less than the

rate shown. At the 25th percentile, one-fourth of the workers earn the same as or less

than the rate shown. At the 75th percentile, one-fourth earn the same as or more than

the rate shown. The 10th and 90th percentiles follow the same logic. 2 All workers include full-time and part-time workers. Employees are classified as

working either a full-time or a part-time schedule based on the definition used by each

establishment. Therefore, a worker with a 35-hour-per-week schedule might be

considered a full-time employee in one establishment, but classified as part-time in

another firm, where a 40-hour week is the minimum full-time schedule. 3 A classification system including about 480 individual occupations is used to cover

all workers in the civilian economy. Individual occupations are classified into one of nine

major occupational groups. 

NOTE: Dashes indicate that no data were reported or that data did not meet publication

criteria. Overall occupational groups and occupational levels may include data for

categories not shown separately. N.E.C. means not elsewhere classified. IN THIS SURVEY, THE NONRESPONSE RATE FOR PRIVATE INDUSTRY EXCEEDED REGULAR

SURVEY STANDARDS FOR PUBLICATION. ACCORDINGLY, USERS SHOULD INTERPRET THESE RESULTS WITH THIS LIMITATION IN MIND. 

NOTE: Individual and average wage rates were collected in this update survey. A

procedure was put into place to "move" the positional statistics where averages were

collected. This procedure compares current locality survey data–at the quote level–with

the same quote from the prior survey. Individual rates from the prior survey are moved by

the average change in mean wages for the occupation.

9
Table A-3. Hourly earnings1 for selected occupations, full-time and part-time workers2, all industries, Seattle-Tacoma-Bremerton,

WA, February 1999

Occupation3

All industries

Full-time Part-time

Mean

Percentiles

Mean

Percentiles

10 25 Median

50 75 90 10 25 Median50 75 90

All occupations ..................................................... $18.78 $8.23 $11.44 $16.15 $22.85 $30.32 $12.00 $5.73 $6.86 $9.50 $13.76 $23.00

All occupations excluding sales .......................... 18.94 8.33 11.61 16.43 23.01 30.43 12.44 5.78 7.00 10.00 14.22 24.13

White-collar occupations ................................. 22.02 10.23 13.39 18.71 26.43 34.23 15.50 7.00 9.12 12.79 19.76 26.73

White-collar occupations excluding sales ....... 22.70 11.00 13.83 19.38 27.09 34.62 17.19 8.70 10.72 14.13 22.03 27.68

Professional specialty and technical

occupations .............................................. 26.71 14.59 18.06 23.02 29.09 34.66 21.97 12.30 14.52 20.60 26.00 30.76

Professional specialty occupations ............. 28.29 16.16 19.54 24.42 30.36 35.31 24.12 13.12 18.54 23.61 27.46 33.46

Engineers, architects, and surveyors ..... – – – – – – – –––––

Electrical and electronic engineers ..... 32.13 21.86 22.30 32.00 40.36 44.46 – –––––

Mathematical and computer scientists ... 25.80 19.08 21.95 25.02 29.23 33.80 – –––––

Computer systems analysts and

scientists ....................................... 26.33 19.43 22.67 25.08 30.05 33.91 – –––––

Operations and systems researchers

and analysts ................................. 22.47 16.16 18.98 21.70 27.40 27.40 – –––––

Natural scientists .................................... 25.91 20.66 21.46 23.22 29.98 32.69 – –––––

Medical scientists ............................... 29.79 13.60 22.50 29.98 31.96 42.79 – –––––

Health related occupations ..................... 23.93 16.20 18.82 22.41 25.77 30.20 25.84 17.00 21.33 25.16 27.68 30.04

Registered nurses .............................. 23.39 18.06 19.91 23.61 25.87 28.16 25.07 20.33 22.67 25.37 27.46 29.62

Teachers, college and university ............ 34.07 20.39 27.33 32.49 38.95 47.11 32.17 19.62 22.16 31.12 40.26 47.50

Teachers, except college and university 25.70 12.28 20.32 27.14 32.18 34.72 20.75 10.93 13.99 20.68 26.41 32.81

Prekindergarten and kindergarten ...... 12.53 7.75 8.25 9.25 12.83 27.25 – –––––

Elementary school teachers ............... 28.03 19.20 23.31 28.71 32.81 35.27 – –––––

Secondary school teachers ................ 27.92 18.47 22.68 29.25 33.04 34.54 26.37 20.55 22.16 25.60 31.86 34.47

Teachers, special education ............... 27.46 19.73 22.51 27.80 31.40 34.94 – –––––

Teachers, N.E.C. ................................ 25.46 17.21 21.53 26.63 30.11 31.92 – –––––

Substitute teachers ............................. – – – – – – 12.90 11.25 13.07 13.07 13.97 14.02

Vocational and educational

counselors .................................... 25.18 12.67 15.34 29.21 32.77 35.66 – –––––

Librarians, archivists, and curators ......... – – – – – – – –––––

Social scientists and urban planners ...... 19.00 9.67 14.42 18.47 23.59 27.93 13.38 8.46 12.85 13.12 14.52 16.71

Psychologists ...................................... 16.70 9.39 10.37 15.00 20.32 23.93 13.38 8.46 12.85 13.12 14.52 16.71

Social, recreation, and religious workers 17.75 12.51 15.43 18.25 19.54 20.53 18.29 15.21 17.64 19.47 19.47 20.05

Social workers .................................... 17.55 12.51 15.43 18.25 19.54 19.54 18.29 15.21 17.64 19.47 19.47 20.05

Lawyers and judges ................................ 35.21 22.87 26.64 36.19 40.09 48.56 – –––––

Lawyers .............................................. 34.45 22.79 26.64 35.25 38.47 46.15 – –––––

Writers, authors, entertainers, athletes,

and professionals, N.E.C. ................. – – – – – – – –––––

Designers ........................................... 19.91 16.27 16.88 18.48 22.28 25.32 – –––––

Editors and reporters .......................... 18.53 12.77 15.05 16.05 22.12 27.61 – –––––

Technical occupations ................................ 20.23 12.22 14.80 17.11 21.20 26.40 15.22 9.68 12.07 14.51 16.96 23.00

Clinical laboratory technologists and

technicians .................................... 16.92 10.54 12.00 18.91 21.06 22.17 – –––––

Licensed practical nurses ................... 15.34 13.88 15.00 15.51 15.98 16.86 14.20 12.07 12.73 14.05 15.51 16.24

Health technologists and technicians,

N.E.C. ........................................... 14.46 11.80 13.10 14.23 15.29 15.76 – –––––

Electrical and electronic technicians ... 20.14 14.34 15.67 19.24 24.16 26.40 – –––––

Engineering technicians, N.E.C. ......... 18.44 13.88 15.46 16.44 20.44 24.42 – –––––

Drafters ............................................... 16.90 11.67 14.25 16.10 22.00 22.00 – –––––

Legal assistants .................................. 19.09 15.09 16.67 18.87 21.47 23.04 – –––––

Technical and related occupations,

N.E.C. ........................................... 17.16 11.09 12.50 17.36 18.96 24.06 – –––––

Executive, administrative, and managerial

occupations .............................................. 28.93 16.44 20.53 27.19 34.90 44.19 21.33 15.00 18.63 20.00 25.82 27.24

Executives, administrators, and

managers .......................................... 32.61 18.75 24.04 32.07 38.46 46.38 – –––––

Financial managers ............................ 27.90 19.75 23.74 26.39 32.53 37.93 – –––––

Personnel and labor relations

managers ...................................... 36.70 28.85 33.63 35.31 43.47 43.47 – –––––

Purchasing managers ......................... 35.15 26.98 32.49 33.05 35.09 47.70 – –––––

Managers, marketing, advertising and

public relations .............................. 41.21 29.10 29.10 36.06 42.91 85.14 – –––––

See footnotes at end of table.

10
Table A-3. Hourly earnings1 for selected occupations, full-time and part-time workers2, all industries, Seattle-Tacoma-Bremerton,

WA, February 1999 — Continued

Occupation3

All industries

Full-time Part-time

Mean

Percentiles

Mean

Percentiles

10 25 Median

50 75 90 10 25 Median50 75 90

White-collar occupations (-Continued)

Executive, administrative, and managerial

occupations (-Continued)

Executives, administrators, and

managers (-Continued)

Administrators, education and related

fields ............................................. $32.46 $15.00 $28.23 $33.94 $37.78 $41.49 – –––––

Managers, medicine and health ......... 25.25 14.97 15.71 20.65 29.18 51.00 – –––––

Managers, service organizations,

N.E.C. ........................................... 21.93 12.30 14.06 18.70 21.37 40.87 – –––––

Managers and administrators, N.E.C. 34.59 22.23 27.19 33.17 39.11 49.04 – –––––

Management related occupations .......... 22.51 15.22 17.72 21.26 24.98 30.77 $21.56 $15.00 $17.26 $19.70 $25.82 $27.24

Accountants and auditors ................... 21.39 14.95 17.66 19.54 23.01 30.72 – –––––

Other financial officers ........................ 24.51 13.82 16.73 20.24 27.53 31.20 – –––––

Management analysts ........................ 23.05 16.49 19.00 21.30 29.55 29.55 – –––––

Personnel, training, and labor

relations specialists ...................... 28.54 24.14 24.14 30.58 34.73 34.90 – –––––

Purchasing agents and buyers,

N.E.C. ........................................... 20.84 16.82 17.72 20.46 23.08 24.81 – –––––

Management related occupations,

N.E.C. ........................................... 21.89 14.46 17.14 18.73 29.65 31.31 – –––––

Sales occupations .......................................... 16.18 7.12 9.22 13.68 19.42 28.03 7.83 5.56 6.00 7.20 8.76 10.73

Supervisors, sales occupations .......... 18.32 8.77 11.72 16.42 20.62 26.44 – –––––

Sales occupations, other business

services ........................................ 17.65 10.85 12.42 19.08 20.90 23.94 – –––––

Sales representatives, mining,

manufacturing, and wholesale ...... 25.85 13.75 13.75 14.65 26.86 42.13 – –––––

Sales workers, motor vehicles and

boats ............................................. 21.78 8.50 12.68 20.39 27.20 35.47 – –––––

Sales workers, parts ........................... 15.31 9.50 13.27 14.70 16.82 19.71 – –––––

Sales workers, other commodities ...... 10.30 6.82 7.50 9.43 11.70 15.00 7.06 5.47 5.58 6.09 6.84 10.73

Cashiers ............................................. 10.41 6.22 7.00 8.99 13.68 15.10 7.41 5.75 6.50 7.16 8.56 9.43

Sales support occupations, N.E.C. ..... 13.32 10.29 12.15 13.53 14.00 16.54 – –––––

Administrative support occupations, including

clerical ...................................................... 13.50 9.20 11.00 13.00 15.78 18.50 11.18 8.00 9.16 10.75 12.68 15.21

Supervisors, general office ................. 16.92 13.51 14.28 15.05 19.86 21.27 – –––––

Supervisors, distribution, scheduling,

and adjusting clerks ...................... 16.53 14.49 14.49 15.00 17.78 22.25 – –––––

Secretaries ......................................... 14.45 10.65 12.49 13.96 16.25 19.41 11.68 9.00 10.00 11.72 12.98 13.92

Transportation ticket and reservation

agents ........................................... 13.24 7.28 8.86 13.08 18.06 18.72 12.19 8.00 9.01 10.84 15.47 18.06

Receptionists ...................................... 10.33 8.65 9.00 9.90 11.07 13.00 9.10 6.25 7.35 9.31 10.53 12.00

Information clerks, N.E.C. ................... 11.09 8.12 9.52 10.44 13.32 13.76 – –––––

Order clerks ........................................ 13.54 9.00 10.55 12.69 16.88 19.40 – –––––

Library clerks ...................................... – – – – – – 10.11 7.59 7.97 9.33 12.85 12.94

File clerks ........................................... 9.58 7.08 7.79 9.18 11.39 12.61 – –––––

Records clerks, N.E.C. ....................... 12.91 9.48 10.00 12.99 15.04 17.31 – –––––

Bookkeepers, accounting and auditing

clerks ............................................ 13.05 9.91 11.00 12.65 14.24 16.55 – –––––

Billing clerks ........................................ 14.86 12.04 12.24 15.00 17.39 18.55 – –––––

Production coordinators ...................... 20.20 13.83 13.83 17.60 31.35 32.51 – –––––

Traffic, shipping and receiving clerks 12.83 9.00 10.18 11.41 13.80 17.87 – –––––

Stock and inventory clerks .................. 16.16 10.23 12.35 15.87 20.51 21.78 – –––––

Material recording, scheduling, and

distribution clerks, N.E.C. ............. 14.86 6.75 9.82 15.29 19.02 19.72 – –––––

Insurance adjusters, examiners, and

investigators ................................. 13.12 11.47 12.23 12.99 13.77 15.42 – –––––

Investigators and adjusters except

insurance ...................................... 12.50 9.20 10.00 11.64 15.12 16.75 – –––––

General office clerks ........................... 13.31 9.05 10.87 13.22 15.78 15.78 11.18 7.85 9.32 10.33 13.63 15.21

Data entry keyers ............................... 11.17 8.28 10.14 11.20 12.80 12.80 – –––––

Teachers’ aides .................................. – – – – – – 11.27 9.47 9.97 10.75 11.94 13.76

See footnotes at end of table.

11
Table A-3. Hourly earnings1 for selected occupations, full-time and part-time workers2, all industries, Seattle-Tacoma-Bremerton,

WA, February 1999 — Continued

Occupation3

All industries

Full-time Part-time

Mean

Percentiles

Mean

Percentiles

10 25 Median

50 75 90 10 25 Median50 75 90

White-collar occupations (-Continued)

Administrative support occupations, including

clerical (-Continued)

Administrative support occupations,

N.E.C. ........................................... $12.84 $10.41 $11.38 $12.48 $13.39 $16.84 $12.01 $6.40 $7.50 $12.88 $15.70 $18.53

Blue-collar occupations ................................... 16.32 8.63 12.08 15.89 20.34 24.53 10.11 6.49 7.32 9.44 12.61 14.11

Precision production, craft, and repair

occupations .............................................. 19.46 13.08 15.76 18.90 22.66 25.93 – –––––

Supervisors, mechanics and repairers 22.12 19.94 19.94 22.00 23.68 25.00 – –––––

Automobile mechanics ....................... 19.88 14.35 16.57 18.06 21.53 27.16 – –––––

Bus, truck, and stationary engine

mechanics .................................... 21.15 17.98 19.97 20.43 21.50 24.82 – –––––

Industrial machinery repairers ............ 17.53 14.33 15.15 17.58 20.14 20.14 – –––––

Mechanics and repairers, N.E.C. ........ 16.43 13.33 14.49 17.35 17.44 18.83 – –––––

Carpenters .......................................... 21.23 10.50 17.07 21.26 25.50 26.71 – –––––

Electricians ......................................... 25.94 21.90 24.15 27.00 27.50 27.50 – –––––

Construction trades, N.E.C. ................ 17.50 15.95 16.12 16.86 20.24 20.69 – –––––

Supervisors, production occupations .. 18.73 14.00 15.49 18.27 23.40 26.65 – –––––

Machinists ........................................... 20.16 14.00 17.35 18.57 25.69 25.93 – –––––

Stationary engineers ........................... 17.37 14.55 15.86 17.49 18.83 21.98 – –––––

Machine operators, assemblers, and

inspectors ................................................. 13.43 7.50 9.54 12.46 16.00 21.69 – –––––

Numerical control machine operators 18.37 10.38 15.27 20.66 22.92 22.92 – –––––

Molding and casting machine

operators ...................................... 10.98 7.50 8.49 9.98 12.86 15.18 – –––––

Printing press operators ..................... 14.68 11.55 12.51 13.94 16.42 19.13 – –––––

Miscellaneous machine operators,

N.E.C. ........................................... 12.03 7.58 8.57 11.89 14.24 17.47 – –––––

Welders and cutters ............................ 16.24 13.26 14.79 17.00 18.38 18.38 – –––––

Assemblers ......................................... 13.00 8.20 10.25 12.28 15.61 19.21 – –––––

Production inspectors, checkers and

examiners ..................................... 19.71 10.13 15.45 22.79 25.90 26.32 – –––––

Transportation and material moving

occupations .............................................. 16.63 8.72 11.42 16.49 20.62 23.91 11.33 7.23 8.01 12.61 13.32 14.38

Truck drivers ....................................... 15.55 10.13 12.49 15.92 19.09 21.19 13.23 8.24 11.25 13.32 16.64 16.89

Bus drivers .......................................... 15.80 10.78 13.29 16.07 18.16 21.47 12.80 10.34 12.61 12.61 13.37 14.11

Motor transportation occupations,

N.E.C. ........................................... 10.74 6.73 7.66 8.10 10.44 20.25 – –––––

Industrial truck and tractor equipment

operators ...................................... 15.12 8.24 9.50 12.23 18.50 27.95 – –––––

Miscellaneous material moving

equipment operators, N.E.C. ........ 20.07 13.76 15.45 18.58 24.75 24.75 – –––––

Handlers, equipment cleaners, helpers, and

laborers ..................................................... 12.50 7.03 9.00 12.59 15.62 18.21 7.94 5.78 6.49 7.50 8.75 10.50

Groundskeepers and gardeners

except farm ................................... 13.26 8.00 9.10 14.28 16.92 18.08 – –––––

Construction laborers ......................... 16.34 15.16 15.40 15.97 15.97 21.84 – –––––

Production helpers .............................. 11.37 7.16 8.92 9.85 12.32 15.82 – –––––

Stock handlers and baggers ............... 10.95 5.85 7.37 11.41 15.17 15.17 – –––––

Freight, stock, and material handlers,

N.E.C. ........................................... 14.26 7.50 12.28 14.14 18.17 18.55 9.13 6.50 8.00 8.75 9.85 11.75

Vehicle washers and equipment

cleaners ........................................ 8.82 6.47 7.80 8.35 9.00 10.89 – –––––

Hand packers and packagers ............. 10.38 9.00 9.00 10.38 11.11 13.12 – –––––

Laborers except construction, N.E.C. 11.28 6.50 7.75 11.11 13.38 15.96 7.48 5.67 5.67 6.49 7.30 12.05

Service occupations ......................................... 11.20 5.98 7.13 9.11 12.27 20.46 7.51 5.15 5.84 6.75 8.89 10.35

Protective service occupations ............... 14.62 5.71 6.50 14.80 21.61 24.97 8.65 5.84 6.50 7.79 10.23 11.48

Supervisors, police and detectives ..... 29.47 27.86 27.86 28.52 29.94 31.96 – –––––

Firefighting occupations ...................... 21.69 18.38 20.56 22.42 23.40 23.81 – –––––

Police and detectives, public service .. 22.95 18.25 19.92 23.42 25.81 27.78 – –––––

See footnotes at end of table.

12
Table A-3. Hourly earnings1 for selected occupations, full-time and part-time workers2, all industries, Seattle-Tacoma-Bremerton,

WA, February 1999 — Continued

Occupation3

All industries

Full-time Part-time

Mean

Percentiles

Mean

Percentiles

10 25 Median

50 75 90 10 25 Median50 75 90

Service occupations (-Continued)

Protective service occupations 

(-Continued)

Guards and police except public

service .......................................... $8.14 $5.71 $5.71 $6.50 $7.70 $13.95 $7.79 $5.84 $6.50 $6.50 $7.01 $11.47

Food service occupations ....................... 8.70 5.70 6.50 8.32 10.31 12.00 6.75 5.15 5.69 6.50 7.37 8.79

Supervisors, food preparation and

service occupations ...................... 12.06 8.82 10.00 11.54 12.50 17.30 – –––––

Waiters and waitresses ...................... 6.07 5.15 5.15 5.70 6.26 9.00 5.57 4.93 5.15 5.31 5.70 5.90

Cooks ................................................. 9.96 7.50 8.25 10.31 11.59 12.00 8.36 5.80 6.06 6.97 10.05 12.99

Kitchen workers, food preparation ...... 7.46 6.50 6.98 7.35 8.00 8.43 7.22 6.50 6.50 6.86 7.77 8.51

Waiters’/Waitresses’ assistants .......... – – – – – – 6.00 5.69 5.69 5.69 6.32 6.50

Food preparation occupations, N.E.C. 8.04 6.45 6.69 8.00 8.52 10.51 7.69 6.07 6.30 7.10 8.88 10.48

Health service occupations ..................... 9.59 6.75 8.19 9.24 10.75 12.33 9.75 8.70 9.19 9.55 10.54 11.32

Health aides, except nursing .............. 10.83 8.50 10.06 11.19 12.00 12.33 – –––––

Nursing aides, orderlies and

attendants ..................................... 9.40 6.75 8.09 9.19 10.60 12.07 9.75 7.86 9.00 9.53 10.54 11.32

Cleaning and building service

occupations ...................................... 9.70 6.95 8.24 9.25 11.84 12.75 9.34 6.75 8.30 9.36 10.35 11.64

Supervisors, cleaning and building

service workers ............................. 13.93 11.56 12.24 12.75 17.64 17.64 – –––––

Maids and housemen ......................... 7.57 6.65 6.86 7.11 8.00 9.64 – –––––

Janitors and cleaners ......................... 9.54 7.13 8.33 9.04 11.27 12.27 9.10 6.50 7.14 8.82 10.35 11.64

Personal service occupations ................. 12.51 5.15 6.52 9.00 15.12 30.07 7.58 5.15 5.74 6.66 8.54 10.47

Attendants, amusement and

recreation facilities ........................ – – – – – – 7.26 5.70 6.17 7.33 8.33 8.38

Child care workers, N.E.C. ................. – – – – – – 8.31 5.51 6.49 9.19 9.84 9.95

Service occupations, N.E.C. ............... – – – – – – 8.82 6.12 6.12 6.12 11.25 12.93

1 Earnings are the straight-time hourly wages or salaries paid to employees. They

include incentive pay, cost-of-living adjustments, and hazard pay. Excluded are premium

pay for overtime, vacations, holidays, nonproduction bonuses, and tips. The mean is

computed by totaling the pay of all workers and dividing by the number of workers,

weighted by hours. The 10th, 25th, 50th, 75th and 90th percentiles designate position in

the earnings distribution. At the 50th percentile, the median, half of the workers receive

the same as or more than the rate shown, and half receive the same as or less than the

rate shown. At the 25th percentile, one-fourth of the workers earn the same as or less

than the rate shown. At the 75th percentile, one-fourth earn the same as or more than

the rate shown. The 10th and 90th percentiles follow the same logic. 2 Employees are classified as working either a full-time or a part-time schedule based

on the definition used by each establishment. Therefore, a worker with a

35-hour-per-week schedule might be considered a full-time employee in one

establishment, but classified as part-time in another firm, where a 40-hour week is the

minimum full-time schedule. 3 A classification system including about 480 individual occupations is used to cover

all workers in the civilian economy. Individual occupations are classified into one of nine

major occupational groups. 

NOTE: Dashes indicate that no data were reported or that data did not meet publication

criteria. Overall occupational groups and occupational levels may include data for

categories not shown separately. N.E.C. means "not elsewhere classified." 

NOTE: Individual and average wage rates were collected in this update survey. A

procedure was put into place to "move" the positional statistics where averages were

collected. This procedure compares current locality survey data–at the quote level–with

the same quote from the prior survey. Individual rates from the prior survey are moved by

the average change in mean wages for the occupation.

13
Table A-4. Weekly and annual earnings1 and hours for selected occupations, full-time workers only2, all industries,

Seattle-Tacoma-Bremerton, WA, February 1999

Occupation3

All industries

Mean

weekly

hours4

Weekly earnings Mean

annual

hours

Annual earnings

Mean Median Mean Median

All occupations ....................................................................... 39.7 $746 $644 2,022 $37,976 $33,280

All occupations excluding sales ............................................ 39.7 753 656 2,019 38,246 33,570

White-collar occupations ................................................... 39.7 874 744 1,995 43,933 37,648

White-collar occupations excluding sales ......................... 39.7 901 768 1,986 45,083 38,709

Professional specialty and technical occupations ............ 39.5 1,055 913 1,899 50,724 43,601

Professional specialty occupations ............................... 39.5 1,119 968 1,867 52,829 45,469

Engineers, architects, and surveyors ....................... ––––––

Electrical and electronic engineers ....................... 40.0 1,285 1,280 2,080 66,840 66,555

Mathematical and computer scientists ..................... 39.9 1,030 1,001 2,076 53,562 52,042

Computer systems analysts and scientists ........... 39.9 1,051 1,001 2,075 54,651 52,042

Operations and systems researchers and

analysts .......................................................... 40.0 899 868 2,080 46,739 45,142

Natural scientists ...................................................... 40.0 1,036 929 2,080 53,896 48,298

Medical scientists ................................................. 40.0 1,192 1,199 2,080 61,972 62,358

Health related occupations ....................................... 40.0 956 892 2,039 48,803 45,004

Registered nurses ................................................ 39.8 931 941 2,020 47,240 47,882

Teachers, college and university .............................. 39.7 1,353 1,300 1,674 57,027 51,438

Teachers, except college and university .................. 38.3 985 1,030 1,455 37,394 38,718

Prekindergarten and kindergarten ........................ 39.7 498 370 1,923 24,089 19,310

Elementary school teachers ................................. 38.0 1,066 1,083 1,400 39,256 40,326

Secondary school teachers .................................. 38.0 1,061 1,123 1,404 39,187 41,614

Teachers, special education ................................. 37.7 1,037 1,052 1,411 38,762 38,228

Teachers, N.E.C. .................................................. 39.8 1,013 1,057 1,408 35,863 38,938

Vocational and educational counselors ................ 39.0 982 1,144 1,538 38,727 41,842

Librarians, archivists, and curators ........................... ––––––

Social scientists and urban planners ........................ 39.0 742 732 1,955 37,156 37,546

Psychologists ........................................................ 38.6 645 600 1,903 31,777 31,200

Social, recreation, and religious workers .................. 39.9 709 730 2,051 36,405 37,956

Social workers ...................................................... 39.9 701 730 2,050 35,971 37,956

Lawyers and judges .................................................. 38.3 1,350 1,305 1,994 70,195 67,855

Lawyers ................................................................ 38.3 1,318 1,267 1,989 68,522 65,871

Writers, authors, entertainers, athletes, and

professionals, N.E.C. .......................................... ––––––

Designers ............................................................. 40.0 796 739 2,080 41,404 38,444

Editors and reporters ............................................ 38.9 720 642 1,892 35,050 31,304

Technical occupations .................................................. 39.2 794 682 2,041 41,285 35,485

Clinical laboratory technologists and technicians 40.0 677 756 2,080 35,198 39,327

Licensed practical nurses ..................................... 40.0 614 620 2,080 31,902 32,253

Health technologists and technicians, N.E.C. ....... 40.0 578 569 2,080 30,070 29,598

Electrical and electronic technicians ..................... 40.0 805 770 2,080 41,884 40,022

Engineering technicians, N.E.C. ........................... 40.0 738 658 2,080 38,360 34,195

Drafters ................................................................. 40.0 676 644 2,080 35,162 33,488

Legal assistants .................................................... 38.7 739 740 2,012 38,417 38,487

Technical and related occupations, N.E.C. .......... 39.4 676 678 2,048 35,151 35,277

Executive, administrative, and managerial occupations ... 40.1 1,159 1,084 2,080 60,155 56,555

Executives, administrators, and managers ............... 40.1 1,308 1,277 2,081 67,844 65,998

Financial managers .............................................. 39.6 1,106 1,022 2,061 57,493 53,165

Personnel and labor relations managers .............. 39.1 1,435 1,412 2,033 74,624 73,445

Purchasing managers ........................................... 40.0 1,406 1,322 2,080 73,113 68,744

Managers, marketing, advertising and public

relations .......................................................... 40.9 1,685 1,442 2,126 87,598 75,005

Administrators, education and related fields ......... 39.9 1,295 1,358 1,995 64,754 70,595

Managers, medicine and health ........................... 40.0 1,010 826 2,080 52,519 42,952

Managers, service organizations, N.E.C. ............. 41.1 900 753 2,135 46,816 39,169

Managers and administrators, N.E.C. .................. 40.1 1,388 1,325 2,087 72,171 68,910

Management related occupations ............................ 40.0 901 842 2,078 46,767 43,784

Accountants and auditors ..................................... 40.0 855 782 2,080 44,485 40,643

Other financial officers .......................................... 40.0 980 810 2,080 50,977 42,099

Management analysts .......................................... 40.0 922 852 2,080 47,954 44,304

Personnel, training, and labor relations

specialists ....................................................... 40.0 1,142 1,223 2,080 59,359 63,606

Purchasing agents and buyers, N.E.C. ................ 40.0 834 818 2,044 42,598 42,079

Management related occupations, N.E.C. ............ 40.2 880 749 2,091 45,781 38,958

Sales occupations ............................................................ 40.0 646 547 2,075 33,563 28,454

Supervisors, sales occupations ............................ 41.4 758 675 2,151 39,403 35,076

See footnotes at end of table.

14
Table A-4. Weekly and annual earnings1 and hours for selected occupations, full-time workers only2, all industries,

Seattle-Tacoma-Bremerton, WA, February 1999 — Continued

Occupation3

All industries

Mean

weekly

hours4

Weekly earnings Mean

annual

hours

Annual earnings

Mean Median Mean Median

White-collar occupations (-Continued)

Sales occupations (-Continued)

Sales occupations, other business services ......... 40.7 $719 $763 2,116 $37,364 $39,689

Sales representatives, mining, manufacturing,

and wholesale ................................................. 40.8 1,054 586 2,120 54,812 30,472

Sales workers, motor vehicles and boats ............. 41.3 900 841 2,149 46,803 43,739

Sales workers, parts ............................................. 40.4 619 588 2,101 32,179 30,584

Sales workers, other commodities ........................ 37.8 389 351 1,965 20,227 18,244

Cashiers ............................................................... 40.0 416 360 2,059 21,441 18,699

Sales support occupations, N.E.C. ....................... 40.0 533 541 2,080 27,702 28,143

Administrative support occupations, including clerical ..... 39.7 536 520 2,053 27,725 26,958

Supervisors, general office ................................... 39.5 668 602 2,054 34,747 31,304

Supervisors, distribution, scheduling, and

adjusting clerks ............................................... 39.7 657 600 2,066 34,141 31,200

Secretaries ........................................................... 39.5 571 557 2,014 29,100 28,850

Transportation ticket and reservation agents ....... 40.0 530 523 2,080 27,546 27,199

Receptionists ........................................................ 39.7 410 396 2,065 21,333 20,592

Information clerks, N.E.C. ..................................... 40.0 444 418 2,080 23,070 21,713

Order clerks .......................................................... 40.0 542 508 2,080 28,161 26,403

File clerks ............................................................. 39.5 378 376 2,053 19,665 19,558

Records clerks, N.E.C. ......................................... 39.4 509 506 2,048 26,443 26,334

Bookkeepers, accounting and auditing clerks ...... 39.6 516 508 2,052 26,775 26,083

Billing clerks .......................................................... 40.0 594 600 2,080 30,899 31,200

Production coordinators ........................................ 40.0 808 704 2,080 42,008 36,604

Traffic, shipping and receiving clerks ................... 39.5 507 456 2,053 26,341 23,731

Stock and inventory clerks .................................... 40.0 646 635 2,080 33,612 33,010

Material recording, scheduling, and distribution

clerks, N.E.C. .................................................. 40.0 594 612 2,080 30,904 31,807

Insurance adjusters, examiners, and

investigators ................................................... 39.5 518 518 2,055 26,961 26,958

Investigators and adjusters except insurance ...... 40.0 500 466 2,080 25,998 24,211

General office clerks ............................................. 39.7 528 529 2,064 27,467 27,498

Data entry keyers ................................................. 38.9 435 442 2,024 22,601 23,005

Administrative support occupations, N.E.C. ......... 39.7 510 499 2,048 26,296 25,958

Blue-collar occupations ..................................................... 40.0 652 638 2,073 33,822 32,989

Precision production, craft, and repair occupations .......... 39.9 777 754 2,072 40,338 39,232

Supervisors, mechanics and repairers ................. 41.5 917 938 2,157 47,703 48,769

Automobile mechanics ......................................... 40.0 795 722 2,080 41,345 37,567

Bus, truck, and stationary engine mechanics ....... 40.0 846 817 2,080 43,991 42,493

Industrial machinery repairers .............................. 40.0 701 703 2,080 36,466 36,566

Mechanics and repairers, N.E.C. .......................... 40.0 657 694 2,022 33,218 36,028

Carpenters ............................................................ 39.4 837 850 2,050 43,521 44,221

Electricians ........................................................... 40.0 1,038 1,080 2,080 53,963 56,160

Construction trades, N.E.C. .................................. 40.0 700 674 2,080 36,394 35,064

Supervisors, production occupations .................... 40.0 749 731 2,080 38,961 38,002

Machinists ............................................................. 40.0 807 743 2,080 41,940 38,632

Stationary engineers ............................................. 40.0 695 700 2,080 36,127 36,379

Machine operators, assemblers, and inspectors .............. 39.9 536 498 2,076 27,885 25,886

Numerical control machine operators ................... 40.0 735 826 2,080 38,216 42,968

Molding and casting machine operators ............... 38.6 424 381 2,006 22,033 19,800

Printing press operators ....................................... 40.0 587 558 2,080 30,525 28,995

Miscellaneous machine operators, N.E.C. ........... 40.0 481 475 2,080 25,022 24,725

Welders and cutters .............................................. 40.0 650 680 2,080 33,784 35,360

Assemblers ........................................................... 40.0 520 491 2,080 27,041 25,536

Production inspectors, checkers and examiners .. 40.0 788 912 2,080 40,997 47,407

Transportation and material moving occupations ............. 40.4 673 675 2,092 34,798 35,100

Truck drivers ......................................................... 41.1 640 660 2,134 33,184 34,308

Bus drivers ............................................................ 39.3 621 643 1,955 30,882 33,421

Motor transportation occupations, N.E.C. ............. 40.0 430 324 2,080 22,334 16,848

Industrial truck and tractor equipment operators .. 40.0 605 489 2,080 31,449 25,431

Miscellaneous material moving equipment

operators, N.E.C. ............................................ 40.0 803 743 2,080 41,740 38,649

Handlers, equipment cleaners, helpers, and laborers ...... 39.6 495 504 2,044 25,549 26,155

Groundskeepers and gardeners except farm ....... 40.0 531 571 1,990 26,394 29,702

Construction laborers ........................................... 39.8 650 639 1,980 32,351 32,032

See footnotes at end of table.

15
Table A-4. Weekly and annual earnings1 and hours for selected occupations, full-time workers only2, all industries,

Seattle-Tacoma-Bremerton, WA, February 1999 — Continued

Occupation3

All industries

Mean

weekly

hours4

Weekly earnings Mean

annual

hours

Annual earnings

Mean Median Mean Median

Blue-collar occupations (-Continued)

Handlers, equipment cleaners, helpers, and laborers 

(-Continued)

Production helpers ................................................ 40.0 $455 $394 2,080 $23,656 $20,496

Stock handlers and baggers ................................. 37.3 408 396 1,939 21,227 20,592

Freight, stock, and material handlers, N.E.C. ....... 39.8 568 548 2,071 29,546 28,492

Vehicle washers and equipment cleaners ............ 40.0 353 334 2,080 18,350 17,368

Hand packers and packagers ............................... 40.0 415 415 2,080 21,594 21,590

Laborers except construction, N.E.C. ................... 39.9 450 441 2,072 23,385 22,948

Service occupations ........................................................... 39.5 443 362 2,037 22,820 18,720

Protective service occupations ................................. 40.6 593 558 2,104 30,770 29,016

Supervisors, police and detectives ....................... 40.0 1,179 1,141 2,080 61,302 59,322

Firefighting occupations ........................................ 46.3 1,005 1,040 2,409 52,257 54,063

Police and detectives, public service .................... 40.0 918 937 2,080 47,732 48,714

Guards and police except public service .............. 39.9 325 260 2,067 16,826 13,520

Food service occupations ......................................... 39.3 342 320 2,034 17,709 16,640

Supervisors, food preparation and service

occupations .................................................... 42.1 507 500 2,188 26,385 26,000

Waiters and waitresses ........................................ 37.7 229 208 1,961 11,910 10,804

Cooks ................................................................... 39.4 392 396 2,029 20,199 20,218

Kitchen workers, food preparation ........................ 40.0 298 294 2,080 15,514 15,288

Food preparation occupations, N.E.C. ................. 38.5 309 320 2,001 16,084 16,640

Health service occupations ....................................... 39.4 378 370 2,051 19,675 19,214

Health aides, except nursing ................................ 40.0 433 448 2,080 22,519 23,284

Nursing aides, orderlies and attendants ............... 39.3 370 368 2,045 19,222 19,114

Cleaning and building service occupations .............. 40.0 388 366 2,060 19,991 18,418

Supervisors, cleaning and building service

workers ........................................................... 40.0 557 510 2,080 28,967 26,516

Maids and housemen ........................................... 40.0 303 284 2,080 15,752 14,780

Janitors and cleaners ........................................... 40.0 381 357 2,057 19,620 18,037

Personal service occupations ................................... 36.3 454 367 1,821 22,780 18,720

1 Earnings are the straight-time wages or salaries paid to employees. They

include incentive pay, cost-of-living adjustments, and hazard pay. Excluded are

premium pay for overtime, vacations, holidays, nonproduction bonuses, and tips. 

The mean is computed by totaling the pay of all workers and dividing by the

number of workers, weighted by hours. The median designates

position--one-half of the workers receive the same as or more, and one-half

receive the same as or less than the rate shown. 2 Employees are classified as working either a full-time or a part-time

schedule based on the definition used by each establishment. Therefore, a

worker with a 35-hour-per-week schedule might be considered a full-time

employee in one establishment, but classified as part-time in another firm, where

a 40-hour week is the minimum full-time schedule. 3 A classification system including about 480 individual occupations is used

to cover all workers in the civilian economy. Individual occupations are classified

into one of nine major occupational groups. 

4 Mean weekly hours are the hours an employee is scheduled to work in a

week, exclusive of overtime.

NOTE: Dashes indicate that no data were reported or that data did not meet

publication criteria. Overall occupational groups and occupational levels may

include data for categories not shown separately. N.E.C. means "not elsewhere

classified." 

NOTE: Individual and average wage rates were collected in this update survey. 

A procedure was put into place to "move" the positional statistics where averages

were collected. This procedure compares current locality survey data–at the

quote level–with the same quote from the prior survey. Individual rates from the

prior survey are moved by the average change in mean wages for the

occupation.

16
Table B-1. Mean hourly earnings1 by occupational group and levels2, all industries, private industry,

State and local government, full-time and part-time workers, Seattle-Tacoma-Bremerton, WA, February

1999

Occupational group3 and level

All workers 4 All industries

All industriesPrivate

industry

State and

local

government

Full-time

workers

Part-time

workers

All occupations ....................................................................... $18.00 $17.13 $21.18 $18.78 $12.00

All occupations excluding sales ............................................ 18.22 17.34 21.18 18.94 12.44

White-collar occupations ................................................... 21.32 20.82 22.73 22.02 15.50

Level 1 .............................................................. 7.36 7.35 – – 6.83

Level 2 .............................................................. 9.93 9.93 10.01 10.44 8.16

Level 3 .............................................................. 10.40 9.97 12.29 10.68 9.66

Level 4 .............................................................. 12.97 12.97 12.93 13.16 11.35

Level 5 .............................................................. 14.70 14.83 14.26 14.82 13.42

Level 6 .............................................................. 15.86 15.83 16.18 15.84 16.13

Level 7 .............................................................. 18.47 18.54 18.19 18.58 16.69

Level 8 .............................................................. 21.97 21.15 23.83 21.95 22.10

Level 9 .............................................................. 24.56 24.57 24.55 24.75 22.88

Level 10 ............................................................ 27.03 27.39 26.60 26.89 28.19

Level 11 ............................................................ 29.23 30.27 27.58 29.21 30.12

Level 12 ............................................................ 36.91 37.11 35.56 36.53 –

Level 13 ............................................................ 47.41 49.05 – 47.32 –

Level 14 ............................................................ 53.02 60.03 – 54.09 –

Not able to be leveled ....................................... – – – – 14.45

White-collar occupations excluding sales ......................... 22.16 21.91 22.74 22.70 17.19

Level 1 .............................................................. 8.45 8.50 – – –

Level 2 .............................................................. 10.66 10.69 10.01 11.09 8.90

Level 3 .............................................................. 11.02 10.56 12.33 11.20 10.43

Level 4 .............................................................. 12.97 12.98 12.93 13.12 11.85

Level 5 .............................................................. 14.44 14.51 14.26 14.55 13.44

Level 6 .............................................................. 15.97 15.94 16.18 15.97 15.90

Level 7 .............................................................. 18.06 18.03 18.19 18.16 16.69

Level 8 .............................................................. 21.94 21.06 23.83 21.92 22.10

Level 9 .............................................................. 24.34 24.12 24.55 24.50 22.88

Level 10 ............................................................ 26.71 26.82 26.60 26.52 28.19

Level 11 ............................................................ 29.20 30.30 27.58 29.18 30.12

Level 12 ............................................................ 36.91 37.11 35.56 36.53 –

Level 13 ............................................................ 45.99 46.70 – 45.87 –

Level 14 ............................................................ 53.02 60.03 – 54.09 –

Not able to be leveled ....................................... – – – – 14.45

Professional specialty and technical occupations ............ 26.17 26.85 25.10 26.71 21.97

Professional specialty occupations ............................... 27.84 28.87 26.42 28.29 24.12

Level 5 .............................................................. 15.78 15.78 – 16.16 11.03

Level 6 .............................................................. 15.95 16.03 – 16.19 14.12

Level 7 .............................................................. 19.61 19.03 21.93 19.93 15.45

Level 8 .............................................................. 23.42 21.72 25.94 23.66 22.37

Level 9 .............................................................. 24.53 23.90 25.01 24.79 22.82

Level 10 ............................................................ 25.65 25.17 25.96 25.05 29.24

Level 11 ............................................................ 28.18 28.85 27.18 28.07 31.25

Level 12 ............................................................ 36.77 37.74 – 35.68 –

Level 13 ............................................................ 41.97 42.17 – 41.60 –

Level 14 ............................................................ 44.93 – – 45.69 –

Engineers, architects, and surveyors ....................... –––––

Mathematical and computer scientists ..................... 25.80 26.19 23.59 25.80 –

Level 7 .............................................................. 20.14 20.28 – 20.14 –

Level 9 .............................................................. 26.54 27.08 – 26.54 –

Level 11 ............................................................ 26.36 28.42 – 26.36 –

Natural scientists ...................................................... 25.91 29.86 – 25.91 –

Health related occupations ....................................... 24.55 25.04 23.84 23.93 25.84

Level 7 .............................................................. 17.50 ––––

Level 8 .............................................................. 21.67 21.48 – 19.80 23.79

Level 9 .............................................................. 23.23 23.35 23.12 22.61 24.75

Level 10 ............................................................ 23.22 ––––

Level 11 ............................................................ 30.56 ––––

Teachers, college and university .............................. 33.58 24.65 – 34.07 32.17

Level 9 .............................................................. 23.91 ––––

Level 11 ............................................................ 25.77 25.77 – 25.22 –

Teachers, except college and university .................. 25.39 12.63 27.80 25.70 20.75

Level 5 .............................................................. 8.97 8.97 – – –

See footnotes at end of table.

17
Table B-1. Mean hourly earnings1 by occupational group and levels2, all industries, private industry,

State and local government, full-time and part-time workers, Seattle-Tacoma-Bremerton, WA, February

1999 — Continued

Occupational group3 and level

All workers 4 All industries

All industriesPrivate

industry

State and

local

government

Full-time

workers

Part-time

workers

White-collar occupations (-Continued)

Teachers, except college and university 

(-Continued)

Level 6 .............................................................. $13.00 $12.64 – – $13.63

Level 7 .............................................................. 25.62 20.04 – $25.62 –

Level 8 .............................................................. 27.62 15.67 $28.15 28.33 –

Level 9 .............................................................. 27.41 21.78 27.64 27.59 24.65

Librarians, archivists, and curators ........................... 24.23 – 24.23 – –

Social scientists and urban planners ........................ 17.99 – 24.89 19.00 13.38

Level 9 .............................................................. 18.32 16.88 – 20.04 –

Social, religious, and recreation workers .................. 17.86 14.62 19.33 17.75 18.29

Level 8 .............................................................. 17.67 ––––

Level 9 .............................................................. 19.21 ––––

Lawyers and judges .................................................. 35.04 35.49 33.87 35.21 –

Level 12 ............................................................ 40.50 – – 40.50 –

Writers, authors, entertainers, athletes, and

professionals, N.E.C. .......................................... – – 20.19 – –

Level 7 .............................................................. 17.64 – – 17.64 –

Level 8 .............................................................. 21.53 21.53 – 21.53 –

Level 9 .............................................................. 21.15 – – 21.15 –

Technical occupations .................................................. 19.54 20.54 16.71 20.23 15.22

Level 4 .............................................................. 12.85 12.66 – 12.73 13.00

Level 5 .............................................................. 14.92 14.81 15.17 15.17 13.80

Level 6 .............................................................. 16.76 16.99 – 16.73 16.86

Level 7 .............................................................. 17.50 17.86 16.78 17.58 –

Level 8 .............................................................. 21.65 21.97 – 21.67 –

Level 9 .............................................................. 26.53 29.56 – 26.53 –

Executive, administrative, and managerial occupations ... 28.83 29.20 27.75 28.93 21.33

Level 5 .............................................................. 11.22 11.22 – 11.22 –

Level 6 .............................................................. 15.50 15.50 – 15.50 –

Level 7 .............................................................. 17.31 16.96 18.65 17.30 –

Level 8 .............................................................. 18.59 18.70 18.31 18.56 –

Level 9 .............................................................. 23.56 24.03 22.50 23.54 –

Level 10 ............................................................ 30.34 30.26 – 30.34 –

Level 11 ............................................................ 28.04 28.05 28.01 28.07 –

Level 12 ............................................................ 36.63 36.35 38.88 36.63 –

Level 13 ............................................................ 44.68 42.91 – 44.68 –

Level 14 ............................................................ 61.30 61.30 – 61.30 –

Not able to be leveled ....................................... 26.11 ––––

Executives, administrators, and managers ............... 32.57 32.14 34.71 32.61 –

Level 8 .............................................................. 18.83 18.83 – 18.77 –

Level 9 .............................................................. 25.37 25.73 – 25.37 –

Level 10 ............................................................ 31.25 31.25 – 31.25 –

Level 11 ............................................................ 29.86 28.67 33.20 29.86 –

Level 12 ............................................................ 36.95 36.70 38.88 36.95 –

Level 13 ............................................................ 44.68 42.91 – 44.68 –

Level 14 ............................................................ 63.21 63.21 – 63.21 –

Management related occupations ............................ 22.48 22.27 22.80 22.51 21.56

Level 5 .............................................................. 14.14 14.14 – 14.14 –

Level 6 .............................................................. 15.96 15.96 – 15.96 –

Level 7 .............................................................. 17.41 16.97 18.65 17.40 –

Level 8 .............................................................. 18.39 18.47 18.31 18.39 –

Level 9 .............................................................. 21.24 21.23 – 21.15 –

Level 11 ............................................................ 26.10 26.81 – 26.15 –

Sales occupations ............................................................ 14.74 14.75 – 16.18 7.83

Level 1 .............................................................. 7.04 7.04 – – 6.63

Level 2 .............................................................. 6.59 6.59 – – –

Level 3 .............................................................. 8.96 8.94 – 9.22 8.48

Level 4 .............................................................. 12.94 12.94 – 13.32 8.12

Level 5 .............................................................. 16.49 16.49 – 16.59 –

Level 6 .............................................................. 15.30 15.30 – 15.15 –

Level 7 .............................................................. 21.47 21.47 – 21.47 –

Level 9 .............................................................. 47.90 47.90 – 47.90 –

Administrative support occupations, including clerical ..... 13.21 13.16 13.42 13.50 11.18

See footnotes at end of table.

18
Table B-1. Mean hourly earnings1 by occupational group and levels2, all industries, private industry,

State and local government, full-time and part-time workers, Seattle-Tacoma-Bremerton, WA, February

1999 — Continued

Occupational group3 and level

All workers 4 All industries

All industriesPrivate

industry

State and

local

government

Full-time

workers

Part-time

workers

White-collar occupations (-Continued)

Administrative support occupations, including clerical 

(-Continued)

Level 1 .............................................................. $8.45 $8.50 – – –

Level 2 .............................................................. 10.66 10.69 $10.01 $11.09 $8.90

Level 3 .............................................................. 11.03 10.56 12.35 11.22 10.43

Level 4 .............................................................. 13.09 13.14 12.89 13.26 11.64

Level 5 .............................................................. 14.01 14.06 13.93 14.02 13.94

Level 6 .............................................................. 15.76 15.72 – 15.77 –

Level 7 .............................................................. 17.63 17.82 16.62 17.63 –

Blue-collar occupations ......................................................... 16.00 15.73 18.14 16.32 10.11

Level 1 .............................................................. 8.46 8.46 – 8.78 6.89

Level 2 .............................................................. 9.83 9.80 – 10.05 7.83

Level 3 .............................................................. 13.23 12.92 14.78 13.44 11.16

Level 4 .............................................................. 14.49 14.17 16.33 14.65 12.48

Level 5 .............................................................. 15.53 15.29 16.95 15.57 14.43

Level 6 .............................................................. 18.65 18.52 19.33 18.65 –

Level 7 .............................................................. 21.06 20.94 21.98 21.06 –

Level 8 .............................................................. 24.29 24.29 – 24.29 –

Level 9 .............................................................. 23.53 23.41 – 23.53 –

Precision production, craft, and repair occupations .......... 19.46 19.30 20.75 19.46 –

Level 5 .............................................................. 14.98 14.18 – 14.98 –

Level 6 .............................................................. 19.32 19.41 18.69 19.32 –

Level 7 .............................................................. 21.06 20.86 22.26 21.06 –

Level 8 .............................................................. 23.99 23.99 – 23.99 –

Level 9 .............................................................. 22.25 22.25 – 22.25 –

Machine operators, assemblers, and inspectors .............. 13.44 13.44 – 13.43 –

Level 1 .............................................................. 9.15 9.15 – 9.15 –

Level 2 .............................................................. 9.65 9.65 – 9.65 –

Level 3 .............................................................. 11.48 11.48 – 11.37 –

Level 4 .............................................................. 13.29 13.29 – 13.29 –

Level 5 .............................................................. 13.67 13.67 – 13.62 –

Level 6 .............................................................. 15.42 15.42 – 15.42 –

Level 7 .............................................................. 20.51 20.51 – 20.51 –

Transportation and material moving occupations ............. 16.00 15.66 17.40 16.63 11.33

Level 2 .............................................................. 8.67 8.67 – 9.16 –

Level 3 .............................................................. 14.80 15.06 12.98 15.27 11.68

Level 4 .............................................................. 13.79 12.60 16.25 14.13 12.68

Level 5 .............................................................. 17.11 17.20 16.81 17.36 14.07

Level 6 .............................................................. 19.67 19.51 – 19.67 –

Level 7 .............................................................. 22.52 22.68 – 22.52 –

Handlers, equipment cleaners, helpers, and laborers ..... 11.97 11.50 14.96 12.50 7.94

Level 1 .............................................................. 7.94 7.94 – 8.35 6.89

Level 2 .............................................................. 9.13 8.98 – 9.23 8.43

Level 3 .............................................................. 13.02 12.09 14.65 13.56 9.61

Level 4 .............................................................. 14.81 14.37 – 14.92 –

Level 5 .............................................................. 14.56 14.41 – 14.56 –

Service occupations ........................................................... 10.34 8.71 17.04 11.20 7.51

Level 1 .............................................................. 7.84 7.54 11.87 8.40 6.78

Level 2 .............................................................. 7.46 7.29 11.33 7.60 7.02

Level 3 .............................................................. 8.67 8.18 11.18 9.37 7.42

Level 4 .............................................................. 9.97 9.71 12.26 10.19 8.52

Level 5 .............................................................. 14.41 14.13 14.84 15.23 10.54

Level 6 .............................................................. 16.55 12.89 21.23 16.53 –

Level 7 .............................................................. 21.90 – 22.10 21.90 –

Level 9 .............................................................. 26.77 – – 26.77 –

Protective service occupations ............................... 14.04 8.08 21.03 14.62 8.65

Level 3 .............................................................. 9.16 8.84 – – –

Level 5 .............................................................. 14.90 – 15.01 16.26 –

Level 6 .............................................................. 21.20 – – 21.20 –

Level 7 .............................................................. 22.50 – 22.50 22.50 –

Level 9 .............................................................. 27.53 – – 27.53 –

See footnotes at end of table.

19
Table B-1. Mean hourly earnings1 by occupational group and levels2, all industries, private industry,

State and local government, full-time and part-time workers, Seattle-Tacoma-Bremerton, WA, February

1999 — Continued

Occupational group3 and level

All workers 4 All industries

All industriesPrivate

industry

State and

local

government

Full-time

workers

Part-time

workers

Service occupations (-Continued)

Food service occupations ........................................ $7.75 $7.57 $10.66 $8.70 $6.75

Level 1 .............................................................. 6.80 6.80 – 6.81 6.80

Level 2 .............................................................. 7.09 6.99 – 7.09 7.10

Level 3 .............................................................. 6.80 6.49 9.47 7.51 6.31

Level 4 .............................................................. 9.02 8.89 – 10.11 6.74

Level 5 .............................................................. 10.36 10.07 – 10.62 –

Health service occupations ..................................... 9.62 9.23 12.53 9.59 9.75

Level 2 .............................................................. 8.38 8.13 – 8.32 –

Level 3 .............................................................. 9.43 9.39 – 9.34 9.75

Level 4 .............................................................. 10.50 10.12 11.87 10.50 10.53

Cleaning and building service occupations ............ 9.68 9.09 12.12 9.70 9.34

Level 1 .............................................................. 8.85 8.38 11.93 8.85 8.75

Level 2 .............................................................. 8.61 8.33 11.73 8.60 8.80

Level 3 .............................................................. 10.80 9.84 12.11 10.99 –

Level 4 .............................................................. 11.39 10.72 – 11.38 –

Personal service occupations ................................. 11.09 11.12 10.69 12.51 7.58

Level 1 .............................................................. 5.85 5.83 – – 5.86

Level 2 .............................................................. 6.03 6.03 – 6.04 –

Level 3 .............................................................. 8.85 8.61 – – 8.48

Level 4 .............................................................. 14.14 14.44 – 14.54 –

Level 5 .............................................................. 19.62 19.62 – – –

1 Earnings are the straight-time hourly wages or salaries paid to

employees. They include incentive pay, cost-of-living adjustments,

and hazard pay. Excluded are premium pay for overtime, vacations,

holidays, nonproduction bonuses, and tips. The mean is computed

by totaling the pay of all workers and dividing by the number of

workers, weighted by hours. 2 Each occupation for which wage data are collected in an

establishment is evaluated based on 10 factors, including knowledge,

complexity, work environment, etc. Points are assigned based on the

occupation’s ranking within each factor. The points are summed to

determine the overall level of the occupation. See technical note for

more information. 3 A classification system including about 480 individual

occupations is used to cover all workers in the civilian economy.

Individual occupations are classified into one of nine major

occupational groups. 4 All workers include full-time and part-time workers. Employees

are classified as working either a full-time or a part-time schedule

based on the definition used by each establishment. Therefore, a

worker with a 35-hour-per-week schedule might be considered a

full-time employee in one establishment, but classified as part-time in

another firm, where a 40-hour week is the minimum full-time

schedule.

NOTE: Dashes indicate that no data were reported or that data did

not meet publication criteria. Overall occupational groups and

occupational levels may include data for categories not shown

separately. N.E.C. means not elsewhere classified. IN THIS SURVEY, THE NONRESPONSE RATE FOR PRIVATE INDUSTRY EXCEEDED REGULAR SURVEY STANDARDS FOR PUBLICATION. 

ACCORDINGLY, USERS SHOULD INTERPRET THESE RESULTS

WITH THIS LIMITATION IN MIND. 

NOTE: Individual and average wage rates were collected in this

update survey. A procedure was put into place to "move" the

positional statistics where averages were collected. This procedure

compares current locality survey data–at the quote level–with the

same quote from the prior survey. Individual rates from the prior

survey are moved by the average change in mean wages for the

occupation.

20
Table B-2. Mean hourly earnings1 for selected occupations and levels2, all industries, private

industry, State and local government, full-time and part-time workers, Seattle-Tacoma-Bremerton, WA,

February 1999

Occupation3 and level

All workers4 All industries

All industriesPrivate

industry

State and

local

government

Full-time

workers

Part-time

workers

White-collar occupations:

Professional specialty and technical occupations:

Professional specialty occupations:

Electrical and electronic engineers ....................... $32.13 $32.13 – $32.13 –

Computer systems analysts and scientists ........... 26.33 26.91 $23.59 26.33 –

Level 7 .............................................................. 20.43 20.63 – 20.43 –

Level 9 .............................................................. 26.93 – – 26.93 –

Level 11 ............................................................ 26.36 28.42 – 26.36 –

Operations and systems researchers and

analysts .......................................................... 22.47 22.47 – 22.47 –

Medical scientists ................................................. 29.79 29.79 – 29.79 –

Physicians ............................................................ 46.95 ––––

Registered nurses ................................................ 24.06 23.92 24.35 23.39 $25.07

Level 8 .............................................................. 23.22 23.22 – 22.52 23.85

Level 9 .............................................................. 24.37 24.36 24.40 23.83 25.27

Therapists, N.E.C. ................................................ 14.11 ––––

Prekindergarten and kindergarten ........................ 12.78 9.38 – 12.53 –

Elementary school teachers ................................. 28.08 20.19 28.29 28.03 –

Level 7 .............................................................. 25.93 – – 25.93 –

Level 8 .............................................................. 27.23 – 28.11 27.23 –

Level 9 .............................................................. 28.34 – 28.31 28.28 –

Secondary school teachers .................................. 27.85 21.29 28.25 27.92 26.37

Level 8 .............................................................. 28.99 – 29.61 28.99 –

Level 9 .............................................................. 27.76 – 27.73 27.83 –

Teachers, special education ................................. 27.46 – 27.46 27.46 –

Level 9 .............................................................. 26.48 – 26.48 26.48 –

Teachers, N.E.C. .................................................. 24.75 18.62 – 25.46 –

Level 9 .............................................................. 25.89 ––––

Substitute teachers ............................................... 13.34 – – – 12.90

Vocational and educational counselors ................ 22.07 – – 25.18 –

Psychologists ........................................................ 15.89 – – 16.70 13.38

Social workers ...................................................... 17.69 14.62 19.14 17.55 18.29

Lawyers ................................................................ 34.28 35.49 30.43 34.45 –

Level 12 ............................................................ 40.50 – – 40.50 –

Designers ............................................................. 19.91 19.91 – 19.91 –

Editors and reporters ............................................ 18.50 19.98 – 18.53 –

Technical occupations:

Clinical laboratory technologists and technicians 16.85 – 19.11 16.92 –

Health record technologists and technicians ........ 13.72 ––––

Radiological technicians ....................................... 16.93 ––––

Licensed practical nurses ..................................... 14.88 14.63 15.54 15.34 14.20

Level 5 .............................................................. 14.72 14.51 – 15.25 13.77

Health technologists and technicians, N.E.C. ....... 14.70 14.23 – 14.46 –

Electrical and electronic technicians ..................... 19.31 19.31 – 20.14 –

Level 7 .............................................................. 17.04 17.04 – – –

Engineering technicians, N.E.C. ........................... 18.44 – – 18.44 –

Drafters ................................................................. 17.23 17.23 – 16.90 –

Legal assistants .................................................... 19.09 19.68 – 19.09 –

Technical and related occupations, N.E.C. .......... 17.16 16.78 – 17.16 –

Executive, administrative, and managerial occupations:

Financial managers .............................................. 27.59 27.59 – 27.90 –

Personnel and labor relations managers .............. 36.70 34.80 – 36.70 –

Purchasing managers ........................................... 35.15 – – 35.15 –

Managers, marketing, advertising and public

relations .......................................................... 41.21 41.21 – 41.21 –

Administrators, education and related fields ......... 32.46 18.16 35.84 32.46 –

Level 11 ............................................................ 33.88 – 34.76 33.88 –

Level 12 ............................................................ 37.08 – 37.31 37.08 –

Managers, medicine and health ........................... 25.25 25.25 – 25.25 –

Managers, service organizations, N.E.C. ............. 21.93 21.93 – 21.93 –

Managers and administrators, N.E.C. .................. 34.59 34.55 – 34.59 –

Level 8 .............................................................. 21.09 21.09 – 21.09 –

Level 9 .............................................................. 27.18 27.16 – 27.18 –

Level 10 ............................................................ 32.59 32.59 – 32.59 –

Level 11 ............................................................ 30.20 30.22 – 30.20 –

See footnotes at end of table.

21
Table B-2. Mean hourly earnings1 for selected occupations and levels2, all industries, private

industry, State and local government, full-time and part-time workers, Seattle-Tacoma-Bremerton, WA,

February 1999 — Continued

Occupation3 and level

All workers4 All industries

All industriesPrivate

industry

State and

local

government

Full-time

workers

Part-time

workers

White-collar occupations: (-Continued)

Executive, administrative, and managerial occupations: 

(-Continued)

Managers and administrators, N.E.C. 

(-Continued)

Level 12 ............................................................ $37.30 $37.19 – $37.30 –

Accountants and auditors ..................................... 21.48 21.57 – 21.39 –

Level 9 .............................................................. 21.34 – – 21.12 –

Other financial officers .......................................... 24.51 25.50 – 24.51 –

Management analysts .......................................... 23.05 19.90 – 23.05 –

Personnel, training, and labor relations

specialists ....................................................... 27.20 – – 28.54 –

Purchasing agents and buyers, N.E.C. ................ 20.84 – – 20.84 –

Management related occupations, N.E.C. ............ 21.86 21.17 $23.11 21.89 –

Level 7 .............................................................. 15.61 14.56 – 15.27 –

Level 8 .............................................................. 16.94 – – 16.94 –

Sales occupations:

Supervisors, sales occupations ............................ 18.32 18.32 – 18.32 –

Sales occupations, other business services ......... 16.46 16.46 – 17.65 –

Sales representatives, mining, manufacturing,

and wholesale ................................................. 25.85 25.85 – 25.85 –

Sales workers, motor vehicles and boats ............. 21.78 21.78 – 21.78 –

Level 7 .............................................................. 21.97 21.97 – 21.97 –

Sales workers, parts ............................................. 15.31 15.31 – 15.31 –

Sales workers, other commodities ........................ 9.46 9.46 – 10.30 $7.06

Level 3 .............................................................. 8.85 8.85 – 8.97 –

Level 4 .............................................................. 8.75 8.75 – – –

Cashiers ............................................................... 9.31 9.30 – 10.41 7.41

Level 2 .............................................................. 6.45 6.45 – – –

Level 3 .............................................................. 8.22 8.11 – – 8.02

Sales support occupations, N.E.C. ....................... – – – 13.32 –

Administrative support occupations, including clerical:

Supervisors, general office ................................... 16.89 16.11 – 16.92 –

Supervisors, distribution, scheduling, and

adjusting clerks ............................................... 16.53 16.53 – 16.53 –

Secretaries ........................................................... 14.10 14.39 13.30 14.45 11.68

Level 3 .............................................................. 10.34 ––––

Level 4 .............................................................. 13.12 13.15 13.08 13.27 –

Level 5 .............................................................. 13.22 13.03 13.71 13.19 –

Level 6 .............................................................. 17.23 17.23 – 17.23 –

Level 7 .............................................................. 18.35 18.78 – 18.29 –

Stenographers ...................................................... 13.52 ––––

Typists .................................................................. 13.32 ––––

Transportation ticket and reservation agents ....... 12.98 12.69 – 13.24 12.19

Receptionists ........................................................ 10.10 9.98 – 10.33 9.10

Level 3 .............................................................. 9.92 9.92 – 9.89 –

Level 4 .............................................................. 10.64 – – 10.64 –

Information clerks, N.E.C. ..................................... 11.09 – – 11.09 –

Order clerks .......................................................... 13.45 13.45 – 13.54 –

Level 4 .............................................................. 13.36 13.36 – 13.36 –

Level 5 .............................................................. 14.54 14.54 – 14.54 –

Personnel clerks except payroll and timekeeping 14.61 ––––

Library clerks ........................................................ 11.32 11.64 11.26 – 10.11

File clerks ............................................................. 9.58 9.47 – 9.58 –

Records clerks, N.E.C. ......................................... 12.79 12.75 – 12.91 –

Level 4 .............................................................. 13.29 13.60 – 13.45 –

Bookkeepers, accounting and auditing clerks ...... 13.05 12.80 14.66 13.05 –

Level 3 .............................................................. 10.90 10.90 – 10.89 –

Level 4 .............................................................. 12.63 12.48 13.47 12.63 –

Level 5 .............................................................. 14.83 14.09 – 14.83 –

Billing clerks .......................................................... 14.76 13.71 – 14.86 –

Dispatchers ........................................................... 13.62 ––––

Production coordinators ........................................ 20.20 20.20 – 20.20 –

Traffic, shipping and receiving clerks ................... 12.81 12.81 – 12.83 –

Stock and inventory clerks .................................... 15.99 15.90 – 16.16 –

See footnotes at end of table.

22
Table B-2. Mean hourly earnings1 for selected occupations and levels2, all industries, private

industry, State and local government, full-time and part-time workers, Seattle-Tacoma-Bremerton, WA,

February 1999 — Continued

Occupation3 and level

All workers4 All industries

All industriesPrivate

industry

State and

local

government

Full-time

workers

Part-time

workers

White-collar occupations: (-Continued)

Administrative support occupations, including clerical: 

(-Continued)

Material recording, scheduling, and distribution

clerks, N.E.C. .................................................. $14.45 $14.45 – $14.86 –

Insurance adjusters, examiners, and

investigators ................................................... 13.03 13.03 – 13.12 –

Investigators and adjusters except insurance ...... 12.50 12.50 – 12.50 –

General office clerks ............................................. 13.03 12.77 $13.67 13.31 $11.18

Level 2 .............................................................. 8.98 ––––

Level 3 .............................................................. 11.64 12.32 10.97 13.19 9.40

Level 4 .............................................................. 13.59 13.46 14.42 13.75 –

Level 5 .............................................................. 13.94 12.51 14.59 13.53 –

Data entry keyers ................................................. 10.81 10.81 – 11.17 –

Teachers’ aides .................................................... 11.25 – 11.25 – 11.27

Level 3 .............................................................. 10.93 – 10.93 – 10.83

Level 4 .............................................................. 10.57 – 10.57 – 10.55

Administrative support occupations, N.E.C. ......... 12.66 12.17 13.64 12.84 12.01

Level 4 .............................................................. 12.31 11.32 – 11.67 –

Level 5 .............................................................. 13.72 – – 13.32 –

Blue-collar occupations:

Precision production, craft, and repair occupations:

Supervisors, mechanics and repairers ................. 22.12 21.90 – 22.12 –

Level 9 .............................................................. 22.56 22.56 – 22.56 –

Automobile mechanics ......................................... 19.88 19.88 – 19.88 –

Level 7 .............................................................. 18.79 18.75 – 18.79 –

Bus, truck, and stationary engine mechanics ....... 21.15 21.35 – 21.15 –

Level 7 .............................................................. 21.70 21.96 – 21.70 –

Industrial machinery repairers .............................. 17.53 17.53 – 17.53 –

Level 7 .............................................................. 18.54 18.54 – 18.54 –

Mechanics and repairers, N.E.C. .......................... 16.43 15.83 – 16.43 –

Level 7 .............................................................. 17.11 17.11 – 17.11 –

Carpenters ............................................................ 21.23 21.23 – 21.23 –

Electricians ........................................................... 25.94 26.00 – 25.94 –

Level 7 .............................................................. 26.18 – – 26.18 –

Construction trades, N.E.C. .................................. 17.50 – – 17.50 –

Supervisors, production occupations .................... 18.73 18.73 – 18.73 –

Level 7 .............................................................. 17.33 17.33 – 17.33 –

Machinists ............................................................. 20.16 20.16 – 20.16 –

Level 7 .............................................................. 20.38 20.38 – 20.38 –

Stationary engineers ............................................. 17.37 – – 17.37 –

Machine operators, assemblers, and inspectors:

Numerical control machine operators ................... 18.37 18.37 – 18.37 –

Molding and casting machine operators ............... 10.98 10.98 – 10.98 –

Printing press operators ....................................... 14.68 14.68 – 14.68 –

Miscellaneous machine operators, N.E.C. ........... 12.03 12.03 – 12.03 –

Level 5 .............................................................. 13.51 13.51 – 13.51 –

Welders and cutters .............................................. 16.24 16.24 – 16.24 –

Assemblers ........................................................... 13.00 13.00 – 13.00 –

Level 2 .............................................................. 10.85 10.85 – 10.85 –

Level 4 .............................................................. 14.18 14.18 – 14.18 –

Level 5 .............................................................. 14.93 14.93 – 14.93 –

Production inspectors, checkers and examiners .. 19.71 19.71 – 19.71 –

Transportation and material moving occupations:

Truck drivers ......................................................... 15.46 15.37 – 15.55 13.23

Level 4 .............................................................. 13.16 12.80 – 13.06 –

Level 5 .............................................................. 16.28 16.28 – 16.35 –

Level 6 .............................................................. 18.80 18.79 – 18.80 –

Bus drivers ............................................................ 14.30 – 15.31 15.80 12.80

Level 4 .............................................................. 14.40 – 15.89 – 12.39

Level 5 .............................................................. 15.04 – 15.04 – –

Parking lot attendants ........................................... 7.62 7.54 – – –

Motor transportation occupations, N.E.C. ............. 10.10 10.10 – 10.74 –

Industrial truck and tractor equipment operators .. 15.12 15.12 – 15.12 –

See footnotes at end of table.

23
Table B-2. Mean hourly earnings1 for selected occupations and levels2, all industries, private

industry, State and local government, full-time and part-time workers, Seattle-Tacoma-Bremerton, WA,

February 1999 — Continued

Occupation3 and level

All workers4 All industries

All industriesPrivate

industry

State and

local

government

Full-time

workers

Part-time

workers

Blue-collar occupations: (-Continued)

Transportation and material moving occupations: 

(-Continued)

Industrial truck and tractor equipment operators 

(-Continued)

Level 5 .............................................................. $18.29 $18.29 – $18.29 –

Miscellaneous material moving equipment

operators, N.E.C. ............................................ 19.91 20.68 $17.62 20.07 –

Handlers, equipment cleaners, helpers, and laborers:

Groundskeepers and gardeners except farm ....... 13.18 – – 13.26 –

Construction laborers ........................................... 16.34 – – 16.34 –

Production helpers ................................................ 11.37 11.37 – 11.37 –

Stock handlers and baggers ................................. 10.27 10.27 – 10.95 –

Freight, stock, and material handlers, N.E.C. ....... 12.39 12.39 – 14.26 $9.13

Level 2 .............................................................. 8.65 8.65 – – –

Level 3 .............................................................. 12.00 12.00 – – –

Level 4 .............................................................. 14.95 14.95 – – –

Vehicle washers and equipment cleaners ............ 8.62 8.62 – 8.82 –

Level 1 .............................................................. 7.85 7.85 – – –

Hand packers and packagers ............................... 10.06 10.06 – 10.38 –

Laborers except construction, N.E.C. ................... 10.99 10.98 – 11.28 7.48

Level 1 .............................................................. 9.15 9.15 – – –

Level 2 .............................................................. 8.12 8.12 – 8.03 –

Service occupations:

Protective service occupations:

Supervisors, police and detectives ....................... 29.47 – 29.47 29.47 –

Firefighting occupations ........................................ 21.69 – 21.69 21.69 –

Police and detectives, public service .................... 22.95 – 22.95 22.95 –

Level 7 .............................................................. 22.98 – 22.98 22.98 –

Guards and police except public service .............. 8.10 7.99 – 8.14 7.79

Level 3 .............................................................. 9.52 ––––

Protective service occupations, N.E.C. ................ 10.43 ––––

Food service occupations:

Supervisors, food preparation and service

occupations .................................................... 11.86 11.72 – 12.06 –

Waiters and waitresses ........................................ 5.77 5.77 – 6.07 5.57

Level 2 .............................................................. 6.00 6.00 – – –

Level 3 .............................................................. 5.37 5.37 – 5.67 5.22

Cooks ................................................................... 9.70 9.43 – 9.96 8.36

Level 3 .............................................................. 9.07 9.07 – – –

Level 4 .............................................................. 9.73 9.59 – 10.05 –

Food counter, fountain, and related occupations 6.77 ––––

Kitchen workers, food preparation ........................ 7.28 7.21 – 7.46 7.22

Level 3 .............................................................. 8.08 – – – 8.01

Waiters’/Waitresses’ assistants ............................ 5.99 5.99 – – 6.00

Food preparation occupations, N.E.C. ................. 7.87 7.54 – 8.04 7.69

Level 1 .............................................................. 7.00 7.00 – – 7.01

Level 2 .............................................................. 8.52 8.36 – – –

Level 3 .............................................................. 8.69 – – – 8.56

Health service occupations:

Health aides, except nursing ................................ 10.63 10.46 – 10.83 –

Level 4 .............................................................. 11.26 ––––

Nursing aides, orderlies and attendants ............... 9.46 9.04 12.88 9.40 9.75

Level 2 .............................................................. 8.36 8.10 – 8.30 –

Level 3 .............................................................. 9.35 9.31 – 9.24 9.75

Level 4 .............................................................. 10.18 9.77 – – –

Cleaning and building service occupations:

Supervisors, cleaning and building service

workers ........................................................... 13.93 13.92 – 13.93 –

Maids and housemen ........................................... 8.02 7.98 – 7.57 –

Janitors and cleaners ........................................... 9.52 8.78 12.12 9.54 9.10

Level 1 .............................................................. 8.95 8.46 – 8.96 –

Level 2 .............................................................. 8.79 8.50 11.73 8.79 8.80

See footnotes at end of table.

24
Table B-2. Mean hourly earnings1 for selected occupations and levels2, all industries, private

industry, State and local government, full-time and part-time workers, Seattle-Tacoma-Bremerton, WA,

February 1999 — Continued

Occupation3 and level

All workers4 All industries

All industriesPrivate

industry

State and

local

government

Full-time

workers

Part-time

workers

Service occupations: (-Continued)

Cleaning and building service occupations: 

(-Continued)

Janitors and cleaners (-Continued)

Level 3 .............................................................. $10.86 $9.48 $12.11 $10.88 –

Level 4 .............................................................. 11.51 – – 11.51 –

Personal service occupations:

Attendants, amusement and recreation facilities .. 7.43 7.43 – – $7.26

Level 3 .............................................................. 7.61 7.61 – – –

Early childhood teachers’ assistants .................... 9.80 ––––

Child care workers, N.E.C. ................................... 8.25 – 9.67 – 8.31

Service occupations, N.E.C. ................................. 9.96 9.96 – – 8.82

1 Earnings are the straight-time hourly wages or salaries paid to

employees. They include incentive pay, cost-of-living adjustments,

and hazard pay. Excluded are premium pay for overtime, vacations,

holidays, nonproduction bonuses, and tips. The mean is computed

by totaling the pay of all workers and dividing by the number of

workers, weighted by hours. 2 Each occupation for which wage data are collected in an

establishment is evaluated based on 10 factors, including knowledge,

complexity, work environment, etc. Points are assigned based on the

occupation’s ranking within each factor. The points are summed to

determine the overall level of the occupation. See technical note for

more information. 3 A classification system including about 480 individual

occupations is used to cover all workers in the civilian economy.

Individual occupations are classified into one of nine major

occupational groups. 4 All workers include full-time and part-time workers. Employees

are classified as working either a full-time or a part-time schedule

based on the definition used by each establishment. Therefore, a

worker with a 35-hour-per-week schedule might be considered a

full-time employee in one establishment, but classified as part-time in

another firm, where a 40-hour week is the minimum full-time

schedule.

NOTE: Dashes indicate that no data were reported or that data did

not meet publication criteria. Overall occupational groups and

occupational levels may include data for categories not shown

separately. N.E.C. means not elsewhere classified. IN THIS SURVEY, THE NONRESPONSE RATE FOR PRIVATE INDUSTRY EXCEEDED REGULAR SURVEY STANDARDS FOR PUBLICATION. 

ACCORDINGLY, USERS SHOULD INTERPRET THESE RESULTS

WITH THIS LIMITATION IN MIND. 

NOTE: Individual and average wage rates were collected in this

update survey. A procedure was put into place to "move" the

positional statistics where averages were collected. This procedure

compares current locality survey data–at the quote level–with the

same quote from the prior survey. Individual rates from the prior

survey are moved by the average change in mean wages for the

occupation.

25
Table C-1. Mean hourly earnings1 by occupational group and selected characteristics, all industries,

Seattle-Tacoma-Bremerton, WA, February 1999

Occupational group2 Full-time

workers3

Part-time

workers3 Union4 Nonunion4 Time5 Incentive5

All occupations ....................................................................... $18.78 $12.00 $20.30 $16.55 $17.97 $18.84

All occupations excluding sales ............................................ 18.94 12.44 20.56 16.66 18.22 17.90

White-collar occupations ................................................... 22.02 15.50 23.53 20.20 21.37 20.04

White-collar excluding sales ............................................. 22.70 17.19 24.28 20.98 22.16 21.24

Professional specialty and technical occupations ............ 26.71 21.97 29.13 23.08 26.17 –

Professional specialty occupations ............................... 28.29 24.12 30.44 24.86 27.84 –

Technical occupations .................................................. 20.23 15.22 22.49 17.41 19.54 –

Executive, administrative, and managerial occupations ... 28.93 21.33 22.01 29.42 28.85 –

Sales occupations ............................................................ 16.18 7.83 11.75 15.39 12.83 19.80

Administrative support including clerical occupations ...... 13.50 11.18 14.13 12.80 13.19 –

Blue-collar occupations ..................................................... 16.32 10.11 18.29 13.49 15.89 18.35

Precision production, craft, and repair occupations .......... 19.46 – 19.91 18.80 19.17 24.13

Machine operators, assemblers, and inspectors .............. 13.43 – 17.01 10.98 13.56 –

Transportation and material moving occupations ............. 16.63 11.33 19.08 11.85 16.04 –

Handlers, equipment cleaners, helpers, and laborers ..... 12.50 7.94 13.77 10.50 11.86 14.53

Service occupations ........................................................... 11.20 7.51 14.61 8.14 10.34 –

1 Earnings are the straight-time hourly wages or salaries paid to

employees. They include incentive pay, cost-of-living adjustments, and

hazard pay. Excluded are premium pay for overtime, vacations, holidays,

nonproduction bonuses, and tips. The mean is computed by totaling the pay

of all workers and dividing by the number of workers, weighted by hours. 2 A classification system including about 480 individual occupations is

used to cover all workers in the civilian economy. Individual occupations are

classified into one of nine major occupational groups. 3 Employees are classified as working either a full-time or a part-time

schedule based on the definition used by each establishment. Therefore, a

worker with a 35-hour-per-week schedule might be considered a full-time

employee in one establishment, but classified as part-time in another firm,

where a 40-hour week is the minimum full-time schedule. 4 Union workers are those whose wages are determined through

collective bargaining. 5 Time workers’ wages are based solely on an hourly rate or salary;

incentive workers are those whose wages are at least partially based on

productivity payments such as piece rates, commissions, and production

bonuses.

NOTE: Dashes indicate that no data were reported or that data did not meet

publication criteria. Overall occupational groups and occupational levels may

include data for categories not shown separately. N.E.C. means "not

elsewhere classified." 

NOTE: Individual and average wage rates were collected in this update

survey. A procedure was put into place to "move" the positional statistics

where averages were collected. This procedure compares current locality

survey data–at the quote level–with the same quote from the prior survey. 

Individual rates from the prior survey are moved by the average change in

mean wages for the occupation.

26
Table C-2. Mean hourly earnings1 by occupational group and industry division, private industry, all workers2,

Seattle-Tacoma-Bremerton, WA, February 1999

Occupational group3 All private

industries

Goods-producing industries4 Service-producing industries5

Total Mining

ConstructionManufacturing

Total

Transportation

and

public

utilities

Wholesale

and

retail

trade

Finance,

insurance,

and

real

estate

Services

All occupations ........................................................................... $17.13 $19.32 – – $19.01 – $19.67 – – –

All occupations excluding sales ................................................ 17.34 19.29 – – 18.96 – 19.68 – – –

White-collar occupations ....................................................... 20.82 23.11 – – 22.96 – 21.22 – – –

White-collar excluding sales ................................................. 21.91 23.23 – – 23.08 – 21.35 – – –

Professional specialty and technical occupations ................ 26.85 – – – – – 55.47 – – –

Professional specialty occupations ................................... 28.87 –––––––––

Technical occupations ...................................................... 20.54 21.16 – – 21.23 – 74.23 – – –

Executive, administrative, and managerial occupations ....... 29.20 29.63 – – 28.95 – 28.33 – – –

Sales occupations ................................................................ 14.75 20.78 – – 20.78 –––––

Administrative support, including clerical occupations ......... 13.16 15.04 – – 15.03 – 14.52 – – –

Blue-collar occupations ......................................................... 15.73 16.41 – – 15.58 – 17.55 – – –

Precision production, craft, and repair occupations .............. 19.30 19.15 – – 18.35 – 22.11 – – –

Machine operators, assemblers, and inspectors .................. 13.44 13.86 – – 13.86 –––––

Transportation and material moving occupations ................. 15.66 17.87 – – 16.28 – 16.92 – – –

Handlers, equipment cleaners, helpers, and laborers ......... 11.50 12.85 – – 11.51 – 14.14 – – –

Service occupations ............................................................... 8.71 – – – – – 21.33 – – –

1 Earnings are the straight-time hourly wages or salaries paid to employees. They

include incentive pay, cost-of-living adjustments, and hazard pay. Excluded are premium

pay for overtime, vacations, holidays, nonproduction bonuses, and tips. The mean is

computed by totaling the pay of all workers and dividing by the number of workers,

weighted by hours. 2 All workers include full-time and part-time workers. Employees are classified as

working either a full-time or a part-time schedule based on the definition used by each

establishment. Therefore, a worker with a 35-hour-per-week schedule might be

considered a full-time employee in one establishment, but classified as part-time in

another firm, where a 40-hour week is the minimum full-time schedule. 3 A classification system including about 480 individual occupations is used to cover

all workers in the civilian economy. Individual occupations are classified into one of nine

major occupational groups. 4 Goods-producing industries include mining, construction, and manufacturing. 5 Service-producing industries include transportation and public utilities; wholesale

and retail trade; finance, insurance, and real estate; and services.

NOTE: Dashes indicate that no data were reported or that data did not meet publication

criteria. Overall occupational groups and occupational levels may include data for

categories not shown separately. N.E.C. means not elsewhere classified. IN THIS SURVEY, THE NONRESPONSE RATE FOR PRIVATE INDUSTRY EXCEEDED REGULAR

SURVEY STANDARDS FOR PUBLICATION. ACCORDINGLY, USERS SHOULD INTERPRET THESE RESULTS WITH THIS LIMITATION IN MIND. 

NOTE: Individual and average wage rates were collected in this update survey. A

procedure was put into place to "move" the positional statistics where averages were

collected. This procedure compares current locality survey data–at the quote level–with

the same quote from the prior survey. Individual rates from the prior survey are moved by

the average change in mean wages for the occupation.

27
Table C-3. Mean hourly earnings1 by occupational group and establishment employment size, private

industry, all workers2, Seattle-Tacoma-Bremerton, WA, February 1999

Occupational group3

All private

industry

workers

50 - 99

workers

100 workers or more

Total 100 - 499

workers

500

workers or

more

All occupations ....................................................................... $17.13 $14.43 $17.87 $15.91 $20.43

All occupations excluding sales ............................................ 17.34 14.63 18.01 15.94 20.56

White-collar occupations ................................................... 20.82 17.05 21.68 20.67 22.58

White-collar excluding sales ............................................. 21.91 18.90 22.42 21.81 22.89

Professional specialty and technical occupations ............ 26.85 20.78 27.33 29.15 26.23

Professional specialty occupations ............................... 28.87 19.93 29.32 34.47 26.57

Technical occupations .................................................. 20.54 21.61 20.35 15.48 24.75

Executive, administrative, and managerial occupations ... 29.20 28.12 29.46 28.49 30.22

Sales occupations ............................................................ 14.75 13.32 15.73 15.61 16.15

Administrative support, including clerical occupations ..... 13.16 13.32 13.12 12.40 13.84

Blue-collar occupations ..................................................... 15.73 14.57 16.14 14.54 19.13

Precision production, craft, and repair occupations .......... 19.30 18.62 19.57 20.01 –

Machine operators, assemblers, and inspectors .............. 13.44 11.68 13.89 11.95 18.68

Transportation and material moving occupations ............. 15.66 13.17 16.64 14.30 21.90

Handlers, equipment cleaners, helpers, and laborers ..... 11.50 10.30 11.92 11.57 13.75

Service occupations ........................................................... 8.71 7.85 8.96 8.29 10.65

1 Earnings are the straight-time hourly wages or salaries paid to

employees. They include incentive pay, cost-of-living adjustments,

and hazard pay. Excluded are premium pay for overtime, vacations,

holidays, nonproduction bonuses, and tips. The mean is computed

by totaling the pay of all workers and dividing by the number of

workers, weighted by hours. 2 All workers include full-time and part-time workers. Employees

are classified as working either a full-time or a part-time schedule

based on the definition used by each establishment. Therefore, a

worker with a 35-hour-per-week schedule might be considered a

full-time employee in one establishment, but classified as part-time in

another firm, where a 40-hour week is the minimum full-time

schedule. 3 A classification system including about 480 individual

occupations is used to cover all workers in the civilian economy.

Individual occupations are classified into one of nine major

occupational groups. 

NOTE: Dashes indicate that no data were reported or that data did

not meet publication criteria. Overall occupational groups and

occupational levels may include data for categories not shown

separately. N.E.C. means not elsewhere classified. IN THIS SURVEY, THE NONRESPONSE RATE FOR PRIVATE INDUSTRY EXCEEDED REGULAR SURVEY STANDARDS FOR PUBLICATION. 

ACCORDINGLY, USERS SHOULD INTERPRET THESE RESULTS

WITH THIS LIMITATION IN MIND. 

NOTE: Individual and average wage rates were collected in this

update survey. A procedure was put into place to "move" the

positional statistics where averages were collected. This procedure

compares current locality survey data–at the quote level–with the

same quote from the prior survey. Individual rates from the prior

survey are moved by the average change in mean wages for the

occupation.

28
Table C-4. Number of workers1 represented by occupational group,

Seattle-Tacoma-Bremerton, WA, February 1999

Occupational group2

All workers

All industries Private

industry

State and

local government

All occupations ....................................................................... 812,762 621,890 190,872

All occupations excluding sales ............................................ 759,942 569,311 190,631

White-collar occupations ................................................... 462,358 325,133 137,225

White-collar excluding sales ............................................. 409,538 272,554 136,984

Professional specialty and technical occupations ............ 198,883 114,752 84,131

Professional specialty occupations ............................... 162,561 87,592 74,969

Technical occupations .................................................. 36,322 27,160 9,162

Executive, administrative, and managerial occupations ... 69,830 51,986 17,845

Sales occupations ............................................................ 52,820 52,579 –

Administrative support including clerical occupations ...... 140,825 105,817 35,008

Blue-collar occupations ..................................................... 192,659 169,029 23,630

Precision production, craft, and repair occupations .......... 66,877 59,177 7,700

Machine operators, assemblers, and inspectors .............. 41,437 41,437 –

Transportation and material moving occupations ............. 48,459 37,174 11,285

Handlers, equipment cleaners, helpers, and laborers ..... 35,886 31,242 4,644

Service occupations ........................................................... 157,745 127,727 30,017

1 Both full-time and part-time workers were included in

the survey. Employees are classified as working either a

full-time or a part-time schedule based on the definition

used by each establishment. Therefore, a worker with a

35-hour-per-week schedule might be considered a full-time

employee in one establishment, but classified as part-time

in another establishment, where a 40-hour week is the

minimum full-time schedule. 2 A classification system including about 480 individual

occupations is used to cover all workers in the civilian

economy. Individual occupations are classified into one of

nine major occupational groups. 

NOTE: Dashes indicate that no data were reported or that

data did not meet publication criteria. Overall occupational

groups and occupational levels may include data for

categories not shown separately. N.E.C. means not

elsewhere classified. IN THIS SURVEY, THE NONRESPONSE RATE FOR PRIVATE INDUSTRY EXCEEDED

REGULAR SURVEY STANDARDS FOR PUBLICATION. 

ACCORDINGLY, USERS SHOULD INTERPRET THESE

RESULTS WITH THIS LIMITATION IN MIND. 

NOTE: Individual and average wage rates were collected in

this update survey. A procedure was put into place to

"move" the positional statistics where averages were

collected. This procedure compares current locality survey

data–at the quote level–with the same quote from the prior

survey. Individual rates from the prior survey are moved by

the average change in mean wages for the occupation.

29
A-1

Appendix A: Technical Note

This section provides basic information on the procedures

and concepts used to produce the data contained in this

bulletin. It is divided into three parts: Planning for the survey; data collection; and processing and analyzing the data.

Although this section answers some questions commonly

asked by data users, it is not a comprehensive description

of all the steps required to produce the data.

Planning for the survey

The overall design of the survey includes questions of

scope, frame, and sample selection.

Survey scope

This survey covered establishments employing 50 workers

or more in goods-producing industries (mining, construction and manufacturing); service-producing industries

(transportation, communications, electric, gas, and sanitary

services; wholesale trade; retail trade; finance, insurance,

and real estate; and services industries); and State and local

governments. Agriculture, private households, and the Federal Government were excluded from the scope of the survey. For purposes of this survey an establishment was an

economic unit which produces goods or services, a central

administrative office, or an auxiliary unit providing support

services to a company. For private industries in this survey, the establishment was usually at a single physical location. For State and local governments, an establishment

was defined as all locations of a government entity.

The Seattle-Tacoma-Bremerton, WA, Metropolitan

Statistical Area includes Island, King, Kitsap, Pierce, Snohomish, and Thurston Counties, WA.

Sampling frame

The list of establishments from which the survey sample

was selected (sampling frame) was developed from State

unemployment insurance reports. Due to the volatility of

industries within the private sector, sampling frames were

developed using the most recent month of reference available at the time the sample was selected. The sampling

frame was reviewed prior to the survey and, when necessary, missing establishments were added, out-of-business

and out-of-scope establishments were removed, and addresses, employment levels, industry classification, and

other information were updated.

Sample design

The sample for this survey area was selected using a two

stage stratified design with probability proportional to employment sampling at each stage. The first stage of sample

selection was a probability sample of establishments. The

sample of establishments was drawn by first stratifying the

sampling frame by industry and ownership. The number of

sample establishments allocated to each stratum is approximately proportional to the stratum employment. Each

sampled establishment is selected within a stratum with a

probability proportional to its employment. Use of this

technique means that the larger an establishment’s employment, the greater its chance of selection. Weights were

applied to each establishment when the data were tabulated

so that it represents similar units (by industry and employment size) in the economy which were not selected for

collection. See appendix table 1 for a count of establishments in the survey by employment size. The second stage

of sample selection, detailed below, was a probability sample of occupations within a sampled establishment.

Data collection

The collection of data from survey respondents required

detailed procedures. Collection was the responsibility of

the field economists, working out of the Regional Office,

who visited each establishment surveyed. Other contact

methods, such as mail and telephone, were used to followup and update data.

Occupational selection and classification

Identification of the occupations for which wage data were

to be collected was a multi-step process:

1. Probability-proportional-to-size selection of establishment jobs.

2. Classification of jobs into occupations based on the

Census of Population system.

3. Characterization of jobs as full-time v. part-time,

union v. nonunion, and time v. incentive.

4. Determination of the level of work of each job.

For each occupation, wage data were collected for those

workers who met all the criteria identified in the last three

steps. Special procedures were developed for jobs for

which a correct classification or level could not be determined.

In step one, the jobs to be sampled were selected at each

establishment by the BLS field economist during a personal

visit. A complete list of employees was used for sampling,
A-2

with each selected worker representing a job within the establishment.

As with the selection of establishments, the selection of

a job was based on probability proportional to its size in

the establishment. The greater the number of people

working in a job in the establishment, the greater its chance

of selection.

The number of jobs collected in each establishment was

based on an establishment’s employment size as shown in

the following schedule:

Number of employees Number of selected jobs

50-99 8

100-249 10

250-999 12

1000-2,499 16

2,500+ 20

The second step of the process entailed classifying the

selected jobs into occupations based on their duties. The

National Compensation Survey occupational classification

system is based on the 1990 Census of Population. A selected job may fall into any one of about 480 occupational

classifications, from accountant to wood lathe operator. In

cases where a job’s duties overlapped two or more census

classification codes, the duties used to set the wage level

were used to classify the job. Classification by primary

duties was the fallback.

Each occupational classification is an element of a

broader classification known as a major occupational group

(MOG). Occupations can fall into any of the following

MOGs:

· Professional specialty and technical

· Executive, administrative, and managerial

· Sales

· Administrative support including clerical

· Precision production, craft, and repair

· Machine operators, assemblers, and inspectors

· Transportation and material moving

· Handlers, equipment cleaners, helpers, and laborers

· Service occupations

Appendix B contains a complete list of all individual

occupations, classified by the MOG to which they belong.

In step three, certain other job characteristics of the chosen

worker were identified. First, the worker was identified as

holding either a full-time or part-time job, based on the establishment’s definition of those terms. Then the worker

was classified as having a time versus incentive job, depending on whether any part of pay was directly based on

the actual production of the worker, rather than solely on

hours worked. Finally, the worker was identified as being

in a union job or a nonunion job. See the “Definition of

Terms” section on the following page for more detail.

Generic leveling through point factor analysis

In the last step before wage data were collected, the work

level of each selected job was determined using a “generic

leveling” process. Generic leveling ranks and compares all

occupations randomly selected in an establishment using

the same criteria. This is a major departure from the

method used in the past in the Bureau’s Occupational

Compensation Surveys which studied specifically defined

occupations with leveling definitions unique to each occupation.

For this survey, the level of each occupation in an establishment was determined by an analysis of each of 10

leveling factors. Nine of these factors are drawn from the

U.S. Government Office of Personnel Management’s Factor Evaluation System, which is the underlying structure for

evaluation of General Schedule Federal employees. The

tenth factor, supervisory duties, attempts to account for the

effect of supervisory duties. It is considered experimental.

The 10 factors are:

· Knowledge

· Supervision received

· Guidelines

· Complexity

· Scope and effect

· Personal contacts

· Purpose of contacts

· Physical demands

· Work environment

· Supervisory duties

Each factor contains a number of levels and each level

has an associated written description and point value. The

number and range of points differ among the factors. For

each factor, an occupation was assigned a level based on

which written description best matched the job. Within

each occupation, the points for 9 factors (supervisory duties

was excluded) were recorded and totaled. The total determines the overall level of the occupation. Appendix table 3

presents average work levels for published occupational

groups and selected occupations. A description of the levels for each factor is shown in appendix C.

Tabulations of levels of work for occupations in the

survey follow the Federal Government’s white-collar General Schedule. Point ranges for each of the 15 levels are

shown in appendix D. It also includes an example of a leveled job and a guide to help data users evaluate jobs in their

firm.

Wage data collected in prior surveys using the new generic leveling method were evaluated by BLS researchers

using regression techniques. For each of the major occupational groups, wages were compared to the 10 generic

level factors (and levels within those factors). The analysis

showed that several of the generic level factors, most notably knowledge and supervision received, had strong explanatory power for wages. That is, as the levels within a

given factor increased, the wages also increased. Detailed
A-3

research continues in the area. The results of this research

will be published by BLS in the future.

Collection period

The survey data were collected over several months. For

each establishment in the survey, the data reflect the establishment’s most recent information at the time of collection.

The payroll reference month shown in the tables reflects

the average date of this information for all sample units.

Earnings

Earnings were defined as regular payments from the employer to the employee as compensation for straight-time

hourly work, or for any salaried work performed. The following components were included as part of earnings:

· Incentive pay, including commissions, production

bonuses, and piece rates

· Cost-of-living allowances

· Hazard pay

· Payments of income deferred due to participation

in a salary reduction plan

· Deadhead pay, defined as pay given to transportation workers returning in a vehicle without freight

or passengers

The following forms of payments were not considered

part of straight-time earnings:

· Shift differentials, defined as extra payment for

working a schedule that varies from the norm, such

as night or weekend work

· Premium pay for overtime, holidays, and weekends

· Bonuses not directly tied to production (e.g.,

Christmas bonuses, profit-sharing bonuses)

· Uniform and tool allowances

· Free room and board

· Payments made by third parties (e.g., tips, bonuses

given by manufacturers to department store salespeople, referral incentives in real estate)

· On-call pay

In order to calculate earnings for various time periods

(hourly, weekly, and annual), data on work schedules were

also collected. For hourly workers, scheduled hours

worked per day and per week, exclusive of overtime, were

recorded. Annual weeks worked were determined. Because

salaried workers, exempt from overtime provisions, often

work beyond the assigned work schedule, their typical

number of hours actually worked was collected.

Definition of terms

Full-time worker. Any employee that the employer considers to be full time.

Incentive worker. Any employee whose earnings are tied,

at least in part, to commissions, piece rates, production bonuses, or other incentives based on production or sales.

Level. A ranking of an occupation based on the requirements of the position. (See the description in the technical

note and the example for more details on the leveling process.)

Nonunion worker. An employee in an occupation not

meeting the conditions for union coverage (see below).

Part-time worker. Any employee that the employer considers to be part-time.

Straight-time. Time worked at the standard rate of pay for

the job.

Time-based worker. Any employee whose earnings are

tied to an hourly rate or salary, and not to a specific level of

production.

Union worker. Any employee is in a union occupation

when all of the following conditions are met:

· A labor organization is recognized as the bargaining

agent for all workers in the occupation

· Wage and salary rates are determined through collective bargaining or negotiations

· Settlement terms, which must include earnings provisions and may include benefit provisions, are embodied in a signed mutually binding collective bargaining

agreement

 Processing and analyzing the data

Data were processed and analyzed at the Bureau’s National

Office following collection.

Weighting and nonresponse

Sample weights were calculated for each establishment and

occupation in the survey. These weights reflected the relative size of the occupation within the establishment and of

the establishment within the sample universe. Weights

were used to aggregate the individual establishments or occupations into the various data series. Some of the establishments surveyed could not supply or refused to supply

information. If data were not provided by a sample member, the weights of responding sample members in the same

or similar “cells” were adjusted to account for the missing

data. This technique assumes that the mean value of the

nonrespondents equals the mean value of the respondents at

some detailed “cell” level. Responding and nonresponding

establishments were classified into these cells according to

industry and employment size. Responding and nonresponding occupations within responding establishments

were classified into cells that were additionally defined by

major occupation group and job level.

Establishments that were determined to be out of busi-
A-4

ness or outside the scope of the survey had their weights

changed to zero. If only partial data were given by a sample establishment or occupation, or data were missing, the

response was treated as a refusal.

Survey response

Establishments

 Total in sample 535

Responding 327

Out of business or not in

 survey scope 31

Unable or refused to pro-

 vide data 177

Some surveys may have a high nonresponse rate for the

all industries or private industry iterations. Such instances

are noted in the bulletin table footnotes.

Estimation

The wage series in the tables are computed by combining

the wages for individual establishment/occupations. Before

being combined, individual wage rates are weighted by:

number of workers; the sample weight adjusted for nonresponding establishments and other factors; and the occupation work schedule, varying depending on whether hourly,

weekly, or annual rates are being calculated.

Not all series that were calculated met the criteria for

publication. Before any series was published, it was reviewed to make sure that the number of observations underlying it was sufficient. This review prevented publishing a series that could have revealed information about a

specific establishment.

The number of workers estimates represent the total in

all establishments within the scope of the study and not the

number actually surveyed. Because occupational structures

among establishments differ, estimates of the number of

workers obtained from the sample of establishments serve

only to indicate the relative importance of the occupational

groups studied.

Data reliability

The data in this bulletin are estimates from a scientifically

selected probability sample. There are two types of errors

possible in an estimate based on a sample survey, sampling

and nonsampling.

Sampling errors occur because observations come only

from a sample and not from an entire population. The

sample used for this survey is one of a number of possible

samples of the same size that could have been selected using the sample design. Estimates derived from the different

samples would differ from each other.

A measure of the variation among these differing estimates is called the standard error or sampling error. It indicates the precision with which an estimate from a particular sample approximates the average result of all

possible samples. The relative standard error (RSE) is the

standard error divided by the estimate. Appendix table 2

contains RSE data for selected series in this bulletin. RSE

data for all series in this bulletin are available on the Internet web site and by request to the BLS National Office.

The standard error can be used to calculate a “confidence interval” around a sample estimate. As an example,

suppose table A-1 shows that mean hourly earnings for all

workers was $12.79 per hour, and appendix table 2 shows a

relative standard error of 3.6 percent for this estimate. At

the 90-percent level, the confidence interval for this estimate is $13.55 to $12.03 ($12.79 plus and minus 1.645

times 3.6 percent times $12.79). If all possible samples

were selected to estimate the population value, the interval

from each sample would include the true population value

approximately 90 percent of the time.

Nonsampling errors also affect survey results. They

can stem from many sources, such as inability to obtain information for some establishments, difficulties with survey

definitions, inability of the respondents to provide correct

information, or mistakes in recording or coding the data

obtained. A Technical Reinterview Program done in all

survey areas will be used in the development of a formal

quality assessment process to help compute nonsampling

error. Although they were not specifically measured, the

nonsampling errors were expected to be minimal due to the

extensive training of the field economists who gathered the

survey data by personal visit, computer edits of the data,

and detailed data review.
Appendix table 1. Number of establishments studied by industry division and establishment employment size,

and number of establishments represented, Seattle-Tacoma-Bremerton, WA, February 1999

Industry

Number of

establishments represented

Number of establishments studied

Total studied 50 - 99

workers

100 workers or more

Total 100 - 499

workers

500 workers

or more

All industries ......................................................... 4,021 324 86 238 142 96

Private industry ................................................. 3,861 272 84 188 130 58

Goods-producing industries .......................... 746 74 19 55 34 21

Mining ....................................................... 4 2 2 – – –

Construction ............................................. 156 8 4 4 4 –

Manufacturing ........................................... 586 64 13 51 30 21

Service-producing industries ........................ 3,115 198 65 133 96 37

Tranportation and public utilities ............... 184 24 8 16 8 8

Wholesale and retail trade ........................ 1,465 53 32 21 18 3

Finance, insurance and real estate .......... 282 12 3 9 4 5

Services .................................................... 1,183 109 22 87 66 21

State and local government .............................. 160 52 2 50 12 38

NOTE: Dashes indicate that no data were reported. Overall industry and industry groups may include data for categories not shown separately.

A-5
Appendix table 2. Relative standard errors of mean hourly earnings1 for selected

occupations, all industries, private industry, and State and local government, all

workers2, Seattle-Tacoma-Bremerton, WA, February 1999

(in percent)

Occupation3 All industries

Private

industry

State and

local

government

All occupations ....................................................................... 3.2 4.2 2.0

All occupations excluding sales ............................................ 3.4 4.5 2.0

White-collar occupations ................................................... 4.4 6.1 2.4

White-collar occupations excluding sales ......................... 4.7 6.7 2.4

Professional specialty and technical occupations ............ 7.9 12.6 2.1

Professional specialty occupations ............................... 9.2 15.3 2.1

Engineers, architects, and surveyors ....................... – – –

Electrical and electronic engineers ....................... 6.7 6.7 –

Mathematical and computer scientists ..................... 2.7 3.0 2.4

Computer systems analysts and scientists ........... 3.0 3.4 2.4

Operations and systems researchers and

analysts .......................................................... 5.4 5.4 –

Natural scientists ...................................................... 5.2 4.5 –

Medical scientists ................................................. 4.6 4.6 –

Health related occupations ....................................... 4.0 6.0 4.3

Physicians ............................................................ 27.6 – –

Registered nurses ................................................ 1.4 1.8 2.0

Therapists, N.E.C. ................................................ 3.6 – –

Teachers, college and university .............................. 6.2 5.6 –

Teachers, except college and university .................. 4.5 11.5 1.1

Prekindergarten and kindergarten ........................ 16.7 3.4 –

Elementary school teachers ................................. 1.5 10.7 1.5

Secondary school teachers .................................. 1.3 7.0 1.2

Teachers, special education ................................. 2.1 – 2.1

Teachers, N.E.C. .................................................. 4.7 14.1 –

Substitute teachers ............................................... 3.5 – –

Vocational and educational counselors ................ 12.8 – –

Librarians, archivists, and curators ........................... 10.2 – 10.2

Social scientists and urban planners ........................ 9.4 – 5.3

Psychologists ........................................................ 9.9 – –

Social, recreation, and religious workers .................. 2.8 6.4 2.3

Social workers ...................................................... 2.9 6.4 1.9

Lawyers and judges .................................................. 6.2 8.4 7.0

Lawyers ................................................................ 6.2 8.4 5.2

Writers, authors, entertainers, athletes, and

professionals, N.E.C. .......................................... – – 16.8

Designers ............................................................. 4.6 4.6 –

Editors and reporters ............................................ 9.7 13.4 –

Technical occupations .................................................. 4.7 6.0 3.2

Clinical laboratory technologists and technicians 5.5 – 5.7

Health record technologists and technicians ........ 9.6 – –

Radiological technicians ....................................... 2.5 – –

Licensed practical nurses ..................................... 1.9 2.5 1.3

Health technologists and technicians, N.E.C. ....... 3.5 8.5 –

Electrical and electronic technicians ..................... 9.9 9.9 –

Engineering technicians, N.E.C. ........................... 8.1 – –

Drafters ................................................................. 9.4 9.4 –

Legal assistants .................................................... 5.0 5.3 –

Technical and related occupations, N.E.C. .......... 10.5 12.5 –

Executive, administrative, and managerial occupations ... 3.2 3.4 8.0

Executives, administrators, and managers ............... 3.7 3.6 12.1

Financial managers .............................................. 6.4 6.4 –

Personnel and labor relations managers .............. 5.6 6.3 –

Purchasing managers ........................................... 8.5 – –

Managers, marketing, advertising and public

relations .......................................................... 14.7 14.7 –

Administrators, education and related fields ......... 3.4 9.9 2.9

Managers, medicine and health ........................... 12.2 12.2 –

Managers, service organizations, N.E.C. ............. 24.0 24.0 –

Managers and administrators, N.E.C. .................. 3.6 3.7 –

Management related occupations ............................ 3.1 4.7 3.6

Accountants and auditors ..................................... 6.3 9.1 –

Other financial officers .......................................... 16.2 16.8 –

See footnotes at end of table.

A-6
Appendix table 2. Relative standard errors of mean hourly earnings1 for selected

occupations, all industries, private industry, and State and local government, all

workers2, Seattle-Tacoma-Bremerton, WA, February 1999 — Continued

(in percent)

Occupation3 All industries

Private

industry

State and

local

government

White-collar occupations (-Continued)

Executive, administrative, and managerial occupations 

(-Continued)

Management related occupations (-Continued)

Management analysts .......................................... 7.4 3.1 –

Personnel, training, and labor relations

specialists ....................................................... 6.7 – –

Purchasing agents and buyers, N.E.C. ................ 4.5 – –

Management related occupations, N.E.C. ............ 6.9 8.5 10.9

Sales occupations ............................................................ 6.7 6.7 –

Supervisors, sales occupations ............................ 11.4 11.4 –

Sales occupations, other business services ......... 8.9 8.9 –

Sales representatives, mining, manufacturing,

and wholesale ................................................. 25.7 25.7 –

Sales workers, motor vehicles and boats ............. 11.4 11.4 –

Sales workers, parts ............................................. 7.0 7.0 –

Sales workers, other commodities ........................ 8.4 8.4 –

Cashiers ............................................................... 9.2 9.3 –

Administrative support occupations, including clerical ..... 1.4 1.7 1.5

Supervisors, general office ................................... 5.2 5.6 –

Supervisors, distribution, scheduling, and

adjusting clerks ............................................... 6.1 6.1 –

Secretaries ........................................................... 3.4 4.4 2.1

Stenographers ...................................................... 1.7 – –

Typists .................................................................. 6.2 – –

Transportation ticket and reservation agents ....... 3.8 3.3 –

Receptionists ........................................................ 3.2 3.3 –

Information clerks, N.E.C. ..................................... 5.0 – –

Order clerks .......................................................... 6.9 6.9 –

Personnel clerks except payroll and timekeeping 5.2 – –

Library clerks ........................................................ 6.7 7.3 7.9

File clerks ............................................................. 5.5 6.0 –

Records clerks, N.E.C. ......................................... 5.3 6.9 –

Bookkeepers, accounting and auditing clerks ...... 3.7 4.2 4.4

Billing clerks .......................................................... 4.7 5.9 –

Dispatchers ........................................................... 6.6 – –

Production coordinators ........................................ 17.0 17.0 –

Traffic, shipping and receiving clerks ................... 8.0 8.0 –

Stock and inventory clerks .................................... 6.7 7.4 –

Material recording, scheduling, and distribution

clerks, N.E.C. .................................................. 9.2 9.2 –

Insurance adjusters, examiners, and

investigators ................................................... 0.6 0.6 –

Investigators and adjusters except insurance ...... 8.5 8.5 –

General office clerks ............................................. 3.0 3.9 3.7

Data entry keyers ................................................. 5.9 5.9 –

Teachers’ aides .................................................... 2.7 – 2.7

Administrative support occupations, N.E.C. ......... 4.6 6.3 4.2

Blue-collar occupations ..................................................... 1.9 2.2 2.5

Precision production, craft, and repair occupations .......... 2.2 2.5 3.3

Supervisors, mechanics and repairers ................. 2.7 2.8 –

Automobile mechanics ......................................... 6.3 6.5 –

Bus, truck, and stationary engine mechanics ....... 3.6 4.0 –

Industrial machinery repairers .............................. 5.2 5.2 –

Mechanics and repairers, N.E.C. .......................... 2.9 4.4 –

Carpenters ............................................................ 9.1 9.1 –

Electricians ........................................................... 4.0 4.9 –

Construction trades, N.E.C. .................................. 4.3 – –

Supervisors, production occupations .................... 5.8 5.8 –

Machinists ............................................................. 6.0 6.0 –

Stationary engineers ............................................. 4.3 – –

Machine operators, assemblers, and inspectors .............. 4.0 4.0 –

Numerical control machine operators ................... 9.1 9.1 –

See footnotes at end of table.

A-7
Appendix table 2. Relative standard errors of mean hourly earnings1 for selected

occupations, all industries, private industry, and State and local government, all

workers2, Seattle-Tacoma-Bremerton, WA, February 1999 — Continued

(in percent)

Occupation3 All industries

Private

industry

State and

local

government

Blue-collar occupations (-Continued)

Machine operators, assemblers, and inspectors 

(-Continued)

Molding and casting machine operators ............... 9.1 9.1 –

Printing press operators ....................................... 7.7 7.7 –

Miscellaneous machine operators, N.E.C. ........... 11.2 11.2 –

Welders and cutters .............................................. 3.5 3.5 –

Assemblers ........................................................... 5.6 5.6 –

Production inspectors, checkers and examiners .. 9.2 9.2 –

Transportation and material moving occupations ............. 4.3 5.5 3.6

Truck drivers ......................................................... 5.1 5.4 –

Bus drivers ............................................................ 7.5 – 7.3

Parking lot attendants ........................................... 4.3 4.2 –

Motor transportation occupations, N.E.C. ............. 12.5 12.5 –

Industrial truck and tractor equipment operators .. 13.9 13.9 –

Miscellaneous material moving equipment

operators, N.E.C. ............................................ 7.8 9.5 4.0

Handlers, equipment cleaners, helpers, and laborers ...... 3.1 3.4 2.5

Groundskeepers and gardeners except farm ....... 5.0 – –

Construction laborers ........................................... 3.7 – –

Production helpers ................................................ 13.2 13.2 –

Stock handlers and baggers ................................. 6.7 6.7 –

Freight, stock, and material handlers, N.E.C. ....... 6.1 6.1 –

Vehicle washers and equipment cleaners ............ 4.9 4.9 –

Hand packers and packagers ............................... 6.0 6.0 –

Laborers except construction, N.E.C. ................... 6.8 7.0 –

Service occupations ........................................................... 3.6 3.1 4.0

Protective service occupations ................................. 13.4 12.1 4.8

Supervisors, police and detectives ....................... 2.2 – 2.2

Firefighting occupations ........................................ 3.1 – 3.1

Police and detectives, public service .................... 3.5 – 3.5

Guards and police except public service .............. 13.2 13.2 –

Protective service occupations, N.E.C. ................ 6.7 – –

Food service occupations ......................................... 2.6 2.6 4.2

Supervisors, food preparation and service

occupations .................................................... 6.4 6.8 –

Waiters and waitresses ........................................ 3.6 3.6 –

Cooks ................................................................... 5.2 5.5 –

Food counter, fountain, and related occupations 6.0 – –

Kitchen workers, food preparation ........................ 1.6 1.3 –

Waiters’/Waitresses’ assistants ............................ 1.8 1.8 –

Food preparation occupations, N.E.C. ................. 4.1 3.6 –

See footnotes at end of table.

A-8
Appendix table 2. Relative standard errors of mean hourly earnings1 for selected

occupations, all industries, private industry, and State and local government, all

workers2, Seattle-Tacoma-Bremerton, WA, February 1999 — Continued

(in percent)

Occupation3 All industries

Private

industry

State and

local

government

Service occupations (-Continued)

Health service occupations ....................................... 3.0 3.1 3.4

Health aides, except nursing ................................ 4.6 6.0 –

Nursing aides, orderlies and attendants ............... 3.2 3.1 3.8

Cleaning and building service occupations .............. 2.8 2.5 1.4

Supervisors, cleaning and building service

workers ........................................................... 7.5 8.0 –

Maids and housemen ........................................... 4.0 4.1 –

Janitors and cleaners ........................................... 3.1 2.0 1.4

Personal service occupations ................................... 8.9 9.6 3.4

Attendants, amusement and recreation facilities .. 1.6 1.6 –

Early childhood teachers’ assistants .................... 8.6 – –

Child care workers, N.E.C. ................................... 10.2 – 1.7

Service occupations, N.E.C. ................................. 8.2 8.2 –

1 The relative standard error is the standard error

expressed as a percent of the estimate. Hourly

earnings for these occupations are presented in Tables

A-1 and A-2. Reliable relative standard errors could

not be determined for all occupations. 2 All workers include full-time and part-time

workers. Employees are classified as working either a

full-time or a part-time schedule based on the definition

used by each establishment. Therefore, a worker with

a 35-hour-per-week schedule might be considered a

full-time employee in one establishment, but classified

as part-time in another firm, where a 40-hour week is

the minimum full-time schedule. 3 A classification system including about 480

individual occupations is used to cover all workers in

the civilian economy. Individual occupations are

classified into one of nine major occupational groups. 

NOTE: Dashes indicate that no data were reported or

that data did not meet publication criteria. Overall

occupational groups and occupational levels may

include data for categories not shown separately. 

N.E.C. means not elsewhere classified. IN THIS SURVEY, THE NONRESPONSE RATE FOR PRIVATE INDUSTRY EXCEEDED REGULAR SURVEY STANDARDS FOR PUBLICATION. ACCORDINGLY, USERS SHOULD INTERPRET THESE RESULTS

WITH THIS LIMITATION IN MIND. 

NOTE: Individual and average wage rates were

collected in this update survey. A procedure was put

into place to "move" the positional statistics where

averages were collected. This procedure compares

current locality survey data–at the quote level–with the

same quote from the prior survey. Individual rates

from the prior survey are moved by the average

change in mean wages for the occupation.

A-9
Appendix table 3. Average work levels for selected occupations, all workers,

full-time and part-time workers, Seattle-Tacoma-Bremerton, WA, February 1999

Occupation1 All

workers

Full-time

workers

Part-time

workers

All occupations ................................................................................. 6 6 4

All occupations excluding sales ...................................................... 6 6 5

White-collar occupations ............................................................. 7 7 6

White-collar occupations excluding sales ................................... 7 8 6

Professional specialty and technical occupations ...................... 9 9 8

Professional specialty occupations ......................................... 9 9 9

Engineers, architects, and surveyors ................................. – – –

Electrical and electronic engineers ................................. 11 11 –

Mathematical and computer scientists ............................... 9 9 –

Computer systems analysts and scientists ..................... 9 9 –

Operations and systems researchers and analysts ........ 7 7 –

Natural scientists ................................................................ 11 11 –

Medical scientists ........................................................... 11 11 –

Health related occupations ................................................. 9 9 9

Physicians ...................................................................... 12 – –

Registered nurses .......................................................... 9 9 9

Therapists, N.E.C. .......................................................... 8 – –

Teachers, college and university ........................................ 11 12 10

Teachers, except college and university ............................ 8 8 7

Prekindergarten and kindergarten .................................. 6 6 –

Elementary school teachers ........................................... 9 8 –

Secondary school teachers ............................................ 8 8 8

Teachers, special education ........................................... 9 9 –

Teachers, N.E.C. ............................................................ 7 8 –

Substitute teachers ......................................................... 7 – 7

Vocational and educational counselors .......................... 8 8 –

Librarians, archivists, and curators ..................................... 9 – –

Social scientists and urban planners .................................. 8 8 7

Psychologists .................................................................. 8 8 7

Social, recreation, and religious workers ............................ 8 8 8

Social workers ................................................................ 8 8 8

Lawyers and judges ............................................................ 11 12 –

Lawyers .......................................................................... 11 11 –

Writers, authors, entertainers, athletes, and professionals,

N.E.C. ........................................................................... – – –

Designers ....................................................................... 7 7 –

Editors and reporters ...................................................... 8 8 –

Technical occupations ............................................................ 7 7 6

Clinical laboratory technologists and technicians ........... 7 8 –

Health record technologists and technicians .................. 6 – –

Radiological technicians ................................................. 6 – –

Licensed practical nurses ............................................... 5 5 5

Health technologists and technicians, N.E.C. ................. 5 5 –

Electrical and electronic technicians ............................... 7 7 –

Engineering technicians, N.E.C. ..................................... 7 7 –

Drafters ........................................................................... 7 7 –

Legal assistants .............................................................. 7 7 –

Technical and related occupations, N.E.C. .................... 6 6 –

Executive, administrative, and managerial occupations ............. 10 10 8

Executives, administrators, and managers ......................... 11 11 –

Financial managers ........................................................ 10 11 –

Personnel and labor relations managers ........................ 12 12 –

Purchasing managers ..................................................... 11 11 –

Managers, marketing, advertising and public relations .. 11 11 –

Administrators, education and related fields ................... 11 11 –

Managers, medicine and health ..................................... 11 11 –

Managers, service organizations, N.E.C. ....................... 9 9 –

Managers and administrators, N.E.C. ............................ 11 11 –

Management related occupations ...................................... 9 9 8

Accountants and auditors ............................................... 9 9 –

Other financial officers .................................................... 9 9 –

Management analysts .................................................... 9 9 –

Personnel, training, and labor relations specialists ........ 10 10 –

Purchasing agents and buyers, N.E.C. .......................... 9 9 –

Management related occupations, N.E.C. ...................... 8 9 –

Sales occupations ...................................................................... 5 5 3

Supervisors, sales occupations ...................................... 6 6 –

See footnotes at end of table.

A-10
Appendix table 3. Average work levels for selected occupations, all workers,

full-time and part-time workers, Seattle-Tacoma-Bremerton, WA, February 1999 —

Continued

Occupation1 All

workers

Full-time

workers

Part-time

workers

White-collar occupations (-Continued)

Sales occupations (-Continued)

Sales occupations, other business services ................... 6 6 –

Sales representatives, mining, manufacturing, and

wholesale .................................................................. 7 7 –

Sales workers, motor vehicles and boats ....................... 6 6 –

Sales workers, parts ....................................................... 5 5 –

Sales workers, other commodities .................................. 3 4 2

Cashiers ......................................................................... 3 3 2

Sales support occupations, N.E.C. ................................. – 5 –

Administrative support occupations, including clerical ............... 4 4 3

Supervisors, general office ............................................. 6 6 –

Supervisors, distribution, scheduling, and adjusting

clerks ........................................................................ 7 7 –

Secretaries ..................................................................... 5 5 4

Stenographers ................................................................ 4 – –

Typists ............................................................................ 5 – –

Transportation ticket and reservation agents ................. 4 4 4

Receptionists .................................................................. 3 3 3

Information clerks, N.E.C. ............................................... 4 4 –

Order clerks .................................................................... 4 4 –

Personnel clerks except payroll and timekeeping .......... 5 – –

Library clerks .................................................................. 3 – 3

File clerks ....................................................................... 3 3 –

Records clerks, N.E.C. ................................................... 4 4 –

Bookkeepers, accounting and auditing clerks ................ 4 4 –

Billing clerks .................................................................... 4 4 –

Dispatchers ..................................................................... 5 – –

Production coordinators .................................................. 5 5 –

Traffic, shipping and receiving clerks ............................. 4 4 –

Stock and inventory clerks .............................................. 4 4 –

Material recording, scheduling, and distribution clerks,

N.E.C. ....................................................................... 5 5 –

Insurance adjusters, examiners, and investigators ........ 4 4 –

Investigators and adjusters except insurance ................ 5 5 –

General office clerks ....................................................... 4 4 4

Data entry keyers ........................................................... 3 3 –

Teachers’ aides .............................................................. 4 – 4

Administrative support occupations, N.E.C. ................... 5 5 3

Blue-collar occupations ............................................................... 5 5 3

Precision production, craft, and repair occupations .................... 6 6 –

Supervisors, mechanics and repairers ........................... 8 8 –

Automobile mechanics ................................................... 7 7 –

Bus, truck, and stationary engine mechanics ................. 7 7 –

Industrial machinery repairers ........................................ 6 6 –

Mechanics and repairers, N.E.C. .................................... 6 6 –

Carpenters ...................................................................... 7 7 –

Electricians ..................................................................... 7 7 –

Construction trades, N.E.C. ............................................ 6 6 –

Supervisors, production occupations .............................. 7 7 –

Machinists ....................................................................... 7 7 –

Stationary engineers ....................................................... 7 7 –

Machine operators, assemblers, and inspectors ........................ 4 4 –

Numerical control machine operators ............................. 6 6 –

Molding and casting machine operators ......................... 3 3 –

Printing press operators ................................................. 6 6 –

Miscellaneous machine operators, N.E.C. ..................... 4 4 –

Welders and cutters ........................................................ 6 6 –

Assemblers ..................................................................... 4 4 –

Production inspectors, checkers and examiners ............ 6 6 –

Transportation and material moving occupations ....................... 4 5 3

Truck drivers ................................................................... 5 5 4

Bus drivers ...................................................................... 4 4 4

Parking lot attendants ..................................................... 2 – –

Motor transportation occupations, N.E.C. ....................... 3 3 –

Industrial truck and tractor equipment operators ............ 3 3 –

See footnotes at end of table.

A-11
Appendix table 3. Average work levels for selected occupations, all workers,

full-time and part-time workers, Seattle-Tacoma-Bremerton, WA, February 1999 —

Continued

Occupation1 All

workers

Full-time

workers

Part-time

workers

Blue-collar occupations (-Continued)

Transportation and material moving occupations (-Continued)

Miscellaneous material moving equipment operators,

N.E.C. ....................................................................... 5 5 –

Handlers, equipment cleaners, helpers, and laborers ................ 3 3 2

Groundskeepers and gardeners except farm ................. 3 4 –

Construction laborers ..................................................... 4 4 –

Production helpers .......................................................... 2 2 –

Stock handlers and baggers ........................................... 2 3 –

Freight, stock, and material handlers, N.E.C. ................. 3 4 2

Vehicle washers and equipment cleaners ...................... 2 2 –

Hand packers and packagers ......................................... 3 3 –

Laborers except construction, N.E.C. ............................. 3 3 2

Service occupations ..................................................................... 3 4 3

Protective service occupations ........................................... 5 5 4

Supervisors, police and detectives ................................. 8 8 –

Firefighting occupations .................................................. 7 7 –

Police and detectives, public service .............................. 7 7 –

Guards and police except public service ........................ 3 4 3

Protective service occupations, N.E.C. .......................... 4 – –

Food service occupations ................................................... 3 3 2

Supervisors, food preparation and service occupations 6 6 –

Waiters and waitresses .................................................. 3 3 3

Cooks ............................................................................. 4 4 4

Food counter, fountain, and related occupations ........... 2 – –

Kitchen workers, food preparation .................................. 2 2 2

Waiters’/Waitresses’ assistants ...................................... 2 – 2

Food preparation occupations, N.E.C. ........................... 2 2 2

Health service occupations ................................................. 3 3 3

Health aides, except nursing .......................................... 4 4 –

Nursing aides, orderlies and attendants ......................... 3 3 3

Cleaning and building service occupations ........................ 2 2 2

Supervisors, cleaning and building service workers ....... 5 5 –

Maids and housemen ..................................................... 2 2 –

Janitors and cleaners ..................................................... 2 2 2

Personal service occupations ............................................. 3 4 3

Attendants, amusement and recreation facilities ............ 3 – 3

Early childhood teachers’ assistants .............................. 4 – –

Child care workers, N.E.C. ............................................. 2 – 2

Service occupations, N.E.C. ........................................... 3 – 3

1 A classification system including about 480

individual occupations is used to cover all workers in

the civilian economy. Individual occupations are

classified into one of nine major occupational groups.

The occupations titled authors, musicians, actors,

painters, photographers, dancers, artists, athletes, and

legislators cannot be assigned a work level.

NOTE: Dashes indicate that no data were reported or

that data did not meet publication criteria. Overall

occupational groups and occupational levels may

include data for categories not shown separately. 

N.E.C. means "not elsewhere classified." 

NOTE: Individual and average wage rates were

collected in this update survey. A procedure was put

into place to "move" the positional statistics where

averages were collected. This procedure compares

current locality survey data–at the quote level–with the

same quote from the prior survey. Individual rates

from the prior survey are moved by the average

change in mean wages for the occupation.

A-12