View charts of information on job types, pay, growth. The median wage provides a more accurate picture of what the typical worker earns than an average of all workers' wages by avoiding wage inflation or deflation by a few highly or lowly paid workers. The median wage represents the middle figure of all the wages reported for each occupation. Half the workers earned more, and half the workers less than that dollar figure. High and low ranges for each occupation exclude the 25 percent of workers who earned less than the low end of the range and the 25 percent who earned more than the high end of the range, again to avoid wage inflation or deflation.
Wages exclude overtime, tips, severance pay, stock options and other nonproduction bonuses.
The wage and occupation data should be used with care. All numbers represent estimates. The survey is subject to sampling error and non-sampling error from inability or unwillingness of respondents to give correct information. The national Occupational Employment Statistics survey is an annual U.S. Department of Labor survey of more than 700 occupations that provides estimates of employment and wages by industry for states, regions and metropolitan statistical areas. Information was collected during the weeks of Oct. 12, Nov. 12 and Dec. 12, 1998.