Technical information:(202) 691-6378     USDL 08-1460
             http://www.bls.gov/cps/
                                         For release:  10:00 A.M. (EDT)
Media contact:        (202) 691-5902     Friday, October 17, 2008
                                   
                                   
           USUAL WEEKLY EARNINGS OF WAGE AND SALARY WORKERS:
                          THIRD QUARTER 2008


   Median weekly earnings of the nation's 107.2 million full-time wage
and salary workers were $720 in the third quarter of 2008, the Bureau 
of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today.  
This was 3.6 percent higher than a year earlier, compared with a gain 
of 5.3 percent in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers 
(CPI-U) over the same period.

   Data on usual earnings are collected as part of the Current Popula-
tion Survey, a nationwide sample survey of households in which respon-
dents are asked, among other things, how much each wage and salary 
worker usually earns.  (See the Technical Note.)  Highlights from the 
third-quarter data are:

   --Women who usually worked full time had median earnings of $631 per 
   week, or 79.3 percent of the $796 median for men.  The female-to-
   male earnings ratios were higher among Hispanics (88.0 percent) and
   blacks (82.0 percent) than among whites (79.5 percent) or Asians 
   (75.3 percent).  (See table 1.)

   --Median earnings for black men working at full-time jobs were $646
   per week, 79.2 percent of the median for white men ($816).  The dif-
   ference was less among women, as black women's median earnings ($530) 
   were 81.7 percent of those for their white counterparts ($649).  Over-
   all, median earnings of Hispanics who worked full time ($529) were
   lower than those of blacks ($589), whites ($739), and Asians ($854).
   (See table 1.)

   --Among men, those age 45 to 54 had the highest median weekly earnings 
   ($964).  Women age 45 to 54 had median earnings of $716, essentially 
   the same as those age 55 to 64 ($715).  (See table 2.)

   --Among the major occupational groups, persons employed full time in 
   managerial, professional, and related occupations had the highest me-
   dian weekly earnings--$1,234 for men and $916 for women.  Persons em-
   ployed in service jobs earned the least.  (See table 3.)

   --Full-time workers age 25 and over without a high school diploma had 
   median weekly earnings of $471, compared with $618 for high school
   graduates (no college) and $1,131 for those holding at least a bache-
   lor's degree.  Among college graduates with advanced degrees (profes-
   sional or master's degree and above), the highest earning 10 percent 
   of male workers made $3,192 or more per week, compared with $2,287 or 
   more for their female counterparts.  (See table 4.)