Median weekly earnings of the nation's 101.4 million full-time wage and salary workers were $740 in the third quarter of 2010 (not seasonally adjusted), the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. This was 0.3 percent higher than a year earlier, compared with a gain of 1.2 percent in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) over the same period.

Data on usual weekly earnings are collected as part of the Current Population Survey, a nationwide sample survey of households in which respondents are asked, among other things, how much each wage and salary worker usually earns. Data shown in this release are not seasonally adjusted unless otherwise specified. Highlights from the third-quarter data are:

- Seasonally adjusted median weekly earnings were $745 in the third quarter of 2010, little changed from the previous quarter, $744.

- On a not seasonally adjusted basis, median weekly earnings were $740 in the third quarter of 2010. Women who usually worked full time had median weekly earnings of $662, or 81.4 percent of the $813 median for men.

- The female-to-male earnings ratio was lowest among Asians and whites (80.3 and 80.7 percent, respectively), compared with blacks (93.1 percent) and Hispanics (93.3 percent).

- Among the major race and ethnicity groups, median earnings for black men working at full-time jobs were $634 per week, 75.6 percent of the median for white men, $839. The difference was less among women, as black women's median earnings ($590) were 87.1 percent of those for white women ($677). Overall, median earnings of Hispanics who worked full time ($522) were lower than those of blacks ($611), whites ($759), and Asians ($854).

- Usual weekly earnings of full-time workers varied by age. Among men, those age 45 to 54 and age 55 to 64 had the highest median weekly earnings, $941 and $983, respectively. Usual weekly earnings were highest for women from age 35 to 64; median weekly earnings were $729 for women age 35 to 44 and age 45 to 54, essentially the same as the $739 median for women age 55 to 64.

- Among the major occupational groups, persons employed full time in management, professional, and related occupations had the highest median weekly earnings - $1,255 for men and $921 for women. Men and women employed in service jobs earned the least, $511 and $425, respectively.

- By educational attainment, full-time workers age 25 and over without a high school diploma had median weekly earnings of $449, compared with $622 for high school graduates (no college) and $1,158 for those holding at least a bachelor's degree. Among college graduates with advanced degrees (professional or master's degree and above), the highest earning 10 percent of male workers made $3,146 or more per week, compared with $2,207 or more for their female counterparts.