respondents are asked, among other things, how much each wage and salary worker usually earns.
Highlights from the fourth-quarter data are:
- Women who usually worked full time had median earnings of $650 per week, or 80.5 percent of the $807 median for men. The female- to-male earnings ratios were higher among blacks (92.1 percent) and Hispanics (90.9 percent) than among whites (80.1 percent) or Asian(79.1 percent).
- Median earnings for black men working at full-time jobs were $618 per week, 74.2 percent of the median for white men ($833). The difference was less among women, as black women's median earnings($569) were 85.3 percent of those for their white counterparts ($667). Overall, median earnings of Hispanics who worked full time ($535) were lower than those of blacks ($593), whites ($748), and Asians ($889).
- Among men, those age 45 to 54 had the highest median weekly earnings ($951). Among women, weekly earnings were highest for those age 45 to 54 and age 55 to 64, $714 and $711, respectively.
- Among the major occupational groups, persons employed full time in management, professional, and related occupations had the highest median weekly earnings - $1,238 for men and $881 for women. Persons employed in service jobs earned the least.
- Full-time workers age 25 and over without a high school diploma had median weekly earnings of $459, compared with $619 for high school graduates (no college) and $1,115 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 $2,991 or more per week, compared with $2,147 or more for their female counterparts.
