Seattle workers earn 23 percent more than national average, labor department says
By Seattle Business Magazine September 7, 2011
New
BLS Data: Seattle workers earn 23% more than national average
The latest BLS News Release showing employment and wage data
for occupations in the Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, WA Metropolitan Division is
now available online at https://www.bls.gov/ro9/oesseat.pdf.
Employment counts and average hourly rates of pay are
available for all jobs in the area. Items of note include:
The average
worker in the Seattle area earned $26.25/hr in May 2010, roughly 23% above the
U.S. average of $21.35/hr
Management
occupations in the area were highest paid at $58.16/hr, followed by Legal
occupations at $45.68/hr
Computer and
Mathematical occupations accounted for 6.4% of local employment, compared to
2.6% nationally
The Seattle area
had the 8th highest concentration of Computer and Mathematical jobs
out of 400+ metro areas nationwide
Software
Application Developers averaged $46.49/hr locally, and had a total employment
count of 23,630
2 occupational
groups each had over 10% of the total area employment: Office and
Administrative Support (15.0%), and Sales and Related (10.7%)
Example of detailed data available:
Major occupational group |
Percent of total employment |
Average hourly wage |
||||
United States |
Seattle |
United States |
Seattle |
|||
Total, all |
100.0% |
100.0% |
|
$21.35 |
$26.25 |
|
Management |
4.7 |
5.4 |
50.69 |
58.16 |
||
Business and financial operations |
4.8 |
6.6 |
32.54 |
35.38 |
||
Computer and mathematical |
2.6 |
6.4 |
37.13 |
42.94 |
||
Architecture and engineering |
1.8 |
3.6 |
36.32 |
39.38 |
||
Life, physical, and social science |
0.8 |
1.3 |
31.92 |
32.86 |
||
Community and social service |
1.5 |
1.3 |
20.76 |
21.25 |
||
Legal |
0.8 |
0.9 |
46.60 |
45.68 |
||
Education, training, and library |
6.7 |
4.9 |
24.25 |
26.25 |
||
(cont…) |