Occupational Employment and Wages, 2008
"In 2008, the U.S. median wage was $15.57 per hour or $32,390 per year,
according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) of the U.S. Department
of Labor. These data are from the Occupational Employment Statistics (OES)
program, which provides employment and wage estimates for wage and salary
workers in 22 major occupational groups and 801 detailed occupations. OES
produces data by occupation for the nation, states, metropolitan areas,
metropolitan divisions, and nonmetropolitan areas, and by occupation and
industry for the nation. National cross-industry employment and wage infor-
mation for all occupations is shown in table 1. Complete data are available
from the OES homepage at http://www.bls.gov/oes/."