The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes dozens of reports on many aspects of the nation’s economy, including unemployment, employment trends, wages, earnings and benefits, consumer prices, producer prices, imports and exports, and leading economic indicators.
The charts below show average weekly earnings based on the industry of employment, rather than job function, to show which kinds of employers where pressured by demand, the pandemic, or economic trends to increase employee wages.
Each chart contains four industries under the broader category listed. The charts update automatically with the release of new data from the BLS. Check back to see how the numbers change.
As the title implies, all private industries includes all employers that are not municipal, county, state or federal government units. Wages in the private sector have increased 13.5% since January of 2020, slightly below the 14.9% rate of inflation for the same period computed with the BLS inflation calculator. Most of that inflation has been recorded in the past year. From June 2020 to June 2021, the cost of living rose 5.4%, while it rose 9.1% from June 2021 to June 2022.
The wage increases have been far from uniform across various industries. See the differences below.
The health care sector accounts for about 11% of the workforce, and about 8 cents of every dollar spent, according to the BLS.
One of the broadest categories of industrial activity, manufacturing is generally broken down into two major categories: durable goods and non-durable goods. Durable includes such industries as computers and electronics, wood products, iron and steel mills, and machine manufacturing.
Examples of non-durable good industries include: Food packaging and production, textile mills, clothing manufacturing, bakeries, chemicals and plastics.
The transportation sector includes all forms of transport for people and goods, including air, rail, waterways, pipelines and roadways.
This sector includes the engineering and construction of the built environment, including buildings, utility systems, highways, bridges and dams. The equipment utilized in construction falls under manufacturing.
Retailers sell everything from cars to cucumbers. Retail establishments can be brick and mortar businesses, such as a florist or gas station, or they can be online retailers such as Newegg, Etsy, or Amazon.
Motels, bowling alleys, restaurants, theaters, casinos, bars and nightclubs are examples of leisure and hospitality industries. This sector has been under a lot of wage pressure to retain or rehire employees, although most industries within the sector pay less than the U.S. average of $1,107 per week.
While accurate and timely news and information has been more valuable over the course of the pandemic, the communications industry — including print, radio, television and internet media — has among the lowest wage growth of any sector, although salaries tend to be above the national average.
Banks, insurance companies, landscapers, legal firms, credit unions and Realtors are some of the varied industries included in this compound category of Financial activities and Professional or business services. While generally well paid, these jobs have fallen behind inflation over the last two years.