U.S. Median Weekly Earnings Hit $682

America's 106.9 million full-time and salaried workers earned a gross median weekly income of $682 during the final quarter of 2006, a figure 3.5 percent higher than at the same time last year, according to the latest Weekly Earnings Report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Women who worked full-time reported median weekly earnings of $609, or 81.3 percent of the $749 median for men, a ratio that has increased steadily since 1979, when women's median earnings were only 62.5 percent of men's.

Median earnings for black men working at full-time jobs were $605 per week, or 79.1 percent of the $765 median for white men.

Men in the age groups 55 to 64 and 45 to 54 had the highest median weekly earnings, $919 and $907, respectively.

The Weekly Earnings Report is 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.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics is a component of the U.S. Department of Labor, a regulatory, Cabinet-level agency.

Also See:
Many U.S. Jobs Have Become Less Male-dominated
Union Workers Earn More Than Nonunion
Education Greatly Boosts Women's Earnings: Report