May 2021 Occupational Employment and Wages — 2022-03-31

Healthcare practitioners and technical occupations had employment of 8.8 million in May 2021, representing 6.2 percent of total national employment, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. The largest healthcare practitioners and technical occupations were registered nurses (3.0 million) and licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses (641,240). The annual mean wage across all healthcare practitioners and technical occupations was $91,100, compared with the U.S. average wage of $58,260. (See table 1.) The Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) program provides employment and wage estimates for about 830 occupations in the nation, states, and approximately 530 areas. National data are available by industry for approximately 415 industry classifications and by ownership across all industries and for the educational services and hospitals industries. This news release features healthcare practitioners and technical occupations, transportation and material moving occupations, and protective service occupations, in addition to employment and wages by typical entry-level educational requirement and STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) occupations.