2001 Occupational Employment and Wages — 2002-11-06

Management and legal occupations were the highest paying occupations in 2001, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor. (See chart 1.) These estimates for wage and salary workers are from the Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) survey, a federal-state coopera- tive program between BLS and State Employment Security Agencies (SESAs). The OES survey provides estimates of employment, average (mean) and median hourly wages, and mean annual wages for 770 detailed occupations and for 22 major occupational groups, as defined by the Standard Occupational Classifi- cation (SOC) system. (See Technical Note.) Table A displays the number of detailed occupations within each major occupational group, as well as the level and distribution of employment and the mean hourly wage for each occupational group. The major group with the largest employment in 2001 was office and administrative support occupations, with 18 percent of total employment.