May 2011 Occupational Employment and Wages — 2012-03-27

Retail salespersons and cashiers were the occupations with the highest employment in 2011, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. These two occupations combined made up nearly 6 percent of total U.S. employment, with employment levels of 4.3 and 3.3 million, respectively. National employment and wage information for all occupations is shown in table 1. These data are from the Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) program, which provides employment and wage estimates by area and by industry for wage and salary workers in 22 major occupational groups and nearly 800 detailed occupations. --The 10 largest occupations accounted for more than 20 percent of total employment in May 2011. In addition to retail salespersons and cashiers, the largest occupations included general office clerks; combined food preparation and serving workers, including fast food; registered nurses; waiters and waitresses; and customer service representatives. --Most of the largest occupations were relatively low paying.