Installing braces is a great racket, many athletes aren't actually overpaid, the most common jobs pay peanuts, and doctors make bank. You know what that means: the Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics has released their Occupational Employment and Wages Report for May 2013! Let's see how dispiriting the economy really is.
Retail salespersons and cashiers are making up the largest portion of national employment, combining to cover almost 6 percent of all U.S. jobs, and the service industry basically rounds out the top 10. In decreasing order: food workers (preparation and serving, including fast food), general office clerks, registered nurses, waitstaff, customer service reps, freight, stock, and material hand movers and laborers, secretaries and administrative assistants (with the exception of legal, medical, and executive), and janitors and cleaners.
It should come as no surprise, however, that the top 10 most common jobs are also among the least compensated, with only nurses making more than the $46,440 yearly average for all U.S. jobs. Food prep and service workers average just $18,880 a year, making them the lowest paid occupational group in the country, but we kind of knew that, considering those stolen wages.
The Wall Street Journal dug deeper into the report, discovering some noteworthy statistics. Among them: athletes make on average $39,050, less than what LeBron James makes per quarter of a basketball game, anesthesiologists have the highest average salary at $235,070, and that orthodontists ($196,270) make more than CEOs ($178,400). To be fair, there are nearly five times as many CEOs as there are orthodontists, and some kids are born with perfect teeth.
The takeaway? A huge portion of our economy is service-based, and all of those positions are dramatically underpaid.
