Most New Yorkers know they make more money here than they would doing the same job almost anywhere else -- even if what they are making never feels like enough. But who knew that fitness trainers and aerobics instructors make almost as much as sociologists and nearly twice as much as preschool teachers?
Chief executives, lawyers, surgeons and brokers make more than most other groups, according to a report released on Tuesday by the Bureau of Labor Sta-tistics. And the people who park their cars, do their pedicures, deliver their packages and care for their children are among those making the least.
In between those extremes falls a wide array of New Yorkers -- architects earning less than fashion designers but slightly more than telemarketers; butchers whose wages top bakers'; public relations specialists making less than half what dentists earn but more than paralegals.
The report, the first of its kind by the New York office of the bureau, found that workers here earn 29.4 percent more per hour than the national average in their professions. In sales, which includes certain jobs in financial services, earnings exceeded the national average by more than 50 percent. Even those in the lowest-paid group, food preparation and serving, were making 25 percent more than the national average for that category.
The only region with a higher average wage than New York's is the San Francisco region, said Michael Dolfman, the New York regional commissioner for the bureau, which is a division of the Department of Labor.
"For the first time, we've been able to quantify the difference in wages from the national level to the New York region," Dolfman said.
"People have talked about this, but we believe this is one of the first reports that quantifies what that is, not only in general terms but by specific categories of employment," he said.
The report is based on an annual mail survey of 400,000 employers nationwide. Using data collected in 1998, 1999 and 2000, the bureau estimated average wages in 2001.
Employers were asked to report the number of employees they had in each of 12 wage groups. The groups range from "under US$6.75 an hour" to "US$70 an hour and over."
"If you're making US$8 million, you're not going to tell us that you make US$8 million," Dolfman said, referring to the leeriness with which some people approach federal questionnaires about income.
"So, the highest level on our scale is US$70 an hour," he said.
He added, "People are willing to say that they make X if they really makes 10 times X."
For that reason, the report contains little detail about incomes at the high end of the spectrum. In addition, because the data were collected before 2001, the report does not reflect the recession and the effects of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
According to the report, the broad occupational groups with the highest average hourly wages in New York, as well as nationally, are management and the law.
Among managers, chief executives top the list. In the legal profession, the bureau put the hourly wage of lawyers in the region at US$52.21.
People in the category of securities, commodities and financial services sales had an hourly wage of US$51.70.
At the other end of the scale, the report estimated the hourly wage of fast-food cooks at US$6.35, home health aides at US$8.50 and couriers and messengers at US$9.64.
The average for child-care workers was US$10.01, preschool teachers US$13.50 and maids and housekeepers US$13.66.
The bureau estimated the average wage of fitness trainers and aerobics instructors at US$24.49, sociologists at US$28.62, architects at US$31.70 and fashion designers at US$33.65.
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