Report: Wages Up Slightly in Fourth Quarter

Weekly earnings in the final three months of 2014 increased 1.7 percent compared to the same timeframe in the previous year, according to numbers from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Data collected through the bureau's Current Population Survey — which polls a sample of households nationwide — showed median weekly earnings for full-time wage and salary workers were $799 in the fourth quarter.

The increase, compared to the fourth quarter of 2013, narrowly eclipsed the 1.2 percent gain in the consumer price index over that span. When seasonally adjusted, median earnings were $796 per week, down slightly from the $797 level in the previous quarter.

Individuals employed in management, business and financial operations occupations had the highest average earnings at $1,241 per week, followed by those in professional and related occupations ($1,099), installation, maintenance and repair occupations ($814) and construction and extraction occupations ($786).

Production occupations had average earnings of $655 per week, while service occupations and farming, fishing and forestry occupations had the lowest average earnings in the survey.

The BLS survey showed women earned $724 on average per week, or roughly 82 percent of the $882 average for men. Based on ethnicity, Asians earned $959, while whites earned $823, blacks earned $621 and Latinos earned $600.

BLS numbers released earlier this month showed employers adding some 866,000 jobs in the fourth quarter, exceeding analysts’ expectations, but average hourly wage growth declined in December following a robust increase in November.