By Holly Harber
MERIC’s 2000-2001 Occupational Employment Statistics Survey collected employment and wage information on over 650 occupations in the state of Missouri. There were almost 2.7 million jobs in the state with average earnings of $30,757 per year for those jobs. Does this mean that all workers can expect $30,000 per year? Not at all! The highest paid professionals average over $100,000 per year while the lowest paid workers in Missouri can make less than $15,000 annually.
Of the 25 highest paying occupations, 9 represented Healthcare Practitioners, 6 were Management, 4 occupations fell in Sciences, and 2 were Education occupations. The remaining four occupations were in Mathematical, Legal, Sales, or Transportation occupations. The 25 occupations accounted for fewer than 58,000 actual jobs held, roughly 2% of all jobs statewide. The average wage for these occupations was $90,863, about three times the average for all jobs.
The 25 lowest paying occupations had similar clustering, though the wages and employment numbers were very different. While the average wages for all of these occupations was well above the $5.15 per hour federal minimum wage, none of the workers averaged more than $17,000 per year. Nine of these occupations represented the Personal Care group, eight were Food Service occupations, two were Transportation occupations, and the remaining occupations represented the Education, Healthcare Support, Building Maintenance, Sales, Administrative Support, or Farming/Forestry/Fishing Occupational groups. The average annual earnings for this group was $14,930 and these occupations accounted for 312,000 jobs or 11.6% of all jobs in Missouri.
*Hourly Average Wage estimate not available
**Employment estimate not available.
