During the past 12 months, some 95 million working Americans — representing 82 percent of the workforce — received real wage gains, according to the National Association of Manufacturers' Annual Labor Day Report. Manufacturing workers led the pack, earning 30 percent more than the average wage for the private sector workforce.
“This marks the broadest gain in real wages since 2000, when 95 percent of the workforce experienced real wage gains,” said NAM Chief Economist David Huether. “In fact, during the past 12 months only three industry sectors experienced declines in real wages: retail trade, transportation and warehousing, and utilities.”
Huether said the average yearly compensation for a full-time worker in manufacturing rose to $68,860, compared with an average of $53,500 in the rest of the private sector workforce, in large measure because modern manufacturing demands advanced skills and training.
Access www.nam.org to see the full Annual Labor Report.