Half of American occupations earn less than in 2015 — after inflation
In 372 of 717 occupations the median wage grew slower than prices between May 2015 and May 2024. That is 54.5 million workers. The occupations that gained are the ones that pay least.
Cite as: FACTANKER, https://factanker.com/record/half-of-american-occupations-lost-ground-since-2015
The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes a median wage for every occupation in the United States, once a year, every May. We now hold ten of those years, 2015 through 2024, and every number on this page links to the record it came from.
Put the first year next to the last one and adjust for prices, and the picture is not the one you hear. Consumer prices rose 32.3 percent over those nine years. In 372 of 717 occupations — 51.9 percent — the median wage rose by less. Those occupations employed 54,485,790 people in May 2024, out of 126,484,230 in the occupations we can compare.
Who lost the most
Only occupations with more than 200,000 workers are listed.
| Occupation | May 2015 | May 2024 | Nominal | After inflation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Postal Service Mail Carriers | $58,280 | $57,490 | −1.4 % | −25.5 % |
| General and Operations Managers | $97,730 | $102,950 | +5.3 % | −20.4 % |
| Logisticians | $74,260 | $80,880 | +8.9 % | −17.7 % |
| Securities and Financial Sales Agents | $71,550 | $78,140 | +9.2 % | −17.5 % |
| Middle School Teachers | $55,860 | $62,970 | +12.7 % | −14.8 % |
| Secondary School Teachers | $57,200 | $64,580 | +12.9 % | −14.7 % |
| Special Education Teachers, Elementary | $55,810 | $63,000 | +12.9 % | −14.7 % |
| Training and Development Specialists | $58,210 | $65,850 | +13.1 % | −14.5 % |
Mail carriers are the clearest case: their median wage is lower in dollars in 2024 than it was in 2015, before any adjustment at all.
Who gained
The occupations that beat inflation by the widest margin are the ones at the bottom of the pay scale.
| Occupation | After inflation | Workers, May 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop and Nursery | +36.4 % | 261,690 |
| Waiters and Waitresses | +32.5 % | 2,241,960 |
| Dishwashers | +31.5 % | 471,670 |
| Bartenders | +29.7 % | 745,610 |
| Food Preparation Workers | +28.1 % | 888,770 |
| Dining Room Attendants | +28.0 % | 522,010 |
It runs by occupational group, not by chance
Group the 717 occupations by their major SOC group and the losses cluster where the credentials are.
| Occupational group | Occupations compared | Below inflation | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Educational Instruction and Library | 56 | 55 | 98 % |
| Architecture and Engineering | 35 | 33 | 94 % |
| Business and Financial Operations | 30 | 26 | 87 % |
| Life, Physical, and Social Science | 38 | 31 | 82 % |
| Management | 31 | 23 | 74 % |
| Healthcare Practitioners and Technical | 42 | 25 | 60 % |
Of the 56 teaching and library occupations we can compare, 55 earn less in real terms than in 2015. The exception is a single occupation, not a trend.
What this is and what it is not
This compares the median wage of an occupation in two years. It is not the same as what an individual worker earns over time: a person who stayed in the job for nine years may have moved up within it. An occupation whose median fell can still pay a given person more than it did.
Two mechanics matter. First, the mix inside an occupation changes — if an occupation hires many beginners, its median falls without anyone being paid less. Second, minimum wage increases lift the bottom of the scale directly, which is the most likely reason the food service occupations lead the gainers.
We used the CPI-U annual average for all urban consumers: 237.017 in 2015 and 313.689 in 2024, a factor of 1.32349. A different price index gives different cut-offs; the ordering of the occupations does not change.
The wage figures are the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May estimates, cross-industry, national. Every occupation below has its full ten-year series with the source record behind each number.