PROVIDENCE – The median hourly wage for Rhode Islanders in May 2017 was $19.45 per hour, according to the latest Occupational Employment Statistics survey conducted by the labor market information segment of the R.I. Department of Labor and Training.
In May 2016, the median hourly wage was 35 cents lower at $19.10 per hour.
Rhode Island’s median wage was 7.3 percent higher then the United States’ median of $18.12 per hour.
The Rhode Island median entry-level hourly rate was $12.77 per hour while the median “experienced” hourly pay was $31.41 per hour.
The report said that the best-paying occupational group was management occupations, which paid an hourly rate of $57.35 per hour and made up 4.4 percent of the state’s workforce. The group has an entry-level hourly wage of $42.43 per hour and an experienced hourly of $76.94 per hour.
Computer and mathematical occupations had the second-highest median hourly rate at $40.04. Architecture and engineering occupations had the third-highest hourly rate at $39.71 per hour.
Farming, fishing and forestry’s median hourly wage of $14.27 per hour was the highest difference from the U.S. median of any major occupational group in the state with pay that was 21.7 percent greater than the U.S. median for that group of workers of $11.73 per hour. Legal occupations had the worst comparison to the U.S. median of any occupational group in the state, earning 8.5 percent less than the U.S. median hourly pay at $35.24 per hour, compared with $38.50 per hour.
The report also contained the top-paying occupations by education and training requirements for 2017:
For a master’s degree computer and information research scientists rated highest, with a median yearly wage of $116,640. For a bachelor’s degree, human resources managers had the highest median wage in the state at $146,280. For an associate’s degree, air traffic controllers ranked highest with a median wage of $105,040.
For a postsecondary nondegree, insurance appraisers, auto damage had the highest median wage with $79,100 a year.
In 2017, office and administrative support occupations had the largest number of workers in the state with 15.5 percent of the workforce. The group was paid a median hourly wage of $18.32 per hour.
Chris Bergenheim is the PBN web editor.
