By Pacific Island Times News Staff
Workers on Guam had a mean average hourly wage of $20.29 in May 2023, compared to the nationwide average of $31.48, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' report released July 11.
Chris Rosenlund, regional commissioner, noted that higher-paying major occupational groups included legal ($43.36), healthcare practitioners and technical ($38.74), and management ($36.75).
Lower-paying occupations included food preparation and serving-related ($11.03), building and grounds cleaning and maintenance ($11.48), and personal care and service ($11.89).
Occupational groups with the highest employment in the Guam area included office and administrative support (14.1 percent), construction and extraction (11 percent), and food preparation and serving related (10.9 percent).
Major occupational groups on the lower end of local employment included legal (0.5 percent); arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media (0.7 percent); and life, physical, and social science (1.1 percent).
One occupational group—construction and extraction—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Guam had 7,110 jobs in construction and extraction, accounting for 11.0 percent of local area employment, compared to the 4.1-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $18.30, compared to the national wage of $29.57.
Some of the larger detailed occupations within the construction and extraction group included carpenters (1,630), construction laborers (1,050), and electricians (720).
Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were hazardous materials removal workers and first-line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers, with mean hourly wages of $26.86 and $26.08, respectively.
At the lower end of the wage scale were construction laborers ($13.68) and helpers of pipelayers, plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters ($14.09).
Comments