Reading Salary, Growth, and Education Data
Key ideas for interpreting BLS median pay, job outlook, and entry-level education for 5th graders.
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Questions Covered in This Set
10 cards to master
What does 'median pay' mean?
The pay of the middle worker when all workers in an occupation are lined up from lowest to highest paid — half earn more, half earn less.
Why does BLS report median instead of mean (average) wages?
A few superstar earners can pull an average far above what most workers actually make; the median better describes a typical worker.
For bakers earning $30k, $34k, $38k, $42k, and $300k, what are the mean and median?
Mean = $88.8k (higher than 4 of the 5 bakers); median = $38k, a fairer picture of a typical baker.
Where on an OOH page do you find the 10th and 90th percentile wages?
On the 'Pay' tab — use it to report an honest wage range instead of a single number.
Why should you use state-level (OES) wage data with local students?
Pay varies enormously by state, city, and experience — an RN in rural Mississippi and one in San Francisco earn very different amounts.
What two projection numbers should teachers look at, and why?
Percent change (how fast it's growing) AND numeric change/annual openings (how many actual jobs exist) — percentages hide the size of the pie.
Give the classic example of a fast-growing job with few actual openings.
Wind turbine service technicians: +60% growth but only about 5,000 extra jobs nationwide over a decade, versus home health aides at +21% with hundreds of thousands of openings.
What are 'replacement needs'?
Job openings created when workers retire or switch fields — usually the bigger source of openings, even in occupations with zero growth.
What does 'typical entry-level education' actually tell you?
What most people in that job have when they get hired — it's a floor, not a strict requirement or a fence.
Which two OOH fields next to education are often ignored?
Work experience in a related occupation, and on-the-job training (short-term, moderate-term, long-term, apprenticeship, internship/residency).
