For Immediate Release:

September 24, 2008

The highest paying jobs in Kansas are . . .

The 2008 Kansas Wage Survey details what employees make across the State

TOPEKA – Not surprising, but the highest paying jobs in Kansas are doctors. The ten highest paying occupations in Kansas are all health care-related, but oral and maxillofacial surgeons come in on top at an average hourly wage of $98.66 an hour.

What different types of jobs pay in Kansas are among the statistics outlined in the Kansas Wage Survey 2008 Edition. This survey, which contains occupation and wage data for the second quarter of 2007, is produced by the Kansas Occupational Employment Statistics program at the Kansas Department of Labor (KDOL), in conjunction with the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Kansas’ mean hourly wage was estimated at $17.45 in May 2007, $2.11 less than the national mean of $19.56. When comparing Kansas with the four surrounding states, we fall in the middle, paying a higher average hourly wage than Nebraska and Oklahoma but less than Missouri and Colorado.

The survey found that location plays a role in how much a worker is paid. For example, pharmacists have an average wage of $47.31 per hour in the Wichita Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA); $42.86 in both the Kansas portion of the Kansas City MSA and the Topeka MSA; $39.48 in the Lawrence MSA; and $47.45 in the Balance of the State. 

Other information found in the survey includes:

• The other nine occupations comprising the top ten wage earners in Kansas were:
• orthodontists
• obstetricians and gynecologists
• physicians and surgeons, all others
• anesthesiologists
• family and general practitioners
• psychiatrists
• internists
• podiatrists
• dentists

• The lowest paying jobs in Kansas are counter attendants, cafeteria, food concession and coffee shop workers earning an average of $7.08 per hour. Seven of the ten lowest paid occupations in Kansas were in food preparation and serving.

• Retail salespersons, cashiers, customer service representatives, registered nurses and waiters and waitresses were among the occupations with the highest estimated employment in 2007.

The Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) program produces employment and wage estimates for more than 800 occupations. The information is compiled from a semiannual mail survey and measures occupational employment and wage rates for wage and salary workers in non-farm jobs.

Approximately 5,000 employers subject to the Kansas unemployment insurance law are contacted for the survey each year. A three-year sample of nearly 15,000 employers allows production of estimates at fine levels of geographic, industrial and occupational detail.

For more information regarding the Kansas Wage Survey, visit the KDOL Labor Market Information Web site at www.dol.ks.gov/LMIS/wagesurvey/ws2008/wagesurvey_2008.html. Additional national information can be found on the Bureau of Labor Statistics Web site at http://www.bls.gov/oes/.

Kansas Department of Labor News Room

Kansas Department of Labor News Room Archive

---

For media information contact:

Kathy Toelkes
Director of Marketing & Communications
Kansas Department of Labor
Phone: 785.296.0901
e-mail