Have you noticed an increase in the amount of bullshit floating around lately? It's not your imagination: Lawyers and PR flacks are among the growing job sectors in the Pittsburgh region. And while local proles have done reasonably well in terms of wage growth, their bosses have done even better.
Such are the revelations contained within the Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates compiled by the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. Some of the highlights of that data, based on 2010 figures for the seven-county area surrounding Pittsburgh, are below. If any of it depresses you ... just be glad you're not a telemarketer.
Average wage for Pittsburgh-area workers in 2010: $42,510
Average wage for workers nationwide: $44,410
Average wage for Pittsburgh real-estate brokers: $143,540
Average wage for real-estate brokers nationwide: $76,060
Change, since 2000, in the number of Pittsburgh-area health-care workers: +20 percent
Change in the number of Pittsburgh-area manufacturing workers: -27 percent
Average yearly salary in 2010 for a Pittsburgh-area health-care worker: $66,390
Average yearly salary for a Pittsburgh-area manufacturing employee: $35,430
Between 2005 and 2010, change in average yearly salary for all occupations in Pittsburgh region: +20 percent
Change in average yearly salary for all management positions: +27 percent
Change in average yearly salary for Pittsburgh-area CEOs: +32 percent
Change, since 2005, in the number of educators teaching business at Pittsburgh-area colleges: +105 percent
Change in the number of those teaching engineering: +17 percent
Change in the number of those teaching foreign language and literature: -4 percent
Between 2005 and 2010, change in number of people working as Pittsburgh-area reporters and news correspondents: -9.4 percent
Change in the number of people working as "public relations specialists": +92.5 percent
Average salary of a Pittsburgh-area reporter/correspondent: $43,180
Average salary of a Pittsburgh-area PR specialist: $56,890
Change in the number of Pittsburgh-area lawyers between 2005 and 2010: +19 percent
Change in overall regional employment: 0
Between 2005 and 2010, change in the number of "personal financial advisors" in the Pittsburgh region: +98 percent
Change in their average earnings: -11 percent
Between 2005 and 2010, change in the number of telemarketers working in the Pittsburgh region: -49 percent
For every dollar a telemarketer earned in 2005, amount he or she earned in 2010: $0.90
