Note on “median” versus “average” earnings:
The “median” is the value point where 50% of all workers in an occupation have higher earnings and 50% have lower earnings. It’s considered a more stable measurement of actual earnings because the value for “average” earnings may be skewed if there is an uneven distribution of either very low- or highly-paid workers in an occupation. Likewise the value of the “10th percentile” indicates that only 10 percent of workers in an occupation earn less than that amount; at the 90th percentile, only 10 percent of workers earn more than that amount.

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