Charles Slocs

Charles Slocs builds the data side of this site — pulling the federal wage and employment series, matching job titles to occupation codes, and working out what the numbers do and do not support. He writes the pages that are mostly a question about evidence: what a survey measured, how wide the spread really is, and which published figure is out of date.

200 articles by Charles Slocs

• Accountants and Auditors 3 min read
• Answering the Salary Expectations Question 6 min read
• Automation and the Pay Spread Inside an Occupation 5 min read
• Automotive Service Technicians and Mechanics 3 min read
• Bartenders 3 min read
• Base Pay, Gross Pay and Take-Home Are Three Different Numbers 6 min read
• Billing and Posting Clerks 3 min read
• Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks 3 min read
• Building the Case for a Raise With Numbers 5 min read
• Business Operations Specialists, All Other 3 min read
• Buyers and Purchasing Agents 3 min read
• Carpenters 3 min read
• Cashiers 3 min read
• Certifications That Change Pay, and Ones That Do Not 6 min read
• Child, Family, and School Social Workers 3 min read
• Childcare Workers 3 min read
• Choosing Where to Live Around Where the Work Is 5 min read
• Cleaners of Vehicles and Equipment 3 min read
• Commission, Tips and Piece Rates: Jobs Where Base Pay Misleads 6 min read
• Company Towns: When One Employer Dominates a Local Market 5 min read
• Comparing a Startup Offer to an Established Employer’s 6 min read
• Comparing Salaries Across Countries Without Getting It Wrong 6 min read
• Compliance Officers 3 min read
• Computer and Information Systems Managers 3 min read
• Computer User Support Specialists 3 min read
• Construction Laborers 3 min read
• Construction Managers 3 min read
• Contract, Contract-to-Hire and W-2: Comparing Across Employment Types 6 min read
• Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria 3 min read
• Cooks, Restaurant 3 min read
• Cost-of-Living Increases and Merit Increases Are Not the Same 5 min read
• Counter and Rental Clerks 3 min read
• Cross-Border and International Hiring Trends 5 min read
• Customer Service Representatives 3 min read
• Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender Helpers 3 min read
• Dishwashers 3 min read
• Driver/Sales Workers 3 min read
• Electricians 3 min read
• Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education 3 min read
• Entry-Level Pay by Occupation: What a Starting Salary Really Means 6 min read
• Exchange Rates or Purchasing Power: The Right Way to Convert 5 min read
• Executive Secretaries and Executive Administrative Assistants 3 min read
• Exposure and Displacement Are Not the Same Thing 5 min read
• Fast Food and Counter Workers 3 min read
• Fastest Growth and Most New Jobs Are Two Different Lists 5 min read
• Financial Managers 3 min read
• First-Line Supervisors of Construction Trades and Extraction Workers 3 min read
• First-Line Supervisors of Food Preparation and Serving Workers 3 min read
• First-Line Supervisors of Mechanics, Installers, and Repairers 3 min read
• First-Line Supervisors of Office and Administrative Support Workers 3 min read
• First-Line Supervisors of Production and Operating Workers 3 min read
• First-Line Supervisors of Retail Sales Workers 3 min read
• First-Line Supervisors of Transportation and Material Moving Workers, Except Aircraft Cargo Handling Supervisors 3 min read
• First-Line Supervisors of Transportation and Material Moving Workers, Except Aircraft Cargo Handling Supervisors 3 min read
• Food Preparation Workers 3 min read
• General and Operations Managers 3 min read
• Getting Paid for the Job You Are Already Doing 5 min read
• Ghost Jobs and Postings That Are Not Real Openings 5 min read
• Gross Pay Means Different Things in Different Countries 5 min read
• Growing Fields That Still Pay Poorly 5 min read
• Heating, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration Mechanics and Installers 3 min read
• Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers 3 min read
• Home Health and Personal Care Aides 3 min read
• Hosts and Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, and Coffee Shop 3 min read
• Hourly or Salaried: Which Occupations Pay Which Way 5 min read
• How an Aging Workforce Creates Openings 5 min read
• How Employer Social Contributions Change What You Really Cost 5 min read
• How Long Job Searches Actually Take 5 min read
• How Old Is the Salary Figure You Just Read? 6 min read
• How Recruiters Are Paid, and Why It Matters to You 6 min read
• How to Assess Your Own Role’s Exposure 5 min read
• How to Build a Pay Case From Published Data 5 min read
• How to Check a Salary Claim Against a Primary Source 5 min read
• How to Read a Wage Percentile Table 5 min read
• How to Value a Job Offer as One Number 5 min read
• Human Resources Specialists 3 min read
• Indicators Worth Watching Before You Start a Job Hunt 5 min read
• Industrial Machinery Mechanics 3 min read
• Industrial Truck and Tractor Operators 3 min read
• Inspectors, Testers, Sorters, Samplers, and Weighers 3 min read
• Insurance Sales Agents 3 min read
• Internal Promotion or External Hire: Which Pays Better 6 min read
• Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners 3 min read
• Job Density and Why It Beats Job Count 5 min read
• Job Titles Are Not Job Codes: Matching Your Role to the Data 5 min read
• Jobs Automation Has Reshaped Rather Than Removed 5 min read
• Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand 3 min read
• Landscaping and Groundskeeping Workers 3 min read
• Late-Career Pay: Plateau, Decline, or Neither 6 min read
• Lawyers 3 min read
• Licensed Occupations and the Pay Premium They Carry 5 min read
• Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses 3 min read
• Light Truck Drivers 3 min read
• Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners 3 min read
• Maintenance and Repair Workers, General 3 min read
• Management Analysts 3 min read
• Manager or Individual Contributor: The Pay Fork 5 min read
• Managers, All Other 3 min read
• Market Research Analysts and Marketing Specialists 3 min read
• Median vs Average Salary: Why the Gap Matters 6 min read
• Medical and Health Services Managers 3 min read
• Medical Assistants 3 min read
• Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants 3 min read
• Miscellaneous Assemblers and Fabricators 3 min read
• Naming a Number First: What the Research Says 6 min read
• Negotiating Against a Posted Range 5 min read
• Negotiating When You Have No Competing Offer 5 min read
• Negotiating Your First Job Out of School 6 min read
• Nursing Assistants 3 min read
• Occupations Most Exposed to Generative AI 5 min read
• Occupations Projected to Lose the Most Jobs 5 min read
• Occupations That Grew Against Their Own Forecast 5 min read
• Occupations Where Employer Type Moves Pay More Than Skill Does 5 min read
• Office Clerks, General 3 min read
• Openings, Hires and Quits: What Each Number Tells You 5 min read
• Operating Engineers and Other Construction Equipment Operators 3 min read
• Packers and Packagers, Hand 3 min read
• Pay After a Career Break: What the Data Shows 6 min read
• Pay Compression: When New Hires Earn More Than You 5 min read
• Pharmacy Technicians 3 min read
• Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters 3 min read
• Police and Sheriff’s Patrol Officers 3 min read
• Preschool Teachers, Except Special Education 3 min read
• Project Management Specialists 3 min read
• Promotion Without a Raise: How Often It Happens 5 min read
• Reading an Occupational Outlook Entry Properly 5 min read
• Reading an Offer Letter for What It Does Not Say 6 min read
• Receptionists and Information Clerks 3 min read
• Regions Where Your Skills Are Scarce 6 min read
• Registered Nurses 3 min read
• Reopening Pay After You Have Already Accepted 6 min read
• Replacement Demand: The Openings Nobody Talks About 6 min read
• Retail Salespersons 3 min read
• Retention Offers and Whether to Take One 6 min read
• Retraining Programs and What the Evidence Says 5 min read
• Sales Managers 3 min read
• Sales Representatives of Services, Except Advertising, Insurance, Financial Services, and Travel 3 min read
• Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing, Except Technical and Scientific Products 3 min read
• Seasonal Hiring Patterns by Industry 5 min read
• Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education 3 min read
• Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive 3 min read
• Security Guards 3 min read
• Self-Reported Salary Data vs Survey Data: Which to Trust 5 min read
• Shipping, Receiving, and Inventory Clerks 3 min read
• Signing Bonuses and the Strings Attached to Them 6 min read
• Skills That Have Held Their Value Through Automation 5 min read
• Small Metros Punching Above Their Weight 6 min read
• Social and Human Service Assistants 3 min read
• Software Developers 3 min read
• Statutory Benefits That Replace Cash Pay in Other Countries 5 min read
• Stockers and Order Fillers 3 min read
• Substance Abuse, Behavioral Disorder, and Mental Health Counselors 3 min read
• Teaching Assistants, Except Postsecondary 3 min read
• The Countries With the Highest Average Wages 5 min read
• The Fastest-Growing Occupations Over the Next Decade 6 min read
• The First Five Years: How Fast Early-Career Pay Moves 6 min read
• The Highest-Paying Jobs That Do Not Require a Degree 5 min read
• The Metro Areas Adding the Most Jobs 5 min read
• The Offer Deadline: How Much Time You Can Actually Take 6 min read
• The Pay Ceiling in Your Occupation, and How People Break It 5 min read
• The Quits Rate as a Signal About Your Own Leverage 5 min read
• The Remote Share of Postings, by Occupation 5 min read
• The Tasks Being Automated First 5 min read
• The Years-of-Experience Premium, Measured 5 min read
• Thirteenth-Month Salaries and Other Structures Americans Miss 6 min read
• Timing a Raise Request to the Budget Cycle 5 min read
• Training and Development Specialists 3 min read
• Two Offers, Different Structures: Building a Fair Comparison 6 min read
• Unemployment Rate and Labor Force Participation Are Not the Same 5 min read
• Verbal Offers, Written Offers, and What Actually Binds 5 min read
• Wage Growth Against Inflation: Are You Actually Ahead 5 min read
• Waiters and Waitresses 3 min read
• Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers 3 min read
• What a Degree Adds to Lifetime Earnings, and When It Does Not 6 min read
• What a Tough Job Market Usually Means in the Data 5 min read
• What a Typical Annual Raise Looks Like 6 min read
• What Actually Happens When You Ask for More 6 min read
• What BLS Wage Data Is, and What It Leaves Out 5 min read
• What Each Rung of a Career Ladder Typically Pays 6 min read
• What Exposure to Automation Measures, and What It Does Not 5 min read
• What Happened to the Jobs Earlier Automation Was Meant to End 5 min read
• What Is Negotiable Besides Base Pay 6 min read
• What the Top 10% of Earners in Your Occupation Make 6 min read
• What to Ask Before You Can Evaluate an Offer at All 6 min read
• What to Do When the Answer Is No 5 min read
• When Leaving Is the Only Real Raise 5 min read
• When Published Pay Data Simply Does Not Exist for Your Job 5 min read
• When to Walk Away From an Offer on Pay Alone 6 min read
• Where Employers Are Moving Work To 5 min read
• Where Hiring Moves When It Moves Between Sectors 5 min read
• Where Your Occupation Pays Best Outside the US 5 min read
• Which Countries Publish Occupation-Level Wage Data 5 min read
• Which Growing Jobs Actually Have a Route Into Them 5 min read
• Which Occupations Concentrate in Which Places 5 min read
• Which Occupations Have the Widest Pay Spread 5 min read
• Why Employment Projections Get Revised, and by How Much 5 min read
• Why Pay Growth Slows Down Mid-Career 5 min read
• Why Salary Sites Disagree About the Same Job 6 min read
• Why Two People With the Same Job Title Earn Very Different Amounts 6 min read
• Working Abroad: Where the Take-Home Actually Lands 5 min read