Chart assignment
Charts to read and discuss
Read each chart, then answer its questions. Every chart shows its source and date; open it for a table of the numbers and the data to download.
Chart 1 of 1 · Jobs and wages
How much does a typical US full-time worker earn each week?
The interactive chart needs JavaScript. The numbers are on the chart's page.
The typical (median) full-time worker earned $1,232 a week in the third quarter of 2026, up from $234 in early 1979, about 5.3 times as much. That is in dollars of the day, not adjusted for inflation: consumer prices rose about 4.8 times from early 1979 to mid-2026. The fourth quarter of 2025 is missing because a lapse in federal funding stopped the survey in October 2025.
Questions to discuss
- In one sentence of your own, what does this chart show?
- Find the biggest change or difference in the chart. What might explain it?
- Who collected these numbers, and how recent are they? What else would you want to know before drawing a conclusion?
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Usual Weekly Earnings (Current Population Survey) (Public domain (U.S. government work)) · Data as of Sep 30, 2026
Open the chart and its numbersTeachers: make your own chart assignment, or change this one. Free, no account needed.