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Workers in this occupation group help with the day-to-day activities of running a business, such as coordinating employee benefits or purchasing supplies. This article also highlights occupations in which workers put in more than the average hours for all full-time workers (about 42 hours per week in 2015, according to BLS). Information about wages, employment, and job outlook is specific to the occupations in each group, so the details provided vary. The sections that follow highlight selected high-paying occupations in five groups: Occupations with many jobs and those projected to have many job openings might offer more opportunity.
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To help you gauge current and projected job prospects for the occupations highlighted in this article, the tables also show BLS data for the number of jobs in 2014 and projected job openings between 20. Once you have an idea of what will be a good fit, you’ll want to know whether you’ll be able to find employment in your career of choice. Also think about whether a particular occupation is a good fit for your interests and skills. It’s important to consider more than your potential paycheck when choosing a career. Compare these with percentile wages in the tables for business occupations. The illustration shows percentile wages for all workers in May 2015, according to BLS: $18,870 (10th percentile), $36,200 (median), and $92,110 (90th percentile). (BLS also publishes wage estimates at the 25th and 75th percentiles.) And the 90th percentile wage, where 90 percent earned less and 10 percent more, are more likely to be what highly experienced workers made.
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The 50th percentile (median) wage-half made less, half made more-may approximate what mid-career workers earned. The 10th percentile wage for an occupation is the point at which 10 percent of workers in that occupation earned less than that amount, and 90 percent earned more these wages may be closer to what workers made at the entry level. In the tables that follow, percentiles show how wages were distributed within an occupation. A number of other factors might affect wages, too, such as where you work (both geographic location and employer) and what your specific job tasks are. Rather, wages typically increase as you gain experience. As with most fields, business occupations may not pay a lot when you’re first starting out.
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