Emurse

In 2004, earnings among nonsupervisory workers in employment services firms were $12.94 per hour and $421 per week, lower than the $15.67 an hour and $529 a week for all private industry.

Earnings vary as widely as the range of skills and formal education among workers in employment services. As in other industries, managers and professionals earn more than clerks and laborers. Also, temporary workers usually earn less than workers employed as permanent staff, but some experienced temporary workers make as much as or more than workers in similar occupations in other industries. Earnings in the largest occupations in employment services appear in table 2.

Table 2. Median hourly earnings of the largest occupations in employment services, May 2004

Occupation	Employment services	All industries
Registered nurses	$30.37	$25.16
Customer service representatives	11.11	12.99
Office clerks, general	10.05	10.95
Team assemblers	8.66	11.42
Production workers, all other	8.51	11.38
Construction laborers	8.40	12.10
Packaging and filling machine operators and tenders	8.29	10.67
Laborers and freight, stock, and material movers, hand	8.14	9.67
Helpers--production workers	8.06	9.70
Packers and packagers, hand	7.80	8.25

Most permanent workers receive basic benefits; temporary workers usually do not receive such benefits unless they work a minimum number of hours or days per week to qualify for benefit plans. Only 4 percent of workers in employment services are union members or are covered by union contracts, compared with about 14 percent of workers in all industries combined.