American pay is slowly gaining, with average hourly earnings climbing 5.6% in the 12 months through March. But in some places, it is positively soaring.
Among the highest paying sectors for entry-level workers are technology, banking, management consulting and law. Top college graduates receive starting pay of more than $100,000 a year in those fields.
To be sure, some of the lucky few who get those jobs might be put off by long hours and sometimes unrewarding work once they get there.
In any case, wage growth is producing much higher pay at the top of the totem pole than at the bottom.
“What we’re seeing is clearly increasing inequality and the gap keeps growing,” Nicholas Bloom, economics professor at Stanford University, told the BBC.
“If you have a computer-science degree you can be earning $250,000 by 25, while if you left school at 16, you might be earning $25,000.”
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So Who Makes the Most? It’s not just veteran workers who are enjoying increases.
Top global investment banks raised wages for interns by a whopping 37.2% for the current internship season from a year earlier, according to finance career site Wall Street Oasis, as cited by Bloomberg.
Proprietary trading firm Jane Street is doling out $16,356 a month to interns. That would translate to more than $196,000 a year.
Wall Street Oasis founder Patrick Curtis told Bloomberg that wage gains over the last year for beginning bankers at big time institutions are the largest he has witnessed since starting his company in 2006.
Minimum Wage IncreasesEntry level workers in lower-paid fields also are seeing wage increases, though in a much lower dollar range.
Target announced in February that some starting workers will garner pay of as much as $24 an hour this year. Regular starting pay at Target was $15 an hour as of February, according to consumer web site Cheapism.
The Hobby Lobby minimum wage rose to $18.50 in January from $17 previously. Ikea increased its U.S. minimum wage to $16 at the beginning of the year. Macy’s said last year that it would raise its minimum wage to $15 an hour by May 2022.