LMID - contains statewide and metropolitan area wages from the Occupational Employment Survey and local wages from the California Cooperative Occupational Information System surveys.  http://www.calmis.cahwnet.gov/htmlfile/subject/OCCup$.HTM

 

BLS - Occupational Compensation Surveys - extensive information for large occupations--wages by public/private sector, full-/part-time, and level.  Available for Los Angeles, San Francisco Bay Area, San Diego and Sacramento so far.  http://stats.bls.gov/compub.htm

 

BLS - Occupational Employment Statistics for California - wages for virtually all OES coded occupations--statewide information, but maybe useful when more local data not available.  http://stats.bls.gov:80/oes/state/oes_ca.htm

 

BLS - Occupational Employment Statistics for the U.S. - see above.  http://stats.bls.gov/oes/national/oes_nat.htm

 

BLS - Occupational Employment Statistics for other states - see above.  http://stats.bls.gov/oes/state/oessrch2.htm

 

BLS - Employee Benefits Survey - typical benefit packages for private and public sector employers.  Small vs. medium and large firms, full- vs. part-time workers. Get Adobe Acrobat Reader free off the Internet to read the pdf version of report--it's better than text version.  http://stats.bls.gov/ebshome.htm

 

America's Career InfoNet - Salary and Wage Links - if you can't find the wage you want from the above sources, some of these links may get you to it.  http://www.acinet.org/resource/salary/

 

BLS - Occupational Outlook Handbook - not a primary source for wage data but okay if you'll settle for a general idea of how much is paid by occupation.  http://stats.bls.gov/ocohome.htm

 

Prevailing Wages in the Building Trades - the California Department of Industrial Relations is responsible for determining the prevailing wages to be paid by building contractors who get contracts with State and/or local funding.  http://www.dir.ca.gov/DIR/S&R/statistics_research.html

 

Private sector websites tend offer national and industry-specific data.  Often,  their job categories are more specific than you'll typically find in government surveys.  The following sites have links and/or wage data of their own.  

 

JobStar Salary Links - a large collection of surveys from many sources.  http://jobstar.org/tools/salary/index.htm

 

CareerMosaic - business, finance, computers, engineering and education are the strong suit here.  http://www.careermosaic.com/cm/crc/crc18.html

 

Wall Street Journal - CAREERS, NOT JUST JOBS - an extensive collection of data from the National Business Employment Weekly.  Click on "Salaries and Profiles" from the list on the left side of the screen.  http://careers.wsj.com/

 

         

 

 

U.S. MinimumWage -  the national minimum is currently (October 1998) below California's.  http://www2.dol.gov/dol/esa/public/youth/mwtour4.htm

 

California Minimum Wage - this is the minimum wage in the State.  http://www.dir.ca.gov/DIR/Labor_Law/DLSE/Rights/Minimum_Wage.html

 

 

 

         

 

 

The Federal Reserve Bank's CPI Calculation Machine - handy when you want to compare costs/values over time--even back to 1913.  http://woodrow.mpls.frb.fed.us/economy/calc/cpihome.html

 

Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Cost Trends - get Adobe Acrobat Reader free off the Internet if you don't already have it, and look at the pdf versions of the data--they're much easier to follow.  The employment cost index will show how wages and benefits have risen better than the more general consumer price index--but it's more work than the the CPI Calculation Machine.  http://stats.bls.gov/ecthome.htm

 

LA and Bay Area CPIs - the Bureau of Labor Statistics' local consumer price index--monthly for Los Angeles-Riverside-Orange Metropolitan Area and bimonthly for the San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose Metropolitan Area.  http://stats.bls.gov:80/news.release/cpi.t03.htm

 

California, Los Angeles and Bay Area CPI - Statewide CPI based on the LA and Bay Area CPIs from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  http://www.dir.ca.gov/DIR/S&R/statistics_research.html

 

 

          

 

 

These two calculators have somewhat different lists of areas covered.  If you don't find your choices in one, check the other.

 

CareerBuilder - look for their "Salary Calculator."

 http://www.careerbuilder.com/

 

Money Online - from Money Magazine.  http://cgi.pathfinder.com/@@RaZkCgQATWuV1@zS/cgi-bin/Money/col.cgi