Main Street Finance

Wage Wars: The Average Salaries of these Industries Are Increasing

By Brittany Hawthorne

In a time when things are seemingly financially unstable, it’s always nice to hear that there are jobs out there with salaries that are increasing instead of decreasing. The Great Recession hurt a lot of Americans’ savings, but recently, traditionally low-paying jobs such as roles in the service industry like bartenders or cashiers have seen an increase in their average wages.

It’s about time!

Although 5.3 million workers are said to see pay rates go up because of the minimum wage increases in different states, there are a few notable employment opportunities whose financial outlook is improving.

Security Officers

Security officers aren’t necessarily in the service industry — their job category is in operations — but they’ve seen a substantial pay increase. Besides, they do provide a service: security. A growing interest in personal safety has put security officers and armed guards in demand.

Average Annual Salary: $35,646

Office Managers

Administrative roles provide service to the employees they’re taking care of. Remote work has removed the need for a lot of employees to have face-to-face interactions in a traditional workplace which has increased a need for office managers to manage the digital workspace. Average Annual Salary as of 2019: $48,060

Cashiers

Retail is notorious for being a job category offering low pay, especially associate jobs. Even though they’re often paid minimum wage, cashiers in retail have experienced a 4.6% pay increase from just last year. What’s more, is that at least 20 states are experiencing an increase in their minimum wage this year.

Average Annual Salary as of 2019: $27,821

Truck Drivers

Industry insiders of truck driving mention the pay rise in 2018 was one of the highest the industry had ever seen. It’s been mentioned, too, that this could be correlated to a shortage of drivers — increasing the pay could attract people to the occupation. But with that said, this job isn’t for the faint of heart.

Average Annual Salary as of 2019: $55,741

Bartenders

Bartending is almost a rite of passage, it seems. While you’re in college, bartending is a great part-time job. Some people even make careers of it. Bartenders make different salaries across the nation but one thing is for sure. Their overall average salary is going up — and in terms of rate increases, bartenders experienced the highest salary increase of all mentioned jobs, and bartenders make an hourly average of $12.63. That’s more than minimum wage in some states! Their average annual pay went up 9.6% from 2018 to 2019.

Average Annual Salary as of 2019: $35,509

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