Originally Posted by
SaltyDog
The mean is the best yardstick, what you don't know is the metrics included. Likely they included all pension and medical benefits for pilots, and who knows what airlines were included and excluded. They may even throw in a value for 'jumpseat priveleges' Unless I see the methodology,airlines included, what years, etc. these numbers from the govt. are meaningless and look like something paid for by management publicity campaigns during negotiations.
I looked at the Bureau of labor Statistics. They show airline pilots and navigators between $95-$97/hr at 39+ hours weekly in June 2005. If they then show $135,040 median, then they used $135.04/hr at 1000 hours annually. They had to boost the numbers. It doesn't add up.
A very astute observation, and I might add, the same goes for the other occupations as well. Without knowing the methodology used to come up with these numbers, how can we believe that they're accurate? Especially with physicians (who are largely self-employed) Are they considering overhead ?(office expenses, employee salaries, malpractice insurance, benefits)
My ex might appear to make a large amount of money but when you consider his overhead, one might not be so envious.