Salaried workers directly benefiting from the proposed increase in the overtime salary threshold, by major occupation, 2014

Total salaried workers* Directly benefiting salaried workers** Share of industry’s salaried workers that are directly benefiting Industry’s share of directly benefiting workers Industry’s share of total salaried workforce
(A) (B) (C)=(B/A) (D)=(Bx/B1) (E)=(Ax/A1)
All (1) 52,522,000 13,463,000 25.6% 100.0% 100.0%
Management, business, and financial occupations 13,555,000 2,775,000 20.5% 20.6% 25.8%
Professional and related occupations 19,160,000 2,702,000 14.1% 20.1% 36.5%
Services occupations 4,325,000 1,639,000 37.9% 12.2% 8.2%
Sales and related occupations 5,207,000 1,709,000 32.8% 12.7% 9.9%
Office and administrative support occupations 4,968,000 2,427,000 48.9% 18.0% 9.5%
Farming, fishing, and forestry occupations 245,000 84,000 34.2% 0.6% 0.5%
Construction and extraction occupations 1,373,000 594,000 43.3% 4.4% 2.6%
Installation, maintenance, and repair occupations 1,086,000 449,000 41.4% 3.3% 2.1%
Production occupations 1,198,000 462,000 38.6% 3.4% 2.3%
Transportation and material moving occupations 1,405,000 622,000 44.3% 4.6% 2.7%

* The sample reflects salaried (nonhourly) workers who are subject to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). This excludes certain groups of workers such as the self-employed, most federal workers, religious workers, many agricultural workers, and many transportation workers.

** Directly benefiting salaried workers are those who would newly be guaranteed overtime protection by virtue of their salary alone under the proposed higher overtime threshold, i.e., they make at least $455 a week (the current threshold) but less than $933 a week (the new threshold in 2014 dollars). This includes workers who are newly eligible (they are currently excluded from automatic overtime protection because they are classified, in some cases incorrectly, as executive, administrative, and professional or "EAP" employees); and workers whose rights are strengthened (they are currently at risk of being classified as EAP employees).

Note: Subtotals may not add up to total due to rounding.

Source: EPI analysis of the U.S. Department of Labor's Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (2015) and Current Population Survey Merged Outgoing Rotation Group microdata (CPS MORG)

View the underlying data on epi.org.