Money · 1 of 5
What the survey says, and what it misses
Survey median
$40,240
Casual, few hours
$31,270
Steady hours
$55,140
Be careful with these. The federal wage survey has no longshore code, so these figures come from the enormous catch-all group of hand freight and material movers: median $40,240, bottom tenth $31,270. Registered union longshore workers at big container ports earn far more than that, often well into six figures with overtime. The survey does not break them out, so the published number stays as it is here rather than being guessed upward.