Average Wage Jumps Over Past 12 Months

New York, NY, Oct. 11, 2012 -- U.S. wage earners have seen the biggest average jump in earnings in five years over the last year, helped by big pay hikes in the energy industry, according to PayScale.

The firm, which analyzes data from more than 10 million U.S. workers, said that the average U.S. worker's paycheck rose 3% over the last year and energy industry workers say pay rise by 4.9%.

That's the biggest increase since PayScale began monitoring compensation in early 2007.

Information technology workers averaged a 4.5% increase over the past 12 months.