Workers in the Lafayette Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $19.20 in May 2017, about 21 percent below the nationwide average of $24.34, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Assistant Commissioner for Regional Operations Stanley W. Suchman noted that, after testing for statistical significance, wages in the local area were lower than their respective national averages in 17 of the 22 major occupational groups, including business and financial operations; computer and mathematical; and education, training, and library. Local wage levels were similar to the national averages in four groups, but only one local occupational group, production, had wages that were significantly higher than the national average.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 6 of the 22 occupational groups, including sales and related; installation, maintenance, and repair; and transportation and material moving. Conversely, 11 groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including business and financial; computer and mathematical; and education, training, and library. (See table A and box note at end of release.)

One occupational group—transportation and material moving—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Lafayette had 17,180 jobs in transportation and material moving, accounting for 8.8 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 7.0-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $17.19, compared to the national wage of $17.82.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the transportation and material moving group included hand laborers and freight, stock, and material movers (4,770), heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers (2,220), and light truck or delivery services drivers (1,960). Among the higher-paying jobs were captains, mates, and pilots of water vessels, as well as sailors and marine oilers, with mean hourly wages of $35.74 and $26.13, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were cleaners of vehicles and equipment ($10.13) and bus drivers, school or special client ($10.37). (Detailed occupational data for transportation and material moving are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_29180.htm.)

Location quotients allow us to explore the occupational make-up of a metropolitan area by comparing the composition of jobs in an area relative to the national average. (See table 1.) For example, a location quotient of 2.0 indicates that an occupation accounts for twice the share of employment in the area than it does nationally. In the Lafayette Metropolitan Statistical Area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the transportation and material moving group. For instance, pump operators, except wellhead pumpers, were employed at 101.4 times the national rate in Lafayette, and sailors and marine oilers, at 11.8 times the U.S. average. Both Lafayette location quotients were among the highest in all metropolitan areas for these particular occupations. On the other hand, heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers had a location quotient of 0.9 in Lafayette, indicating that this occupation’s local and national employment shares were similar.

These statistics are from the Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) survey, a federal-state cooperative program between BLS and State Workforce Agencies, in this case, the Louisiana Workforce Commission.

Technical Note

The Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) survey is a semiannual survey measuring occupational employment and wage rates for wage and salary workers in nonfarm establishments in the United States. The OES data available from BLS include cross-industry occupational employment and wage estimates for the nation; over 650 areas, including states and the District of Columbia, metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs), metropolitan divisions, nonmetropolitan areas, and territories; national industry-specific estimates at the NAICS sector, 3-, 4-, and selected 5- and 6-digit industry levels, and national estimates by ownership across all industries and for schools and hospitals. OES data are available at www.bls.gov/oes/tables.htm.

OES estimates are constructed from a sample of about 1.2 million establishments. Each year, two semiannual panels of approximately 200,000 sampled establishments are contacted, one panel in May and the other in November. Responses are obtained by mail, Internet or other electronic means, email, telephone, or personal visit. The May 2017 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2017, November 2016, May 2016, November 2015, May 2015, and November 2014. The overall national response rate for the six panels, based on the 50 states and the District of Columbia, is 72 percent based on establishments and 68 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The unweighted sample employment of 82 million across all six semiannual panels represents approximately 58 percent of total national employment. The sample in the Lafayette Metropolitan Statistical Area included 2,437 establishments with a response rate of 76 percent. For more information about OES concepts and methodology, go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_tec.htm.

The May 2017 OES estimates are based on the 2010 Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) system and the 2012 North American Industry Classification System (NAICS). Information about the 2010 SOC is available on the BLS website at www.bls.gov/soc and information about the 2012 NAICS is available at www.bls.gov/bls/naics.htm.

Metropolitan area definitions

The substate area data published in this release reflect the standards and definitions established by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget.

The Lafayette Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Lafayette and St. Martin Parishes in Louisiana.

Additional information

OES data are available on our regional web page at www.bls.gov/regions/southwest. Answers to frequently asked questions about the OES data are available at www.bls.gov/oes/oes_ques.htm. Detailed technical information about the OES survey is available in our Survey Methods and Reliability Statement on the BLS website at www.bls.gov/oes/current/methods_statement.pdf.

Information in this release will be made available to sensory impaired individuals upon request. Voice phone: (202) 691-5200; Federal Relay Service: (800) 877-8339.

Table 1. Employment and wage data from the Occupational Employment Statistics survey, by occupation, Lafayette Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2017

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Transportation and material moving occupations	17,180	1.3	$17.19	$35,760
First-line supervisors of transportation and material moving workers, except aircraft cargo handling supervisors	960	1.8	24.86	51,700
Commercial pilots	130	2.5	(6)	86,890
Bus drivers, school or special client	750	1.1	10.37	21,570
Driver/sales workers	500	0.9	11.14	23,160
Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers	2,220	0.9	18.46	38,400
Light truck or delivery services drivers	1,960	1.6	15.61	32,470
Taxi drivers and chauffeurs	290	1.1	13.06	27,160
Sailors and marine oilers	500	11.8	26.13	54,360
Captains, mates, and pilots of water vessels	460	9.4	35.74	74,330
Parking lot attendants	60	0.3	9.57	19,910
Automotive and watercraft service attendants	240	1.5	10.75	22,370
Transportation workers, all other	130	2.4	9.07	18,860
Conveyor operators and tenders	60	1.5	15.51	32,270
Crane and tower operators	250	4.2	24.65	51,270
Excavating and loading machine and dragline operators	80	1.3	17.15	35,680
Industrial truck and tractor operators	600	0.8	16.15	33,580
Cleaners of vehicles and equipment	560	1.1	10.13	21,060
Laborers and freight, stock, and material movers, hand	4,770	1.3	13.14	27,330
Packers and packagers, hand	260	0.3	10.89	22,650
Pump operators, except wellhead pumpers	1,610	101.4	23.41	48,690
Refuse and recyclable material collectors	140	0.9	14.99	31,170
Material moving workers, all other	70	2.0	17.16	35,690
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Lafayette Metropolitan Statistical Area see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_29180.htm. (2) Estimates for detailed occupations do not sum to the totals because the totals include occupations not shown separately. Estimates do not include self-employed workers. (3) The location quotient is the ratio of the area concentration of occupational employment to the national average concentration. A location quotient greater than one indicates the occupation has a higher share of employment than average, and a location quotient less than one indicates the occupation is less prevalent in the area than average. (4) Annual wages have been calculated by multiplying the hourly mean wage by a "year-round, full-time" hours figure of 2,080 hours; for those occupations where there is not an hourly mean wage published, the annual wage has been directly calculated from the reported survey data. (6) Wages for some occupations that do not generally work year-round, full time, are reported either as hourly wages or annual salaries depending on how they are typically paid.