Workers in the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale Metropolitan Division had an average (mean) hourly wage of $26.71 in May 2016, about 12 percent above the nationwide average of $23.86, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Assistant Commissioner for Regional Operations Richard Holden noted that, after testing for statistical significance, wages in the local area were higher than their respective national averages in 18 of the 22 major occupational groups, including arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media; legal; and architecture and engineering. Only one group had a significantly lower wage than its respective national average: production.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 9 of the 22 occupational groups, including arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media; office and administrative support; and business and financial operations. Conversely, nine groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including construction and extraction; installation, maintenance, and repair; and healthcare practitioners and technical. (See table A and box note at end of release.)

One occupational group—arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale had 162,160 jobs in arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media, accounting for 3.8 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 1.4-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $41.53, significantly above the national wage of $28.07.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media group included producers and directors (22,090), actors (12,490), and film and video editors (12,050). Among the higher paying jobs were producers and directors and art directors, with mean hourly wages of $67.81 and $62.46, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were dancers ($15.47) and merchandise displayers and window trimmers ($16.30). (Detailed occupational data for arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/2016/may/oes_31084.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 Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale Metropolitan Division, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media group. For instance, film and video editors were employed at 13.4 times the national rate in Los Angeles, and camera operators, television, video, and motion picture, at 9.4 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, coaches and scouts had a location quotient of 1.0 in Los Angeles, indicating that this particular 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 California Employment Development Department.

Technical Note

The Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) survey is a semiannual mail 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 2016 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2016, November 2015, May 2015, November 2014, May 2014, and November 2013. The overall national response rate for the six panels, based on the 50 states and the District of Columbia, is 73 percent based on establishments and 69 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The unweighted employment of sampled establishments across all six semiannual panels represents approximately 58 percent of total national employment. The sample in the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale Metropolitan Division included 12,466 establishments with a response rate of 55 percent. For more information about OES concepts and methodology, go to www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.tn.htm.

The May 2016 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 Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale, Calif. Metropolitan Division  includes Los Angeles County.

Additional information

OES data are available on our regional web page at www.bls.gov/regions/west. 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, Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale Metropolitan Division, May 2016

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media occupations	162,160	2.8	$41.53	$86,380
Art directors	3,430	3.2	62.46	129,920
Craft artists	180	1.2	27.89	58,020
Fine artists, including painters, sculptors, and illustrators	1,640	4.7	38.50	80,080
Multimedia artists and animators	5,670	6.3	39.37	81,890
Artists and related workers, all other	330	1.6	32.23	67,040
Commercial and industrial designers	1,420	1.5	34.65	72,060
Fashion designers	4,590	7.9	37.94	78,920
Floral designers	690	0.5	16.74	34,810
Graphic designers	10,960	1.7	28.36	59,000
Interior designers	2,510	1.6	36.92	76,790
Merchandise displayers and window trimmers	2,340	0.7	16.30	33,890
Set and exhibit designers	2,530	7.0	31.47	65,450
Designers, all other	1,270	5.8	43.14	89,730
Actors	12,490	8.6	(5)	(5)
Producers and directors	22,090	6.4	67.81	141,040
Coaches and scouts	6,730	1.0	(5)	44,390
Umpires, referees, and other sports officials	460	0.8	(5)	25,460
Dancers	280	0.9	15.47	(6)
Choreographers	120	0.8	20.97	43,630
Music directors and composers	740	1.3	28.27	58,810
Musicians and singers	3,110	2.6	38.57	(6)
Entertainers and performers, sports and related workers, all other	3,200	8.1	26.64	(6)
Radio and television announcers	1,050	1.2	37.75	78,530
Public address system and other announcers	420	1.7	24.52	51,010
Broadcast news analysts	(5)	(5)	37.14	77,260
Reporters and correspondents	1,510	1.3	26.58	55,280
Public relations specialists	7,610	1.1	35.34	73,500
Editors	4,570	1.6	39.45	82,050
Technical writers	1,310	0.9	38.72	80,530
Writers and authors	4,910	3.7	53.78	111,870
Interpreters and translators	1,650	1.1	26.64	55,410
Media and communication workers, all other	7,270	10.4	26.15	54,400
Audio and video equipment technicians	9,590	4.6	27.61	57,420
Broadcast technicians	2,400	2.6	26.63	55,390
Radio operators	30	1.2	(5)	(5)
Sound engineering technicians	3,690	8.1	37.97	78,970
Photographers	2,900	2.0	28.73	59,750
Camera operators, television, video, and motion picture	6,110	9.4	36.49	75,910
Film and video editors	12,050	13.4	51.80	107,740
Media and communication equipment workers, all other	7,760	13.9	40.44	84,120
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale, CA Metropolitan Division, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_31084.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. (5) Estimate not released. (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.