Workers in the Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $19.83 in May 2013, about 11 percent below the nationwide average of $22.33, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Regional Commissioner Stanley W. Suchman noted that, after testing for statistical significance, wages in the local area were significantly lower than their respective national averages in 20 of the 22 major occupational groups including computer and mathematical; legal; and management.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 5 of the 22 occupational groups, including healthcare practitioners and technical; office and administrative support; and management. Conversely, nine groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including food preparation and serving related; architecture and engineering; and production. (See table A and box note at end of release.)

Table A. Occupational employment and wages by major occupational group, United States and the Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway Metropolitan Statistical Area, and measures of statistical significance, May 2013

Major occupational group	Percent of total employment			Mean hourly wage
	United States	Little Rock- North Little Rock- Conway		United States	Little Rock- North Little Rock- Conway		Percent difference(1)
Total, all occupations	100.0%	100.0%		$22.33	$19.83	*	-11
Management	4.9	5.4	*	53.15	41.93	*	-21
Business and financial operations	5.0	4.7	*	34.14	28.20	*	-17
Computer and mathematical	2.8	2.9		39.43	29.79	*	-24
Architecture and engineering	1.8	1.1	*	38.51	32.19	*	-16
Life, physical, and social science	0.9	0.7	*	33.37	25.17	*	-25
Community and social service	1.4	1.2	*	21.50	19.30	*	-10
Legal	0.8	0.9	*	47.89	36.31	*	-24
Education, training, and library	6.3	5.7		24.76	24.38		-2
Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media	1.3	1.0	*	26.72	21.54	*	-19
Healthcare practitioners and technical	5.8	8.2	*	35.93	33.44	*	-7
Healthcare support	3.0	3.0		13.61	12.05	*	-11
Protective service	2.5	2.2	*	20.92	17.24	*	-18
Food preparation and serving related	9.0	8.4	*	10.38	9.08	*	-13
Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance	3.2	3.3		12.51	10.66	*	-15
Personal care and service	3.0	2.9		11.88	9.96	*	-16
Sales and related	10.6	10.5		18.37	16.80	*	-9
Office and administrative support	16.2	17.6	*	16.78	15.09	*	-10
Farming, fishing, and forestry	0.3	0.1	*	11.70	16.47	*	41
Construction and extraction	3.8	3.9		21.94	17.78	*	-19
Installation, maintenance, and repair	3.9	4.3	*	21.35	19.08	*	-11
Production	6.6	5.1	*	16.79	15.80	*	-6
Transportation and material moving	6.8	6.7		16.28	14.96	*	-8
(1) A positive percent difference measures how much the mean wage in Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway is above the national mean wage, while a negative difference reflects a lower wage. * The percent share of employment or mean hourly wage for this area is significantly different from the national average of all areas at the 90-percent confidence level.

One occupational group–healthcare practitioners and technical–was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway had 27,490 jobs in healthcare practitioners and technical, accounting for 8.2 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 5.8-percent national share. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $33.44, measurably below the national wage of $35.93.

With employment of 9,550, registered nurses was one of the largest occupations within the healthcare practitioners and technical group, followed by licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses (3,060) and pharmacy technicians (1,110). Among the higher paying jobs were family and general practitioners and surgeons, with mean hourly wages of $113.98 and $113.90, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were dietetic technicians ($10.72) and psychiatric technicians ($13.48). (Detailed occupational data for the healthcare practitioners and technical group are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_30780.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 Little Rock metropolitan area, above average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the healthcare practitioners and technical group. For instance, family and general practitioners were employed at 2.4 times the national rate in Little Rock, and speech-language pathologists, at 2.1 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, radiologic technologists had a location quotient of 1.2 in Little Rock, 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 Arkansas Department of Workforce Services.

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. Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands are also surveyed, but their data are not included in the national estimates. OES estimates are constructed from a sample of about 1.2 million establishments. Forms are mailed to approximately 200,000 sampled establishments in May and November each year for a 3-year period. May 2013 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected in May 2013, November 2012, May 2012, November 2011, May 2011, and November 2010. The overall national response rate for the six panels is 75.3 percent based on establishments and 71.6 percent based on employment. The sample in the Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway Metropolitan Statistical Area included 2,928 establishments with a response rate of 83 percent. For more information about OES concepts and methodology, go to www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.tn.htm.

The OES survey provides estimates of employment and hourly and annual wages for wage and salary workers in 22 major occupational groups and 821 detailed occupations for the nation, states, metropolitan statistical areas, metropolitan divisions, and nonmetropolitan areas. In addition, employment and wage estimates for 94 minor groups and 458 broad occupations are available in the national data. OES data by state and metropolitan/nonmetropolitan area are available from www.bls.gov/oes/current/oessrcst.htm and www.bls.gov/oes/current/oessrcma.htm, respectively.

The May 2013 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.

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 Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) includes Faulkner, Grant, Lonoke, Perry, Pulaski, and Saline Counties in Arkansas.

Additional information
OES data are available on our regional web page at www.bls.gov/regions/southwest/home.htm. 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/2013/may/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: 1-800-877-8339.

Table 1. Employment and wage data from the Occupational Employment Statistics survey, by occupation, Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2013

Occupation(1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level(2)	Location quotient(3)	Hourly	Annual(4)
Healthcare practitioners and technical occupations	27,490	1.4	$33.44	$69,550
Chiropractors	70	1.0	66.08	137,450
Dentists, general	200	0.8	93.18	193,820
Dietitians and nutritionists	270	1.8	23.32	48,500
Optometrists	(5)	(5)	52.37	108,930
Pharmacists	1,070	1.5	49.66	103,280
Anesthesiologists	(5)	(5)	(6)	(6)
Family and general practitioners	720	2.4	113.98	237,080
Internists, general	80	0.7	82.59	171,790
Obstetricians and gynecologists	80	1.5	(6)	(6)
Psychiatrists	(5)	(5)	28.74	59,780
Surgeons	110	1.1	113.90	236,910
Physicians and surgeons, all other	1,550	2.0	67.22	139,810
Physician assistants	70	0.3	31.52	65,560
Occupational therapists	450	1.7	38.14	79,330
Physical therapists	720	1.5	35.78	74,420
Radiation therapists	110	2.5	36.00	74,870
Recreational therapists	90	1.9	23.82	49,560
Respiratory therapists	530	1.8	23.50	48,880
Speech-language pathologists	660	2.1	34.67	72,110
Veterinarians	100	0.7	44.05	91,620
Registered nurses	9,550	1.4	28.67	59,630
Nurse anesthetists	(5)	(5)	71.05	147,780
Nurse practitioners	500	1.8	44.00	91,520
Health diagnosing and treating practitioners, all other	100	1.2	31.29	65,090
Medical and clinical laboratory technologists	520	1.3	25.47	52,980
Medical and clinical laboratory technicians	770	2.0	16.95	35,250
Dental hygienists	370	0.8	27.92	58,060
Cardiovascular technologists and technicians	180	1.4	30.28	62,980
Diagnostic medical sonographers	140	0.9	26.81	55,760
Nuclear medicine technologists	50	1.0	32.36	67,310
Radiologic technologists	570	1.2	25.13	52,270
Magnetic resonance imaging technologists	90	1.1	25.80	53,660
Emergency medical technicians and paramedics	380	0.6	14.44	30,030
Dietetic technicians	100	1.5	10.72	22,300
Pharmacy technicians	1,110	1.2	13.99	29,090
Psychiatric technicians	250	1.5	13.48	28,030
Respiratory therapy technicians	80	2.7	19.12	39,770
Surgical technologists	430	1.7	21.24	44,170
Veterinary technologists and technicians	50	0.2	15.71	32,680
Ophthalmic medical technicians	110	1.3	15.29	31,800
Licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses	3,060	1.7	17.95	37,330
Medical records and health information technicians	540	1.2	16.90	35,140
Opticians, dispensing	140	0.8	17.71	36,850
Orthotists and prosthetists	(5)	(5)	21.18	44,060
Occupational health and safety specialists	290	1.8	28.77	59,830
Athletic trainers	90	1.7	(5)	40,870
(1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway MSA, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_30780.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) Estimates not released. (6) This wage is equal to or greater than $90.00 per hour or $187,199 per year.