Workers in the McAllen-Edinburg-Mission Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $15.99 in May 2014, about 30 percent below the nationwide average of $22.71, 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 lower than their respective national averages in 20 of the 22 major occupational groups, including computer and mathematical; legal; construction and extraction; and personal care and service. Local wages in two occupational groups were not statistically different from their respective national averages: protective service; and community and social service.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, McAllen employment was more highly concentrated in 5 of the 22 occupational groups including personal care and service; education, training, and library; and sales and related. Conversely, 12 groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including production; business and financial operations; and management. (See table A and box note at end of release.)

Table A. Occupational employment and wages by major occupational group, United States and the McAllen-Edinburg-Mission Metropolitan Statistical Area, and measures of statistical significance, May 2014

Major occupational group	Percent of total employment			Mean hourly wage
	United States	McAllen- Edinburg- Mission		United States	McAllen- Edinburg- Mission		Percent difference(1)
Total, all occupations	100.0%	100.0%		$22.71	$15.99	*	-30
Management	5.0	2.9	*	54.08	41.07	*	-24
Business and financial operations	5.1	2.3	*	34.81	28.65	*	-18
Computer and mathematical	2.8	0.8	*	40.37	25.29	*	-37
Architecture and engineering	1.8	0.5	*	39.19	28.15	*	-28
Life, physical, and social science	0.8	0.4	*	33.69	23.35	*	-31
Community and social service	1.4	1.1	*	21.79	21.29		-2
Legal	0.8	0.3	*	48.61	31.63	*	-35
Education, training, and library	6.2	10.4	*	25.10	21.36	*	-15
Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media	1.3	0.5	*	26.82	19.28	*	-28
Healthcare practitioners and technical	5.8	6.0		36.54	31.39	*	-14
Healthcare support	2.9	4.7	*	13.86	10.47	*	-24
Protective service	2.4	2.4		21.14	20.75		-2
Food preparation and serving related	9.1	8.9		10.57	9.69	*	-8
Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance	3.2	2.6	*	12.68	10.15	*	-20
Personal care and service	3.1	10.7	*	12.01	8.52	*	-29
Sales and related	10.5	12.3	*	18.59	13.49	*	-27
Office and administrative support	16.0	16.7		17.08	12.96	*	-24
Farming, fishing, and forestry	0.3	0.6	*	12.09	10.30	*	-15
Construction and extraction	3.9	3.0	*	22.40	15.21	*	-32
Installation, maintenance, and repair	3.9	3.4		21.74	16.31	*	-25
Production	6.6	3.0	*	17.06	14.09	*	-17
Transportation and material moving	6.8	6.3	*	16.57	12.47	*	-25
(1) A positive percent difference measures how much the mean wage in McAllen-Edinburg-Mission is above the national mean wage, while a negative difference reflects a lower wage.
Note: * 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 – education, training, and library – was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. McAllen had 24,850 jobs in education, training, and library, accounting for 10.4 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 6.2-percent national share. However, the local wage for this occupational group was significantly below the U.S. average. At $21.36 an hour, the mean wage for McAllen education, training, and library workers was about 15 percent below the $25.10 national average.

With employment of 6,340 elementary school teachers, except special education was one of the largest occupations within the education, training, and library group, as were secondary school teachers, except special and career/technical education (4,110) and teacher assistants (3,190). Among the higher paying jobs were postsecondary english language and literature teachers, as well as instructional coordinators, with mean annual wages of $70,210 and $65,610, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were teacher assistants ($22,750) and substitute teachers ($23,840). (Detailed data for education, training, and library are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of all detailed occupations see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_32580.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 McAllen metropolitan area, above average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the education, training, and library group. For instance, middle school teachers, except special and career/technical education were employed at 2.7 times the national rate in McAllen, and elementary school teachers, except special education were also employed at 2.7 times the U.S. average. Both location quotients were among the highest in all metropolitan areas for these particular occupations. On the other hand, secondary school special education teachers had a location quotient of 1.0 in McAllen, 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 Texas Workforce Commission.

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. May 2014 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2014, November 2013, May 2013, November 2012, May 2012, and November 2011. The overall national response rate for the six panels is 74.3 percent based on establishments and 70.5 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The unweighted employment of sampled establishments across all six semiannual panels represents approximately 57.1 percent of total national employment. (Response rates are slightly lower for these estimates due to the federal shutdown in October 2013.) The sample in the McAllen-Edinburg-Mission Metropolitan Statistical Area included 2,071 establishments with a response rate of 60 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 2014 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 McAllen-Edinburg-Mission Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) includes Hidalgo County in Texas.

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, McAllen-Edinburg-Mission Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2014

Occupation(1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level(2)	Location quotient(3)	Hourly	Annual(4)
Education, training, and library occupations	24,850	1.7	$21.36	$44,420
Business teachers, postsecondary	(5)	(5)	(5)	74,030
Mathematical science teachers, postsecondary	110	1.2	(5)	85,580
Biological science teachers, postsecondary	70	0.8	(5)	87,890
Political science teachers, postsecondary	40	1.3	(5)	55,670
Psychology teachers, postsecondary	60	0.9	(5)	74,570
Health specialties teachers, postsecondary	120	0.4	(5)	62,520
Nursing instructors and teachers, postsecondary	50	0.5	(5)	80,740
Education teachers, postsecondary	100	0.9	(5)	56,720
Art, drama, and music teachers, postsecondary	80	0.5	(5)	49,360
Communications teachers, postsecondary	40	0.7	(5)	55,360
English language and literature teachers, postsecondary	280	2.0	(5)	70,210
Foreign language and literature teachers, postsecondary	40	0.7	(5)	43,420
History teachers, postsecondary	50	1.2	(5)	48,640
Vocational education teachers, postsecondary	280	1.3	20.93	43,520
Preschool teachers, except special education	270	0.4	20.81	43,290
Kindergarten teachers, except special education	320	1.1	(5)	48,890
Elementary school teachers, except special education	6,340	2.7	(5)	50,160
Middle school teachers, except special and career/technical education	2,990	2.7	(5)	51,490
Secondary school teachers, except special and career/technical education	4,110	2.4	(5)	52,790
Career/technical education teachers, secondary school	410	2.9	(5)	52,350
Special education teachers, kindergarten and elementary school	320	0.9	(5)	48,770
Special education teachers, middle school	150	0.9	(5)	50,180
Special education teachers, secondary school	240	1.0	(5)	52,110
Self-enrichment education teachers	270	0.8	14.71	30,590
Teachers and instructors, all other, except substitute teachers	540	1.1	(5)	(5)
Substitute teachers	2,720	2.5	11.46	23,840
Librarians	330	1.4	27.32	56,820
Library technicians	90	0.5	12.74	26,500
Audio-visual and multimedia collections specialists	90	5.5	17.08	35,540
Instructional coordinators	510	2.2	31.54	65,610
Teacher assistants	3,190	1.5	(5)	22,750
Education, training, and library workers, all other	40	0.2	13.94	28,990
(1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the McAllen-Edinburg-Mission MSA, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_32580.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.