Workers in the Bloomington-Normal Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $22.27 in May 2013, about the same as the nationwide average of $22.33, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Regional Commissioner Charlene Peiffer noted that among the 22 major occupational groups for which wages were available, computer and mathematical jobs paid $37.13 per hour, healthcare practitioner and technical workers earned $33.92 per hour, and workers in office and administrative support positions averaged $16.42 per hour.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 2 of the 22 occupational groups: education, training, and library along with building and grounds cleaning and maintenance. Conversely, 10 groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including production; transportation and material moving; and construction and extraction. (See table A and box note at end of release.)

One occupational group—education, training, and library—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Bloomington-Normal had 6,550 jobs in education, training, and library, accounting for 7.5 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 6.3-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $22.08, measurably below the national wage of $24.76.

With employment of 710, elementary school teachers, except special education was the largest occupation within the education, training, and library group, followed by teacher assistants (620) and teachers and instructors, all other, except substitute teachers (550). Among the higher paying jobs were instructional coordinators and librarians, with mean hourly wages of $31.34 and $28.04, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were preschool teachers, except special education ($13.56) and self-enrichment education teachers ($14.23). (Detailed occupational data for education, training, and library are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/2013/may/oes_14010.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 Bloomington-Normal Metropolitan Statistical Area, above average concentrations of employment were found in some of the occupations within the education, training, and library group. For instance, teachers and instructors, all other, except substitute teachers were employed at 3.1 times the national rate in Bloomington, and kindergarten teachers, except special education, at 2.3 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, middle school teachers, except special and career/technical education had a location quotient of 1.0 in Bloomington, indicating that this particular occupation’s local and national employment shares were similar.

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 Bloomington-Normal Metropolitan Statistical Area included 1,065 establishments with a response rate of 75 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/home.htm 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 Bloomington-Normal, Ill. Metropolitan Statistical Area includes McLean County.

Additional information

OES data are available on our regional web page at www.bls.gov/regions/midwest.  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, Bloomington-Normal Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2013

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual(4)
Education, Training, and Library Occupations	6,550	1.2	$22.08	$45,930
Preschool Teachers, Except Special Education	310	1.3	13.56	28,210
Kindergarten Teachers, Except Special Education	240	2.3	(5)	51,290
Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education	710	0.8	(5)	55,820
Middle School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education	390	1.0	(5)	56,450
Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education	510	0.8	(5)	56,700
Special Education Teachers, Kindergarten and Elementary School	130	1.0	(5)	56,170
Special Education Teachers, Middle School	80	1.3	(5)	56,160
Special Education Teachers, Secondary School	100	1.1	(5)	55,200
Self-Enrichment Education Teachers	170	1.4	14.23	29,590
Teachers and Instructors, All Other, Except Substitute Teachers	550	3.1	(5)	29,690
Librarians	140	1.6	28.04	58,320
Library Technicians	40	0.6	19.60	40,770
Instructional Coordinators	70	0.8	31.34	65,180
Teacher Assistants	620	0.8	(5)	22,270
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in Bloomington-Normal, IL, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_14060.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.