Workers in the Fargo Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $19.63 in May 2013, about 12 percent below 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, healthcare practitioner and technical workers earned $33.38 per hour, business and financial operations jobs paid $26.57 per hour, and workers in office and administrative support positions averaged $15.55 per hour.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 3 of the 22 occupational groups: construction and extraction; personal care and service; and transportation and material moving. Conversely, seven groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including protective service; management; and education, training and library. (See table A and box note at end of release.)

One occupational group—construction and extraction—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Fargo had 6,630 jobs in construction and extraction, accounting for 5.1 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 3.8-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $19.48, measurably below the national wage of $21.94.

With employment of 840, carpenters was the largest occupation within the construction and extraction group, followed by construction laborers (830) and cement masons and concrete finishers (710). Among the higher paying jobs were first-line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers and brickmasons and blockmasons, with mean hourly wages of $27.57 and $26.53, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were helpers--electricians ($12.60) and construction laborers ($14.22). (Detailed occupational data for construction and extraction are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_22020.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 Fargo Metropolitan Statistical Area, above average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the construction and extraction group. For instance, cement masons and concrete finishers were employed at 5.2 times the national rate in Fargo, and sheet metal workers, at 1.7 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, construction laborers had a location quotient of 1.0 in Fargo, 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, Job Service North Dakota and the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development.

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 Fargo Metropolitan Statistical Area included 1,983 establishments with a response rate of 77 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 Fargo, N.D. Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Cass County of North Dakota and Clay County of Minnesota.

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, Fargo Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2013

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual(4)
Construction and Extraction Occupations	6,630	1.3	$19.48	$40,530
First-Line Supervisors of Construction Trades and Extraction Workers	650	1.4	27.57	57,350
Brickmasons and Blockmasons	50	0.8	26.53	55,170
Carpenters	840	1.5	19.68	40,930
Carpet Installers	(5)	(5)	18.22	37,890
Floor Layers, Except Carpet, Wood, and Hard Tiles	(5)	(5)	15.16	31,520
Cement Masons and Concrete Finishers	710	5.2	17.76	36,940
Construction Laborers	830	1.0	14.22	29,580
Paving, Surfacing, and Tamping Equipment Operators	100	1.9	17.90	37,230
Operating Engineers and Other Construction Equipment Operators	520	1.6	20.98	43,640
Drywall and Ceiling Tile Installers	120	1.6	18.47	38,410
Electricians	550	1.0	21.93	45,610
Insulation Workers, Floor, Ceiling, and Wall	110	4.6	16.31	33,920
Painters, Construction and Maintenance	140	0.7	17.74	36,900
Pipelayers	60	1.4	19.60	40,780
Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters	540	1.6	20.19	41,980
Roofers	100	1.0	16.54	34,390
Sheet Metal Workers	220	1.7	17.07	35,500
Structural Iron and Steel Workers	120	2.1	16.31	33,920
Helpers--Brickmasons, Blockmasons, Stonemasons, and Tile and Marble Setters	50	2.1	15.83	32,930
Helpers--Carpenters	(5)	(5)	16.94	35,230
Helpers--Electricians	70	1.1	12.60	26,210
Helpers, Construction Trades, All Other	(5)	(5)	10.82	22,500
Highway Maintenance Workers	150	1.1	21.15	44,000
Construction and Related Workers, All Other	(5)	(5)	17.28	35,940
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in Fargo, ND-MN, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_22020.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.