Workers in the Columbus, Ohio Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $22.34 in May 2014, compared to the nationwide average of $22.71, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Regional Commissioner Charlene Peiffer noted that, after testing for statistical significance, wages in the local area were higher than their respective national averages in 2 of the 22 major occupational groups. Ten groups had significantly lower wages than their respective national averages, including legal; life, physical, and social science; and architecture and engineering.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 5 of the 22 occupational groups, including office and administrative support; business and financial operations; and computer and mathematical. Conversely, nine groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including sales and related; construction and extraction; and personal care and service. (See table A and box note at end of release.)

One occupational group—office and administrative support—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Columbus had 172,600 jobs in office and administrative support, accounting for 17.8 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 16.0-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $16.92, compared to the national wage of $17.08.

Some of the largest detailed occupations within the office and administrative support group included customer service representatives (24,770); office clerks, general (17,450); and stock clerks and order fillers (15,900). Among the higher paying jobs were first-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers; and executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants, with mean hourly wages of $24.82 and $24.61, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks ($9.37) and tellers ($11.53). (Detailed occupational data for office and administrative support are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/2014/may/oes_18140.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 Columbus Metropolitan Statistical Area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in some of the occupations within the office and administrative support group. For instance, credit authorizers, checkers, and clerks were employed at 4.2 times the national rate in Columbus, and bill and account collectors, at 2.2 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, dispatchers, except police, fire, and ambulance had a location quotient of 1.0 in Columbus, 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 Ohio Department of Job & Family 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. 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 Columbus Metropolitan Statistical Area included 5,115 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 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 Columbus, Ohio Metropolitan Statistical Area  includes Delaware, Fairfield, Franklin, Licking, Madison, Morrow, Pickaway, and Union Counties.

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/2014/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: 800-877-8339.

Table 1. Employment and wage data from the Occupational Employment Statistics survey, by occupation, Columbus Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2014

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Office and Administrative Support Occupations	172,600	1.1	$16.92	$35,190
First-Line Supervisors of Office and Administrative Support Workers	9,430	0.9	24.82	51,630
Switchboard Operators, Including Answering Service	740	1.0	12.34	25,670
Telephone Operators	80	1.1	14.56	30,290
Bill and Account Collectors	5,340	2.2	14.09	29,300
Billing and Posting Clerks	5,410	1.5	16.82	34,990
Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks	14,160	1.3	20.54	42,720
Payroll and Timekeeping Clerks	990	0.8	19.70	40,970
Procurement Clerks	890	1.8	19.72	41,010
Tellers	3,200	0.9	11.53	23,970
Financial Clerks, All Other	270	1.0	18.90	39,310
Brokerage Clerks	400	1.0	21.85	45,460
Correspondence Clerks	100	1.9	15.09	31,390
Court, Municipal, and License Clerks	1,040	1.1	18.39	38,250
Credit Authorizers, Checkers, and Clerks	1,400	4.2	15.70	32,650
Customer Service Representatives	24,770	1.4	15.95	33,180
Eligibility Interviewers, Government Programs	980	1.1	21.47	44,660
File Clerks	1,230	1.2	14.93	31,040
Hotel, Motel, and Resort Desk Clerks	1,300	0.8	9.37	19,490
Interviewers, Except Eligibility and Loan	1,250	0.9	14.96	31,110
Library Assistants, Clerical	980	1.4	13.08	27,210
Loan Interviewers and Clerks	2,730	1.8	19.64	40,860
New Accounts Clerks	400	1.1	18.80	39,100
Order Clerks	2,380	1.7	14.35	29,860
Human Resources Assistants, Except Payroll and Timekeeping	840	0.9	19.07	39,670
Receptionists and Information Clerks	4,580	0.7	12.95	26,930
Reservation and Transportation Ticket Agents and Travel Clerks	410	0.4	16.60	34,530
Information and Record Clerks, All Other	690	0.6	20.11	41,820
Cargo and Freight Agents	430	0.8	17.70	36,830
Couriers and Messengers	200	0.4	13.87	28,840
Police, Fire, and Ambulance Dispatchers	510	0.7	20.12	41,840
Dispatchers, Except Police, Fire, and Ambulance	1,370	1.0	18.04	37,530
Meter Readers, Utilities	270	1.1	18.67	38,830
Postal Service Clerks	340	0.7	23.46	48,790
Postal Service Mail Carriers	1,700	0.8	24.53	51,010
Postal Service Mail Sorters, Processors, and Processing Machine Operators	1,010	1.2	23.48	48,840
Production, Planning, and Expediting Clerks	2,450	1.2	21.48	44,680
Shipping, Receiving, and Traffic Clerks	7,540	1.6	13.57	28,220
Stock Clerks and Order Fillers	15,900	1.2	12.39	25,770
Weighers, Measurers, Checkers, and Samplers, Recordkeeping	220	0.4	14.64	30,460
Executive Secretaries and Executive Administrative Assistants	7,620	1.5	24.61	51,180
Legal Secretaries	1,430	0.9	20.02	41,640
Medical Secretaries	7,530	2.0	15.68	32,610
Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive	11,580	0.7	16.63	34,590
Computer Operators	450	1.1	18.82	39,150
Data Entry Keyers	1,290	0.9	13.43	27,920
Word Processors and Typists	430	0.7	15.10	31,410
Insurance Claims and Policy Processing Clerks	3,330	1.8	18.24	37,930
Mail Clerks and Mail Machine Operators, Except Postal Service	780	1.1	15.46	32,150
Office Clerks, General	17,450	0.8	15.02	31,240
Office Machine Operators, Except Computer	820	1.7	15.51	32,260
Proofreaders and Copy Markers	60	0.9	16.17	33,630
Statistical Assistants	(5)	(5)	20.96	43,590
Office and Administrative Support Workers, All Other	1,580	0.9	16.55	34,420
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in Columbus, OH, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_18140.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.