Department of Labor Logo United States Department of Labor
Dot gov

The .gov means it's official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you're on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

News Release Information

22-984-CHI
Friday, July 14, 2023

Contacts Technical information: Media contact:
  • (312) 353-1138

Occupational Employment and Wages in Fargo — May 2022

Workers in the Fargo, ND-MN Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $26.78 in May 2022, 10 percent below the nationwide average of $29.76, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Jason Palmer noted that, after testing for statistical significance, wages in the local area were lower than their respective national averages in 16 of the 22 major occupational groups, including computer and mathematical, legal, and management. Three groups had significantly higher wages than their respective national averages, including healthcare support and transportation and material moving.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, Fargo area employment was more highly concentrated in 9 of the 22 occupational groups, including healthcare practitioners and technical, personal care and service, and construction and extraction. Twelve groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including management, protective service, and business and financial operations. (See table A.)

Table A. Occupational employment and wages by major occupational group, United States and the Fargo metropolitan area, and measures of statistical significance, May 2022
Major occupational group Percent of total employment Mean hourly wage
United States Fargo United States Fargo Percent difference (1)

Total, all occupations

100.0 100.0 $29.76 $26.78* -10

Management

6.7 5.4* 63.08 53.13* -16

Business and financial operations

6.5 5.5* 41.39 35.10* -15

Computer and mathematical

3.4 3.0* 51.99 37.67* -28

Architecture and engineering

1.7 1.3* 45.52 37.92* -17

Life, physical, and social science

0.9 1.0* 40.21 32.00* -20

Community and social service

1.6 1.4* 26.81 25.99* -3

Legal

0.8 0.5* 59.87 46.44* -22

Educational instruction and library

5.7 5.1* 30.41 27.60* -9

Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media

1.4 1.6* 36.78 27.06* -26

Healthcare practitioners and technical

6.1 8.5* 46.52 40.11* -14

Healthcare support

4.6 4.7 17.10 18.03* 5

Protective service

2.3 1.2* 25.97 25.37* -2

Food preparation and serving related

8.5 8.1* 15.45 15.23* -1

Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance

2.9 3.4* 17.26 17.51 1

Personal care and service

1.9 3.0* 17.41 15.99* -8

Sales and related

8.9 9.3* 24.22 23.88 -1

Office and administrative support

12.6 12.1* 21.90 21.54* -2

Farming, fishing, and forestry

0.3 0.2* 18.21 20.47* 12

Construction and extraction

4.1 5.1* 28.08 26.50* -6

Installation, maintenance, and repair

3.9 4.3* 26.77 26.39* -1

Production

5.9 5.4* 21.81 21.77 0

Transportation and material moving

9.2 9.9* 21.12 22.00* 4

Footnotes:
(1) A positive percent difference measures how much the mean wage in the Fargo, ND-MN Metropolitan Statistical Area is above the national mean wage, while a negative difference reflects a lower wage.
* The mean hourly wage or percent share of employment is significantly different from the national average of all areas at the 90-percent confidence level.

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 7,140 jobs in construction and extraction, accounting for 5.1 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 4.1-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $26.50, significantly below the national wage of $28.08.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the construction and extraction group included construction laborers (1,220), carpenters (990), and electricians (780). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were first-line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers and construction and building inspectors, with mean hourly wages of $35.10 and $33.95, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were carpet installers ($19.78) and tile and stone setters ($21.33). (Detailed data for the construction and extraction occupations 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 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 2.9 times the national rate in Fargo, and carpenters, at 1.5 times the U.S. average. First-line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers 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 and Wage Statistics (OEWS) 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 & Economic Development.

Changes to the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) Data

The May 2022 OEWS estimates use the model-based (MB3) estimation method implemented with the May 2021 estimates release. Additional updates were made to the MB3 wage processing methodology for May 2022. For more information, see the May 2022 Survey Methods and Reliability Statement.

The May 2022 estimates are the first OEWS estimates to be produced using the 2022 NAICS, which replaces the 2017 NAICS used for the May 2017-May 2021 estimates. See North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) at BLS for details.


Technical Note

The Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey is a semiannual survey measuring occupational employment and wage rates for wage and salary workers in nonfarm establishments in the United States. The OEWS data available from BLS include cross-industry occupational employment and wage estimates for the nation; over 580 areas, including states and the District of Columbia, metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs), nonmetropolitan areas, and territories; national industry-specific estimates at the NAICS sector, 3-digit, most 4-digit, and selected 5- and 6-digit industry levels, and national estimates by ownership across all industries and for schools and hospitals. OEWS data are available at www.bls.gov/oes/tables.htm.

The OEWS survey is a cooperative effort between BLS and the State Workforce Agencies (SWAs). BLS funds the survey and provides the procedures and technical support, while the State Workforce Agencies collect most of the data. OEWS estimates are constructed from a sample of about 1.1 million establishments. Each year, two semiannual panels of approximately 179,000 to 187,000 sampled establishments are contacted, one panel in May and the other in November. Responses are obtained by Internet or other electronic means, mail, email, telephone, or personal visit. The May 2022 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2022, November 2021, May 2021, November 2020, May 2020, and November 2019. The unweighted sampled employment of 80 million across all six semiannual panels represents approximately 57 percent of total national employment. The overall national response rate for the six panels, based on the 50 states and the District of Columbia, is 65.4 percent based on establishments and 62.5 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The sample in the Fargo, ND-MN Metropolitan Statistical Area included 1,951 establishments with a response rate of 72 percent. For more information about OEWS concepts and methodology, go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_tec.htm.

A value that is statistically different from another does not necessarily mean that the difference has economic or practical significance. Statistical significance is concerned with the ability to make confident statements about a universe based on a sample. It is entirely possible that a large difference between two values is not significantly different statistically, while a small difference is, since both the size and heterogeneity of the sample affect the relative error of the data being tested.

Metropolitan 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, ND-MN Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Clay County MN, and Cass County, ND.

For more information

Answers to frequently asked questions about the OEWS data are available at www.bls.gov/oes/oes_ques.htm. Detailed information about the OEWS program is available at www.bls.gov/oes/oes_doc.htm.

Information in this release will be made available to individuals with sensory impairments upon request. Voice phone: (202) 691-5200; Telecommunications Relay Service: 7-1-1.

Table 1. Employment and wage data for construction and extraction occupations, Fargo metropolitan area, May 2022
Occupation (1) Employment Mean wages
Level (2) Location quotient (3) Hourly Annual (4)

Construction and extraction occupations

7,140 1.2 $26.50 $55,130

First-line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers

670 1.0 35.10 73,000

Brickmasons and blockmasons

110 2.1 28.81 59,920

Carpenters

990 1.5 24.78 51,540

Carpet installers

30 2.1 19.78 41,140

Floor layers, except carpet, wood, and hard tiles

40 2.0 23.21 48,270

Tile and stone setters

30 0.9 21.33 44,370

Cement masons and concrete finishers

540 2.9 25.16 52,330

Construction laborers

1,220 1.3 22.00 45,760

Operating engineers and other construction equipment operators

520 1.3 27.70 57,620

Electricians

780 1.2 29.07 60,470

Glaziers

120 2.5 27.97 58,170

Insulation workers, mechanical

60 2.4 24.76 51,500

Painters, construction and maintenance

270 1.3 21.42 44,560

Pipelayers

60 1.8 24.75 51,470

Plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters

520 1.3 29.18 60,690

Roofers

140 1.1 25.81 53,680

Sheet metal workers

160 1.4 29.07 60,460

Construction and building inspectors

50 0.4 33.95 70,620

Fence erectors

70 2.6 22.42 46,640

Highway maintenance workers

150 1.1 24.91 51,810

Miscellaneous construction and related workers

80 2.7 25.67 53,400

Earth drillers, except oil and gas

50 2.9 26.47 55,060

Footnotes:
(1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Fargo, ND-MN Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_22020.htm.
(2) Estimates for detailed occupations may not sum to the totals due to rounding, and because the totals may include occupations that are 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.

 

Last Modified Date: Friday, July 14, 2023