Workers in the Shreveport-Bossier City Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $17.97 in May 2014, about 21 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, local wages were lower than their respective national averages in 17 of the 22 major occupational groups, including legal; computer and mathematical; and healthcare practitioners and technical. Wages were higher in one group, farming, forestry, and fishing, while wage levels in the four remaining groups were not statistically different from their respective national averages.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 9 of the 22 occupational groups, including healthcare practitioners and technical; sales and related; and healthcare support. Conversely, 10 groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including business and financial operations; computer and mathematical; and production. (See table A and box note at end of release.)

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

Major occupational group	Percent of total employment			Mean hourly wage
	United States	Shreveport-Bossier City		United States	Shreveport-Bossier City		Percent difference(1)
Total, all occupations	100.0%	100.0%		$22.71	$17.97	*	-21
Management	5.0	3.9	*	54.08	43.87	*	-19
Business and financial operations	5.1	2.8	*	34.81	29.99	*	-14
Computer and mathematical	2.8	0.7	*	40.37	30.69	*	-24
Architecture and engineering	1.8	1.2	*	39.19	34.80	*	-11
Life, physical, and social science	0.8	0.4	*	33.69	30.00	*	-11
Community and social service	1.4	1.3		21.79	20.97		-4
Legal	0.8	0.5	*	48.61	31.87	*	-34
Education, training, and library	6.2	6.2		25.10	20.71	*	-17
Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media	1.3	0.8	*	26.82	18.67	*	-30
Healthcare practitioners and technical	5.8	8.0	*	36.54	27.81	*	-24
Healthcare support	2.9	4.0	*	13.86	11.67	*	-16
Protective service	2.4	3.1	*	21.14	20.92		-1
Food preparation and serving related	9.1	10.2	*	10.57	9.24	*	-13
Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance	3.2	4.3	*	12.68	9.80	*	-23
Personal care and service	3.1	3.9	*	12.01	11.41		-5
Sales and related	10.5	11.8	*	18.59	14.95	*	-20
Office and administrative support	16.0	15.6		17.08	14.45	*	-15
Farming, fishing, and forestry	0.3	0.1	*	12.09	17.19	*	42
Construction and extraction	3.9	4.7	*	22.40	18.07	*	-19
Installation, maintenance, and repair	3.9	4.9	*	21.74	19.29	*	-11
Production	6.6	5.2	*	17.06	16.87		-1
Transportation and material moving	6.8	6.4	*	16.57	14.48	*	-13
(1) A positive percent difference measures how much the mean wage in Shreveport-Bossier City 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–healthcare practitioners and technical–was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Shreveport had 13,530 jobs in healthcare practitioners and technical, accounting for 8.0 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the national share of 5.8 percent. However, the local wage for this occupational group was significantly below the U.S. average. At $27.81 an hour, the mean wage for Shreveport healthcare practitioners and technical workers was about 24 percent below the $36.54 national average.

With employment of 4,290, registered nurses was among the largest occupations within the healthcare practitioners and technical group, as were licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses (2,430), and pharmacy technicians (580). Among the higher paying jobs were family and general practitioners and general dentists, with mean hourly wages of $109.75 and $68.52, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were medical records and health information technicians ($13.53) and pharmacy technicians ($13.99). (Detailed occupational data for healthcare practitioners and technical are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of all detailed occupations, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_43340.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 Shreveport metropolitan area, above average concentrations of employment were found in some of the occupations within the healthcare practitioners and technical group. For instance, cardiovascular technologists and technicians employed at 3.5 times the national rate in Shreveport, and licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses, at 2.8 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, pharmacists had a location quotient of 1.1 in Shreveport, 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 Louisiana 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 Shreveport-Bossier City Metropolitan Statistical Area included 2,095 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 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 Shreveport-Bossier City Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) includes Bossier, Caddo, and De Soto Parishes in Louisiana.

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, Shreveport-Bossier City Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2014

Occupation(1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level(2)	Location quotient(3)	Hourly	Annual(4)
Healthcare practitioners and technical occupations	13,550	1.4	$27.81	$57,850
Dentists, general	80	0.6	68.52	142,510
Dietitians and nutritionists	70	0.9	21.07	43,820
Pharmacists	400	1.1	53.84	111,990
Family and general practitioners	130	0.8	109.75	228,290
Physicians and surgeons, all other	370	1.0	90.72	188,700
Physician assistants	60	0.6	38.45	79,970
Occupational therapists	90	0.7	33.60	69,890
Physical therapists	220	0.9	29.94	62,270
Radiation therapists	40	2.1	25.78	53,620
Recreational therapists	80	3.8	20.44	42,510
Respiratory therapists	270	1.8	23.56	49,010
Speech-language pathologists	140	0.9	30.53	63,500
Veterinarians	60	0.8	37.12	77,220
Registered nurses	4,290	1.3	27.99	58,220
Nurse anesthetists	(5)	(5)	72.06	149,880
Nurse practitioners	70	0.5	50.32	104,670
Health diagnosing and treating practitioners, all other	40	0.9	28.92	60,150
Medical and clinical laboratory technologists	480	2.4	22.95	47,730
Medical and clinical laboratory technicians	430	2.1	16.96	35,270
Dental hygienists	150	0.6	28.98	60,280
Cardiovascular technologists and technicians	220	3.5	19.74	41,050
Diagnostic medical sonographers	80	1.0	27.86	57,940
Radiologic technologists	330	1.4	18.31	38,080
Magnetic resonance imaging technologists	60	1.6	28.54	59,360
Emergency medical technicians and paramedics	360	1.2	14.92	31,030
Pharmacy technicians	580	1.3	13.99	29,100
Surgical technologists	220	1.8	17.64	36,680
Veterinary technologists and technicians	(5)	(5)	11.65	24,240
Licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses	2,430	2.8	18.32	38,110
Medical records and health information technicians	310	1.4	13.53	28,150
Opticians, dispensing	160	1.8	13.52	28,120
Health technologists and technicians, all other	160	1.3	20.72	43,100
Occupational health and safety specialists	100	1.2	27.64	57,480
Healthcare practitioners and technical workers, all other	580	11.4	(5)	(5)
(1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Shreveport-Bossier City MSA, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_43340.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.