Workers in the Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $23.80 in May 2017, about 2 percent below the nationwide average of $24.34, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Assistant Commissioner for Regional Operations Richard Holden noted that, after testing for statistical significance, wages in the local area were lower than their respective national averages in 13 of the 22 major occupational groups, including management; life, physical, and social science; and education, training, and library. The food preparation and serving related group had a significantly higher wage than the national average.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 6 of the 22 occupational groups, including office and administrative support; management; and sales and related. Conversely, eight groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including production; education, training, and library; and transportation and material moving. (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. Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale had 343,990 jobs in office and administrative support, accounting for 17.4 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 15.4-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $18.23, compared to the national wage of $18.24.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the office and administrative support group included customer service representatives (73,250), general office clerks (33,890), and secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive (30,630). 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 $26.39 and $26.38, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks ($11.99) and clerical library assistants ($13.33). (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/current/oes_38060.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 Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale Metropolitan Statistical Area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in some of the occupations within the office and administrative support group. For instance, loan interviewers and clerks were employed at 2.4 times the national rate in Phoenix, and reservation and transportation ticket agents and travel clerks, at 2.1 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, stock clerks and order fillers had a location quotient of 1.0 in Phoenix, 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 Arizona Department of Administration.

Technical Note

The Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) survey is a semiannual survey measuring occupational employment and wage rates for wage and salary workers in nonfarm establishments in the United States. The OES data available from BLS include cross-industry occupational employment and wage estimates for the nation; over 650 areas, including states and the District of Columbia, metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs), metropolitan divisions, nonmetropolitan areas, and territories; national industry-specific estimates at the NAICS sector, 3-, 4-, and selected 5- and 6-digit industry levels, and national estimates by ownership across all industries and for schools and hospitals. OES data are available at www.bls.gov/oes/tables.htm.

OES estimates are constructed from a sample of about 1.2 million establishments. Each year, two semiannual panels of approximately 200,000 sampled establishments are contacted, one panel in May and the other in November. Responses are obtained by mail, Internet or other electronic means, email, telephone, or personal visit. The May 2017 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2017, November 2016, May 2016, November 2015, May 2015, and November 2014. The overall national response rate for the six panels, based on the 50 states and the District of Columbia, is 72 percent based on establishments and 68 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The unweighted sample employment of 82 million across all six semiannual panels represents approximately 58 percent of total national employment. The sample in the Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale Metropolitan Statistical Area included 7,499 establishments with a response rate of 60 percent. For more information about OES concepts and methodology, go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_tec.htm.

The May 2017 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.

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 Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, Ariz. Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Maricopa and Pinal Counties.

Additional information

OES data are available on our regional web page at www.bls.gov/regions/west. 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, Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2017

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Office and administrative support occupations	343,990	1.1	$18.23	$37,920
First-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers	27,570	1.4	26.39	54,890
Switchboard operators, including answering service	800	0.7	13.71	28,510
Bill and account collectors	7,410	2.0	16.93	35,210
Billing and posting clerks	8,810	1.3	18.18	37,820
Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks	15,890	0.8	19.37	40,290
Gaming cage workers	150	0.7	(5)	(5)
Payroll and timekeeping clerks	1,910	0.9	20.70	43,060
Procurement clerks	1,750	1.8	20.58	42,810
Tellers	4,460	0.7	13.75	28,600
Financial clerks, all other	800	1.8	19.80	41,190
Brokerage clerks	1,470	1.8	22.97	47,780
Correspondence clerks	90	1.0	19.90	41,390
Court, municipal, and license clerks	2,490	1.3	17.89	37,210
Credit authorizers, checkers, and clerks	1,020	2.1	19.07	39,670
Customer service representatives	73,250	1.9	16.69	34,710
Eligibility interviewers, government programs	920	0.5	19.66	40,900
File clerks	1,780	1.1	15.66	32,580
Hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks	2,600	0.7	11.99	24,940
Interviewers, except eligibility and loan	950	0.4	17.25	35,880
Library assistants, clerical	760	0.6	13.33	27,720
Loan interviewers and clerks	7,680	2.4	19.81	41,200
New accounts clerks	460	0.8	19.76	41,090
Order clerks	2,410	1.0	15.56	32,370
Human resources assistants, except payroll and timekeeping	1,960	1.1	19.28	40,110
Receptionists and information clerks	13,700	1.0	14.34	29,820
Reservation and transportation ticket agents and travel clerks	4,210	2.1	20.93	43,540
Information and record clerks, all other	4,130	1.8	16.76	34,860
Cargo and freight agents	770	0.6	21.55	44,820
Couriers and messengers	870	0.8	14.65	30,460
Police, fire, and ambulance dispatchers	1,030	0.8	23.27	48,410
Dispatchers, except police, fire, and ambulance	2,950	1.1	19.71	40,990
Meter readers, utilities	410	0.9	22.89	47,610
Postal service clerks	550	0.5	26.16	54,410
Postal service mail carriers	3,870	0.8	24.33	50,600
Postal service mail sorters, processors, and processing machine operators	1,400	0.9	23.85	49,600
Production, planning, and expediting clerks	5,780	1.2	22.71	47,250
Shipping, receiving, and traffic clerks	7,780	0.8	16.04	33,360
Stock clerks and order fillers	28,050	1.0	13.51	28,110
Weighers, measurers, checkers, and samplers, recordkeeping	950	0.9	14.37	29,900
Executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants	8,230	1.0	26.38	54,870
Legal secretaries	2,130	0.8	23.92	49,760
Medical secretaries	8,980	1.1	17.44	36,270
Secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive	30,630	1.0	17.56	36,520
Computer operators	(5)	(5)	23.69	49,270
Data entry keyers	2,750	1.1	15.07	31,340
Word processors and typists	160	0.2	17.98	37,410
Desktop publishers	90	0.6	(5)	(5)
Insurance claims and policy processing clerks	6,010	1.6	19.79	41,160
Mail clerks and mail machine operators, except postal service	1,240	1.0	13.57	28,220
Office clerks, general	33,890	0.8	17.50	36,390
Office machine operators, except computer	1,130	1.5	16.56	34,440
Proofreaders and copy markers	190	1.2	20.69	43,040
Statistical assistants	180	1.3	18.33	38,130
Office and administrative support workers, all other	3,320	1.1	19.62	40,820
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_38060.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.