Workers in Guam had an average (mean) hourly wage of $17.75 in May 2019, about 31 percent below the nationwide average of $25.72, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. 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 21 of the 22 major occupational groups, including management, computer and mathematical, and legal.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 8 of the 22 occupational groups, including construction and extraction, management, and building and grounds cleaning and maintenance. Conversely, eleven groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including production, healthcare support, and healthcare practitioners and technical. (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. Guam had 4,610 jobs in construction and extraction, accounting for 7.2 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 4.2-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $15.44, significantly below the national wage of $25.28.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the construction and extraction group included carpenters (810), construction laborers (810), and electricians (390). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were first-line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers and surface mining excavating and loading machine and dragline operators, with mean hourly wages of $21.03 and $20.31, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were miscellaneous construction and related workers ($9.84) and construction laborers ($11.20). (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_gu.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 Guam, 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 4.1 times the national rate in Guam, and construction and maintenance painters, at 2.7 times the U.S. average. Electricians had a location quotient of 1.3 in Guam, 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 Guam Department of Labor.

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 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. OES data are available at www.bls.gov/oes/tables.htm.

The OES 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. OES estimates are constructed from a sample of about 1.1 million establishments. Each year, two semiannual panels of approximately 180,000 to 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 2019 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2019, November 2018, May 2018, November 2017, May 2017, and November 2016. The unweighted sample employment of 83 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 71 percent based on establishments and 68 percent based on weighted sampled employment. For more information about OES 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.

The May 2019 OES estimates are the first set of OES estimates to be based in part on survey data collected using the 2018 SOC. These estimates use a hybrid of the 2010 and 2018 SOC systems. More information on the hybrid classification system is available at www.bls.gov/oes/soc_2018.htm.

The May 2019 OES estimates are based on the 2017 North American Industry Classification System (NAICS). More information about the 2017 NAICS is available at www.bls.gov/bls/naics.htm.

For more information

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

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 for construction and extraction occupations, Guam, May 2019

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Construction and extraction occupations	4,610	1.7	$15.44	$32,110
First-line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers	360	1.3	21.03	43,740
Brickmasons and blockmasons	(5)	(5)	17.03	35,420
Carpenters	810	2.5	15.91	33,090
Cement masons and concrete finishers	340	4.1	15.55	32,340
Construction laborers	810	1.8	11.20	23,290
Operating engineers and other construction equipment operators	250	1.4	17.38	36,140
Electricians	390	1.3	17.87	37,160
Painters, construction and maintenance	280	2.7	13.89	28,890
Plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters	200	1.0	17.22	35,810
Reinforcing iron and rebar workers	120	15.3	15.28	31,790
Sheet metal workers	80	1.4	16.46	34,250
Structural iron and steel workers	70	2.2	14.91	31,010
Helpers--electricians	90	2.6	16.82	34,980
Helpers--pipelayers, plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters	140	5.5	11.34	23,590
Helpers, construction trades, all other	80	6.4	12.45	25,890
Hazardous materials removal workers	(5)	(5)	14.26	29,650
Miscellaneous construction and related workers	(5)	(5)	9.84	20,460
Excavating and loading machine and dragline operators, surface mining	80	4.1	20.31	42,240
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in Guam, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_gu.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. (5) Estimate not released.