For release:                      Friday, July 6, 2011 USDL-11-243
Technical Information: (617) 565-2327 • BLSInfoBoston@bls.gov • www.bls.gov/ro1
Media Contact: (617) 565-2326 • consedine.tim@bls.gov


Highlights of Boston-Worcester-Manchester National Compensation Survey - October 2010

Workers in the Boston-Worcester-Manchester metropolitan area earned an average of $26.76 per hour in October 2010, according to the National Compensation Survey (NCS), the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported today. Regional Commissioner Denis M. McSweeney noted that wage data were reported for workers in a wide range of occupational groups, including average hourly earnings of $41.93 for computer and mathematical science occupations and $37.01 for health practitioner and technical occupations. Another occupational group, business and financial operations, had a mean hourly wage rate of $33.08. The NCS data available for the Boston area included earnings for 21 major occupational groups with additional detail for selected occupations within those groups. (See table 1.)

Computer systems analysts, part of the computer and mathematical science occupational group, earned $42.41 per hour. Within the healthcare practitioner and technical occupations group, registered nurses averaged $41.48 per hour. Accountants and auditors, an occupation within the business and financial operations occupations group, registered an average hourly wage of $28.79.

Broad coverage of selected occupational characteristics is available from NCS for the local area. Full-time workers averaged $28.72 per hour while their part-time counterparts earned $14.95. Union workers averaged $30.03 and non-union workers, $26.15. Workers in establishments with 1-99 workers averaged $22.15 per hour, those in establishments with 100-499 workers $26.33, and those in establishments with 500 or more employees earned $35.65.

The occupational wage data available from NCS may be used by business for establishing pay plans, making decisions concerning plant relocation, and in collective bargaining negotiations. Individuals may use such data to help choose potential careers. NCS results also include the work level and respective earnings for occupations determined by a point factor leveling process. The four occupational leveling factors are: knowledge, job controls and complexity, contacts, and physical environment. Details on the NCS are available at www.bls.gov/ncs/home.htm.

The NCS data reported here covered 841 establishments with one or more workers in private industry and State and local governments. Agricultural establishments, private households, the self-employed, and the Federal Government were excluded from the survey. This sample of establishments represented 2,814,800 workers in the Boston-Worcester-Manchester, MA-NH Combined Statistical Area which is comprised of Essex, Middlesex, Norfolk, Plymouth, and Suffolk, and Worcester Counties in Massachusetts; and Belknap, Hillsborough, Merrimack, Rockingham, and Strafford Counties in New Hampshire.

Survey Availability

Complete survey results are obtained in the Boston-Worcester-Manchester, MA-NH National Compensation Survey October 2010 which is available on the Internet in both text and PDF formats at www.bls.gov/ncs/ocs/compub.htm.

With the enactment of the Federal Government's 2011 budget, the Locality Pay Survey (LPS) portion of the National Compensation Survey (NCS) was eliminated. The final set of LPS products are now published which include the National Bulletin, Nine Census Summaries, Occupational Pay Relatives, and the LPS locality wage estimates. These products will not be produced in the future but we would like to develop methodologies, resources permitting, so that similar estimates can be modeled in the future. For further information, see: www.bls.gov/ncs/ocs/#notices.

For personal assistance or further information on the National Compensation Survey data, as well as other Bureau data, contact the New England Information Office by calling (617) 565-2327 from 8:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and 1:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. ET.

Table 1. Civilian workers: Mean hourly earnings(1) for full-time and part-time workers(2), Boston-Worcester-Manchester, MA-NH CSA October 2010
Occupation(3) Total Full-time workers Part-time workers
Mean Relative error(4) (percent) Mean Relative error(4) (percent) Mean Relative error(4) (percent)

All workers

 26.76 2.1 28.72 2.4 14.95 3.4

Management occupations

 49.68 3.9 49.65 3.9 - -

General and operations managers

 62.23 10.2 62.23 10.2 - -

Marketing and sales managers

 54.40 9.7 54.40 9.7 - -

Marketing managers

 56.67 15.3 56.67 15.3 - -

Sales managers

 50.39 12.3 50.39 12.3 - -

Computer and information systems managers

 55.12 8.9 55.12 8.9 - -

Financial managers

 58.64 4.4 58.64 4.4 - -

Human resources managers

 42.51 6.9 42.51 6.9 - -

Purchasing managers

 42.67 13.9 42.67 13.9 - -

Education administrators

 50.36 5.8 50.65 6.0 - -

Education administrators, elementary and secondary school

 56.82 9.4 56.82 9.4 - -

Education administrators, postsecondary

 48.05 6.5 48.37 6.9 - -

Engineering managers

 55.21 4.3 55.21 4.3 - -

Medical and health services managers

 38.16 3.1 36.56 3.6 - -

Social and community service managers

 31.71 9.7 31.71 9.7 - -

Business and financial operations occupations

 33.08 4.6 33.11 4.6 32.35 17.1

Buyers and purchasing agents

 28.90 14.0 28.70 14.5 - -

Wholesale and retail buyers, except farm products

 23.26 21.0 23.26 21.0 - -

Purchasing agents, except wholesale, retail, and farm products

 33.06 14.8 32.96 15.7 - -

Claims adjusters, appraisers, examiners, and investigators

 29.58 12.6 28.65 15.1 - -

Claims adjusters, examiners, and investigators

 29.37 14.5 28.29 17.9 - -

Compliance officers, except agriculture, construction, health and safety, and transportation

 26.69 13.6 26.70 15.8 - -

Human resources, training, and labor relations specialists

 30.38 7.1 31.28 7.1 - -

Training and development specialists

 33.78 6.9 35.80 4.7 - -

Management analysts

 45.96 12.8 45.96 12.8 - -

Accountants and auditors

 28.79 2.9 28.37 2.4 - -

Financial analysts and advisors

 44.02 7.0 44.78 6.9 - -

Financial analysts

 47.71 8.9 47.71 8.9 - -

Computer and mathematical science occupations

 41.93 7.0 42.04 7.0 - -

Computer programmers

 34.85 7.6 34.85 7.6 - -

Computer software engineers

 50.24 5.3 50.24 5.3 - -

Computer software engineers, applications

 52.33 8.9 52.33 8.9 - -

Computer software engineers, systems software

 48.86 6.2 48.86 6.2 - -

Computer support specialists

 35.24 10.2 35.24 10.2 - -

Computer systems analysts

 42.41 2.3 42.41 2.3 - -

Network and computer systems administrators

 35.44 7.0 36.27 6.2 - -

Network systems and data communications analysts

 33.56 7.0 33.56 7.0 - -

Architecture and engineering occupations

 40.24 2.1 39.87 1.9 - -

Architects, except naval

 30.12 10.9 - - - -

Architects, except landscape and naval

 30.91 14.3 - - - -

Engineers

 46.88 3.8 46.74 4.4 - -

Electrical and electronics engineers

 43.67 5.8 43.67 5.8 - -

Electrical engineers

 45.76 4.6 45.76 4.6 - -

Electronics engineers, except computer

 42.60 8.1 42.60 8.1 - -

Mechanical engineers

 42.91 2.5 42.91 2.5 - -

Engineering technicians, except drafters

 29.37 5.6 29.37 5.6 - -

Electrical and electronic engineering technicians

 31.54 6.4 31.54 6.4 - -

Life, physical, and social science occupations

 36.73 8.6 36.80 8.7 - -

Life scientists

 39.23 12.5 39.23 12.5 - -

Biological scientists

 45.49 10.1 45.49 10.1 - -

Medical scientists

 36.26 22.8 36.26 22.8 - -

Physical scientists

 36.05 17.5 36.05 17.5 - -

Chemists and materials scientists

 49.78 11.4 49.78 11.4 - -

Psychologists

 27.38 8.4 - - - -

Community and social services occupations

 21.71 8.3 21.89 9.1 19.94 13.9

Counselors

 23.64 10.7 23.57 11.2 - -

Educational, vocational, and school counselors

 33.76 10.3 34.31 10.3 - -

Social workers

 25.55 9.3 25.40 9.7 - -

Child, family, and school social workers

 25.79 21.8 25.79 21.8 - -

Miscellaneous community and social service specialists

 14.58 11.9 13.95 13.5 - -

Social and human service assistants

 13.51 10.4 13.11 11.3 - -

Legal occupations

 52.76 14.5 53.79 14.8 - -

Lawyers

 73.42 7.6 73.42 7.6 - -

Education, training, and library occupations

 35.99 6.8 37.02 6.5 25.72 15.9

Postsecondary teachers

 52.75 3.3 53.22 4.1 46.31 18.3

Life sciences teachers, postsecondary

 81.23 5.9 82.15 6.0 - -

Biological science teachers, postsecondary

 81.23 5.9 82.15 6.0 - -

Physical sciences teachers, postsecondary

 65.13 5.3 65.13 5.3 - -

Social sciences teachers, postsecondary

 50.55 4.9 - - - -

Health teachers, postsecondary

 56.59 15.8 - - - -

Arts, communications, and humanities teachers, postsecondary

 47.06 14.7 46.07 14.4 - -

Miscellaneous postsecondary teachers

 45.04 4.6 45.17 7.5 44.37 18.8

Primary, secondary, and special education school teachers

 37.22 10.8 37.74 9.5 - -

Preschool and kindergarten teachers

 17.58 28.8 17.42 24.2 - -

Preschool teachers, except special education

 16.59 28.8 16.31 23.8 - -

Elementary and middle school teachers

 46.06 1.4 46.21 1.5 - -

Elementary school teachers, except special education

 46.51 1.8 46.71 1.9 - -

Middle school teachers, except special and vocational education

 44.70 1.5 44.70 1.5 - -

Secondary school teachers

 44.28 2.2 44.28 2.2 - -

Secondary school teachers, except special and vocational education

 44.28 2.2 44.28 2.2 - -

Special education teachers

 47.93 4.2 47.00 2.4 - -

Special education teachers, preschool, kindergarten, and elementary school

 49.17 10.7 48.01 9.3 - -

Other teachers and instructors

 24.65 5.5 24.76 15.9 24.45 23.0

Self-enrichment education teachers

 26.15 19.7 - - - -

Librarians

 28.41 19.7 - - - -

Teacher assistants

 15.01 10.1 15.18 11.3 14.13 10.7

Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media occupations

 27.86 8.9 27.99 9.2 - -

Designers

 26.78 10.6 26.78 10.6 - -

Athletes, coaches, umpires, and related workers

 32.47 11.4 - - - -

Coaches and scouts

 32.47 11.4 - - - -

Writers and editors

 39.11 9.8 39.61 10.9 - -

Editors

 36.96 8.7 37.43 9.8 - -

Healthcare practitioner and technical occupations

 37.01 5.9 36.90 9.2 37.32 5.4

Physicians and surgeons

 70.03 24.3 70.01 24.5 - -

Registered nurses

 41.48 2.5 40.50 2.6 44.03 3.9

Therapists

 35.50 3.5 35.55 1.6 35.43 8.5

Physical therapists

 35.59 3.7 35.55 1.6 - -

Clinical laboratory technologists and technicians

 26.34 9.8 24.93 15.3 28.45 3.3

Medical and clinical laboratory technologists

 30.82 4.1 - - 32.49 0.4

Medical and clinical laboratory technicians

 19.22 1.2 - - - -

Health diagnosing and treating practitioner support technicians

 17.26 8.3 16.37 6.6 - -

Licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses

 24.77 4.0 25.19 3.5 - -

Medical records and health information technicians

 15.91 3.4 16.04 3.6 - -

Healthcare support occupations

 14.88 4.9 14.82 4.2 15.05 8.6

Nursing, psychiatric, and home health aides

 13.19 3.9 13.35 4.6 12.56 3.4

Home health aides

 10.92 3.9 10.93 3.7 10.82 10.3

Nursing aides, orderlies, and attendants

 14.41 2.9 14.79 2.4 12.98 1.6

Miscellaneous healthcare support occupations

 17.83 3.7 18.69 5.3 16.69 7.5

Medical assistants

 17.80 3.3 18.12 2.9 - -

Protective service occupations

 22.16 1.9 23.01 3.0 15.13 27.0

Fire fighters

 25.50 3.3 25.85 1.7 - -

Bailiffs, correctional officers, and jailers

 28.09 0.9 28.13 0.7 - -

Police officers

 29.31 9.0 28.46 6.4 - -

Police and sheriff's patrol officers

 29.31 9.0 28.46 6.4 - -

Miscellaneous protective service workers

 16.36 11.7 - - - -

Food preparation and serving related occupations

 10.28 5.5 12.23 3.2 8.02 3.3

First-line supervisors/managers, food preparation and serving workers

 26.56 24.7 26.56 24.7 - -

First-line supervisors/managers of food preparation and serving workers

 23.36 19.9 23.36 19.9 - -

Cooks

 11.61 3.5 12.03 2.6 10.35 12.8

Cooks, institution and cafeteria

 13.86 5.2 13.85 5.3 - -

Cooks, restaurant

 12.15 8.0 12.53 7.7 11.20 0.0

Food service, tipped

 5.49 4.9 7.16 5.1 4.92 7.7

Bartenders

 5.61 16.6 - - 5.66 18.0

Waiters and waitresses

 3.85 12.9 - - 3.21 6.2

Dining room and cafeteria attendants and bartender helpers

 8.38 4.4 - - 8.94 7.1

Fast food and counter workers

 9.68 2.4 10.19 5.8 9.18 0.7

Combined food preparation and serving workers, including fast food

 10.29 4.8 10.69 11.2 9.75 3.0

Counter attendants, cafeteria, food concession, and coffee shop

 9.23 1.7 9.70 5.6 8.86 4.5

Dishwashers

 9.49 1.4 - - - -

Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance occupations

 14.37 2.2 14.86 3.1 12.56 2.6

First-line supervisors/managers, building and grounds cleaning and maintenance workers

 21.45 12.2 21.45 12.2 - -

Building cleaning workers

 13.32 3.9 13.57 5.5 12.58 2.6

Janitors and cleaners, except maids and housekeeping cleaners

 14.54 2.4 15.41 3.9 12.65 3.2

Maids and housekeeping cleaners

 10.13 4.3 9.91 4.2 - -

Grounds maintenance workers

 18.04 12.1 18.35 12.6 - -

Landscaping and groundskeeping workers

 17.56 13.6 17.87 14.2 - -

Personal care and service occupations

 16.01 8.1 20.07 8.7 11.99 4.3

Child care workers

 11.65 7.2 - - 11.89 9.3

Recreation and fitness workers

 16.75 18.4 - - 14.24 14.2

Fitness trainers and aerobics instructors

 - - - - 14.29 22.6

Recreation workers

 15.13 10.4 - - 14.04 12.3

Sales and related occupations

 20.03 4.0 23.54 6.0 10.09 2.6

First-line supervisors/managers, sales workers

 18.61 3.1 18.73 3.4 - -

First-line supervisors/managers of retail sales workers

 18.63 3.6 18.78 3.9 - -

Retail sales workers

 12.71 7.3 15.44 3.5 9.72 2.7

Cashiers, all workers

 10.11 3.8 11.31 11.1 9.65 2.6

Cashiers

 10.09 3.8 11.31 11.1 9.61 2.5

Counter and rental clerks and parts salespersons

 14.86 9.7 17.13 12.3 8.44 3.8

Counter and rental clerks

 11.94 14.9 - - - -

Parts salespersons

 19.76 13.9 20.49 18.2 - -

Retail salespersons

 14.25 13.0 16.19 10.0 10.50 3.5

Securities, commodities, and financial services sales agents

 87.27 8.0 91.32 4.2 - -

Sales representatives, wholesale and manufacturing

 31.24 5.3 31.24 5.3 - -

Sales representatives, wholesale and manufacturing, technical and scientific products

 32.45 13.1 32.45 13.1 - -

Sales representatives, wholesale and manufacturing, except technical and scientific products

 30.47 5.2 30.47 5.2 - -

Miscellaneous sales and related workers

 25.59 20.0 26.12 22.4 - -

Office and administrative support occupations

 19.10 1.5 19.81 1.6 14.66 5.5

First-line supervisors/managers of office and administrative support workers

 28.05 7.8 28.05 7.8 - -

Financial clerks

 18.68 3.7 19.26 4.5 15.26 6.6

Billing and posting clerks and machine operators

 15.16 9.5 15.37 9.7 - -

Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks

 22.44 4.0 23.20 4.4 - -

Tellers

 14.53 2.6 14.90 2.7 - -

Brokerage clerks

 20.63 5.7 20.63 5.7 - -

Customer service representatives

 17.82 5.8 18.20 5.1 14.65 16.9

Receptionists and information clerks

 15.43 3.5 15.77 4.3 14.16 10.3

Reservation and transportation ticket agents and travel clerks

 15.17 15.2 - - - -

Dispatchers

 19.66 19.1 19.94 20.6 - -

Dispatchers, except police, fire, and ambulance

 19.76 22.8 - - - -

Shipping, receiving, and traffic clerks

 17.85 4.9 18.17 6.5 - -

Stock clerks and order fillers

 12.56 5.2 16.42 20.7 9.58 6.4

Secretaries and administrative assistants

 22.01 1.9 22.50 1.6 17.02 4.9

Executive secretaries and administrative assistants

 25.76 2.2 25.76 2.2 - -

Medical secretaries

 19.23 4.7 19.26 4.2 18.99 9.4

Secretaries, except legal, medical, and executive

 18.18 6.3 18.73 7.8 16.15 6.0

Data entry and information processing workers

 14.51 8.6 14.52 11.1 - -

Data entry keyers

 14.74 10.1 - - - -

Insurance claims and policy processing clerks

 18.67 4.8 18.67 4.8 - -

Office clerks, general

 19.95 2.7 20.14 2.7 19.41 9.5

Construction and extraction occupations

 28.08 6.3 28.69 6.1 - -

Carpenters

 34.35 1.5 34.41 1.5 - -

Construction laborers

 22.15 17.1 26.39 5.1 - -

Electricians

 27.30 21.0 27.30 21.0 - -

Pipelayers, plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters

 28.40 2.8 28.40 2.8 - -

Plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters

 33.20 8.8 33.20 8.8 - -

Installation, maintenance, and repair occupations

 25.89 8.9 25.99 8.7 - -

First-line supervisors/managers of mechanics, installers, and repairers

 38.32 7.7 38.32 7.7 - -

Automotive technicians and repairers

 27.45 20.5 27.58 20.4 - -

Automotive service technicians and mechanics

 27.07 20.5 27.20 20.5 - -

Bus and truck mechanics and diesel engine specialists

 20.16 9.8 20.16 9.8 - -

Industrial machinery installation, repair, and maintenance workers

 22.41 5.3 22.44 5.3 - -

Maintenance and repair workers, general

 21.98 5.6 22.05 5.7 - -

Line installers and repairers

 29.81 5.2 29.81 5.2 - -

Telecommunications line installers and repairers

 29.11 7.3 29.11 7.3 - -

Production occupations

 17.27 4.7 17.52 4.8 11.80 7.1

First-line supervisors/managers of production and operating workers

 27.90 11.1 27.90 11.1 - -

Electrical, electronics, and electromechanical assemblers

 14.59 8.6 14.59 8.6 - -

Electrical and electronic equipment assemblers

 14.36 12.6 14.36 12.6 - -

Miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators

 14.30 12.8 14.28 14.2 -

Butchers and other meat, poultry, and fish processing workers

 14.58 11.8 - - - -

Machine tool cutting setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic

 17.34 6.1 17.34 6.1 - -

Printers

 19.71 16.9 19.71 16.9 - -

Prepress technicians and workers

 18.71 25.3 18.71 25.3 - -

Printing machine operators

 19.98 13.8 19.98 13.8 - -

Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers

 17.45 4.4 17.87 3.1 - -

Miscellaneous production workers

 12.92 7.1 - - - -

Transportation and material moving occupations

 16.71 7.7 18.40 7.4 10.33 2.3

Bus drivers

 14.26 19.3 - - - -

Driver/sales workers and truck drivers

 19.31 5.5 19.53 5.1 14.97 17.9

Truck drivers, heavy and tractor-trailer

 20.95 6.8 20.96 6.8 - -

Truck drivers, light or delivery services

 16.46 14.1 16.53 15.3 - -

Industrial truck and tractor operators

 18.45 8.1 18.58 8.0 - -

Laborers and material movers, hand

 12.12 3.2 13.45 6.0 - -

Laborers and freight, stock, and material movers, hand

 13.31 8.3 13.85 11.3 11.04 7.2

Packers and packagers, hand

 - - 11.96 6.0 - -

Footnotes:
(1) Earnings are the straight-time hourly wages or salaries paid to employees. They include incentive pay, cost-of-living adjustments, and hazard pay. Excluded are premium pay for overtime, vacations, holidays, nonproduction bonuses, and tips. The mean is computed by totaling the pay of all workers and dividing by the number of workers, weighted by hours.
(2) Employees are classified as working either a full-time or a part-time schedule based on the definition used by each establishment. Therefore, a worker with a 35-hour-per-week schedule might be considered a fill-time employee in one establishment, but classified as part-time in another firm, where a 40-hour week is the minimum full-time schedule.
(3) Workers are classified by occupation using the 2000 Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) system.
(4) The relative standard error (RSE) is the standard error expressed as a percent of the estimate. It can be used to calculate a "confidence interval" around a sample estimate.

SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics, National Compensation Survey.
NOTE: Dashes indicate that no data were reported or that data did not meet publication criteria. Overall occupational groups may include data for categories not shown separately.

Last Modified Date: July 11, 2011