Workers in the San Antonio-New Braunfels Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $19.59 in May 2012, about 11 percent below the nationwide average of $22.01, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Regional Commissioner Stanley W. Suchman noted that, after testing for statistical significance, 17 of 22 major occupational groups had significantly lower wages than their respective national averages, including construction and extraction, legal, and protective service. No major occupational group in the local area had wages that were significantly above their respective national averages.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, San Antonio employment was more highly concentrated in 5 of the 22 occupational groups, including food preparation and serving related, personal care and service, and office and administrative support. Conversely, nine groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including production, transportation and material moving, and management. (See table A and box note at end of release.)

One occupational group – office and administrative support – illustrates the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. San Antonio had 151,420 jobs in office and administrative support, accounting for 17.6 percent of local area employment, significantly above the national share of 16.4 percent. However, at $15.53 per hour, the local average hourly wage for this occupational group was about six percent below the national average of $16.54.

With employment of 22,230, customer service representatives was the largest occupation within the office and administrative support group, followed by general office clerks (20,300) and secretaries and administrative assistants, excluding legal, medical, and executive (13,690). 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 $25.27 and $23.02, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were and hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks ($9.89) and stock clerks and order fillers ($11.77). (Detailed occupational data for the office and administrative support group are shown in table 1; for a complete listing of all detailed occupations go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_41700.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 San Antonio-New Braunfels metropolitan area, above average concentrations of employment were found in a number of the detailed occupations within the office and administrative support group. For instance, medical secretaries were employed at nearly twice the national rate in San Antonio, and credit authorizers, checkers, and clerks at more than five times the U.S. average. On the other hand, payroll and timekeeping clerks had a location quotient of 1.0 in San Antonio, meaning the local employment share in this particular occupation matched the national average.

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 Texas Workforce Commission.

With the release of the May 2012 estimates, OES data are based on the 2010 Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) system for the first time. The OES survey provides estimates of employment and hourly and annual wages for wage and salary workers in 22 major occupational groups and more than 800 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 for the first time. Information about the 2010 SOC is available on the BLS website at www.bls.gov/soc/.

The May 2012 OES estimates are the first to be produced using the 2012 North American Industry Classification System (NAICS). Information about the 2012 NAICS is available on the BLS website at www.bls.gov/bls/naics.htm.

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 for a 3-year period. May 2012 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected in May 2012, November 2011, May 2011, November 2010, May 2010, and November 2009. The overall national response rate for the six panels is 76.6 percent based on establishments and 72.9 percent based on employment. The sample in the San Antonio-New Braunfels Metropolitan Statistical Area included 4,851 establishments with a response rate of 66 percent. For more information about OES concepts and methodology, go to www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.tn.htm.

The substate area data published in this release reflect the standards and definitions established by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget.

The San Antonio-New Braunfels Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) includes Atascosa, Bandera, Bexar, Comal, Guadalupe, Kendall, Medina, and Wilson Counties in Texas.

OES data are available on our regional web page at www.bls.gov/ro6. 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/2012/may/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: 1-800-877-8339.