For release: Thursday, March 31, 2011

Contact information: (816) 285-7000 • BLSInfoKansasCity@bls.gov • www.bls.gov/ro7


 

HIGHLIGHTS OF GREAT FALLS, MT
NATIONAL COMPENSATION SURVEY - NOVEMBER 2010 (PDF)

Workers in the Great Falls metropolitan area earned an average of $17.28 per hour in November 2010, according to new survey results from the National Compensation Survey (NCS) released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Regional Commissioner Stanley W. Suchman noted that wage data were reported for workers in a wide range of occupational groups, including average hourly earnings of $12.54 for office and administrative support occupations and $10.72 for healthcare support occupations. Another occupational group, food preparation and serving related occupations, had a mean hourly wage rate of $8.60. The NCS data available for the Great Falls area include earnings for 16 major occupational groups with additional detail for selected occupations within many groups. (See table 1.)

Insurance claims and policy processing clerks, part of the office and administrative support occupational group, earned $12.73 per hour and receptionists and information clerks, $10.07. Within the healthcare support group, nursing aides, orderlies, and attendants averaged $11.05 per hour. Food preparation workers, an occupation within the food preparation and serving related group, registered an average hourly rate of $7.78 per hour and waiters and waitresses, $7.56. (See table 1.)

Broad coverage of selected occupational characteristics is available from the NCS for the local area. Full-time workers averaged $18.42 per hour while their part-time counterparts earned $10.19. Union workers earned $21.46 and non-union workers, $16.39. Workers in establishments with 1-99 workers averaged $15.68 per hour, those in establishments with 100-499 workers earned $19.65, and those in establishments with 500 or more employees earned $19.92.

The occupational wage data available from the NCS may be used by businesses 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/.

The NCS data reported here covered 161 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 31,700 workers in the Great Falls, MT Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) which is comprised of Cascade County in Montana.

Survey Availability

Complete survey results are contained in the Great Falls, MT National Compensation Survey November 2010 which is available on the Internet in both text and PDF formats at www.bls.gov/ncs/ocs/compub.htm.

For personal assistance or further information on the National Compensation Survey, as well as other Bureau data, contact the Mountain-Plains Information Office by calling 816-285-7000 from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. CT.

Table 1. Civilian workers: Mean hourly earnings(1) for full-time and part-time workers(2), Great Falls, MT, November 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

 $17.28 3.6 $18.42 3.7 $10.19 4.3

Management occupations

 36.49 9.3 36.49 9.3 - -

Community and social services occupations

 16.55 2.4 16.25 5.0 - -

Education, training, and library occupations

 29.30 11.5 30.21 10.4 12.48 16.5

Postsecondary teachers

 35.62 5.9 - - - -

Primary, secondary, and special education school teachers

 27.39 7.6 27.93 5.2 - -

Elementary and middle school teachers

 28.08 12.3 - - - -

Other teachers and instructors

 30.63 23.5 - - - -

Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media occupations

 15.25 11.8 - - - -

Healthcare practitioner and technical occupations

 25.14 8.8 25.12 9.1 - -

Registered nurses

 26.62 2.3 - - - -

Healthcare support occupations

 10.72 1.5 10.76 1.5 - -

Nursing, psychiatric, and home health aides

 10.89 1.4 10.94 1.7 - -

Nursing aides, orderlies, and attendants

 11.05 2.9 - - - -

Protective service occupations

 24.97 19.5 25.13 19.7 - -

Food preparation and serving related occupations

 8.60 2.8 9.07 3.4 7.79 1.3

Cooks

 8.80 4.8 8.89 4.5 - -

Food preparation workers

 7.78 2.4 - - - -

Food service, tipped

 7.60 0.2 7.73 0.7 7.37 1.0

Waiters and waitresses

 7.56 1.6 7.64 2.7 - -

Fast food and counter workers

 8.63 1.6 - - - -

Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance occupations

 11.77 5.6 11.75 5.5 11.83 14.4

Building cleaning workers

 11.13 6.0 10.83 4.1 11.94 14.9

Janitors and cleaners, except maids and housekeeping cleaners

 11.65 7.4 11.27 6.1 12.49 14.1

Personal care and service occupations

 8.49 1.6 - - 7.82 4.0

Sales and related occupations

 15.57 14.7 17.82 10.4 8.17 0.9

Retail sales workers

 11.58 16.7 13.14 13.1 8.17 0.9

Cashiers, all workers

 9.60 0.7 10.71 3.2 8.29 1.5

Cashiers

 9.60 0.7 10.71 3.2 8.29 1.5

Retail salespersons

 12.82 22.5 14.27 17.3 7.99 0.4

Office and administrative support occupations

 12.54 1.9 12.79 2.0 10.73 5.9

Financial clerks

 12.36 8.0 13.06 8.6 9.23 13.9

Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks

 11.93 8.6 12.95 8.9 9.23 13.9

Receptionists and information clerks

 10.07 4.2 10.08 4.4 - -

Stock clerks and order fillers

 8.93 10.0 - - - -

Secretaries and administrative assistants

 12.60 10.9 12.60 10.9 - -

Insurance claims and policy processing clerks

 12.73 1.3 12.73 1.3 - -

Office clerks, general

 12.85 4.2 13.48 4.9 - -

Construction and extraction occupations

 22.05 5.3 22.44 5.7 - -

Installation, maintenance, and repair occupations

 20.65 15.9 20.65 15.9 - -

Automotive technicians and repairers

 17.45 2.5 17.45 2.5 - -

Production occupations

 17.26 25.6 20.15 24.0 8.06 3.6

Transportation and material moving occupations

 16.07 13.7 16.67 15.1 12.37 12.2

Driver/sales workers and truck drivers

 20.61 25.5 20.61 25.5 - -

Laborers and material movers, hand

 10.40 4.6 10.70 5.1 - -

Laborers and freight, stock, and material movers, hand

 10.08 7.3 - - - -

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 full-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.

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: March 31, 2011