Workers in the Carson City Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $21.83 in May 2012, about 1 percent below the nationwide average of $22.01, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Regional Commissioner Richard J. Holden noted that, after testing for statistical significance, wages in the local area were significantly higher than their respective national averages in 5 of the 22 major occupational groups, including healthcare practitioners and technical, community and social service, and healthcare support. Eleven groups had significantly lower wages than their respective national averages, including management, computer and mathematical, and architecture and engineering.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 8 of the 22 occupational groups, including office and administrative support, business and financial operations, and protective service. Conversely, eight groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including transportation and material moving, sales and related, and construction and extraction. (See table A and box note at end of release.)

One occupational group—business and financial operations—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Carson City had 1,710 jobs in business and financial operations, accounting for 6.5 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 4.9-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $29.43, measurably below the national wage of $33.44.

With employment of 330, management analysts was one of the largest occupations within the business and financial operations group, as were accountants and auditors (290) and compliance officers (110). Among the higher paying jobs were budget analysts and management analysts, with mean hourly wages of $34.24 and $32.00, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were market research analysts and marketing specialists ($24.11) and loan officers ($24.20). (Detailed occupational data for business and financial operations are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/2012/may/oes_16180.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 Carson City Metropolitan Statistical Area, above average concentrations of employment were found in some of the occupations within the business and financial operations group. For instance, management analysts were employed at 3.0 times the national rate in Carson City, and compliance officers, at 2.5 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, accountants and auditors had a location quotient of 1.3 in Carson City, 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 Nevada Department of Employment.

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 .

OES wage and employment data for the 22 major occupational groups in the Carson City metropolitan statistical area were compared to their respective national averages based on statistical significance testing. Only those occupations with wages or employment shares above or below the national wage or share after testing for significance at the 90-percent confidence level meet the criteria. NOTE: 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.

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 Carson City Metropolitan Statistical Area included 599 establishments with a response rate of 76 percent. For more information about OES concepts and methodology, go to www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.tn.htm.

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 Carson City, Nev. Metropolitan Statistical Area  includes Carson City.

Additional information

OES data are available on our regional web page at www.bls.gov/ro9/home.htm. 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.

Table 1. Employment and wage data from the Occupational Employment Statistics survey, by occupation, Carson City Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2012

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual(4)
Business and Financial Operations Occupations	1,710	1.3	$29.43	$61,210
Purchasing Agents, Except Wholesale, Retail, and Farm Products	50	0.9	27.70	57,610
Compliance Officers	110	2.5	28.10	58,450
Cost Estimators	50	1.2	27.63	57,460
Human Resources Specialists	100	1.3	27.12	56,400
Management Analysts	330	3.0	32.00	66,560
Training and Development Specialists	60	1.4	27.13	56,430
Market Research Analysts and Marketing Specialists	40	0.5	24.11	50,160
Business Operations Specialists, All Other	360	1.9	29.89	62,170
Accountants and Auditors	290	1.3	29.98	62,360
Budget Analysts	50	4.2	34.24	71,210
Loan Officers	50	0.8	24.20	50,340
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in Carson City, NV, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_16180.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.

 

Last Modified Date: May 9, 2013