For release 10:00 a.m. (EDT) Tuesday, July 27, 2010               USDL-10-1045

Technical information:  (202) 691-6569  *  oesinfo@bls.gov  *  www.bls.gov/oes
Media contact:          (202) 691-5902  *  PressOffice@bls.gov


      OCCUPATIONAL EMPLOYMENT AND WAGES BY OWNERSHIP -- MAY 2009


Retail salespersons and cashiers were the two largest occupations in the pri-
vate sector in May 2009, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. 
Postal service mail carriers; correctional officers and jailers; and elementary 
school teachers, except special education, had the highest employment among all 
occupations in federal, state, and local government, respectively.

These data are from the Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) program, which 
provides employment and wage estimates for wage and salary workers in 22 major 
occupational groups and 801 detailed occupations. In May 2010, OES released 
2009 cross-ownership data by occupation for the nation, states, metropolitan 
areas, metropolitan divisions, and nonmetropolitan areas, and by occupation 
and industry for the nation. While OES has previously released occupational em-
ployment and wage estimates at the federal, state, and local government levels, 
these data did not include state and local government schools and hospitals. 
To meet user demand, in 2006 BLS began work necessary to produce OES data for 
private ownership and at a more detailed level for state and local government. 
In particular, new state and local government estimates consist of all state 
and local government establishments, including schools and hospitals, which 
before were only included with the estimates of privately owned schools and 
hospitals. Data by ownership are available from the OES homepage at www.bls.
gov/oes.

Occupational Employment and Wages by Ownership

   --Retail salespersons and cashiers combined represented almost 7 percent 
     of total employment in the private sector, with an employment level of 
     4.2 and 3.4 million, respectively. The third largest occupation, combined
     food preparation and serving workers, accounted for slightly more than 2 per-
     cent of total employment in the private sector. (See table 1.)

   --Four occupations specific to the U.S. Postal Service accounted for 23 per-
     cent of federal employment. (See table 2.)

   --Aside from occupations specific to the U.S. Postal Service, the largest oc-
     cupations in federal government included: management analysts; detectives 
     and criminal investigators; purchasing agents, except wholesale, retail, 
     and farm products; all other business operations specialists; and compli-
     ance officers, except agriculture, construction, health and safety, and 
     transportation. (See table 2.)

   --Employment in state government was more widely distributed by occupation 
     than employment in federal and local government. Although correctional of-
     ficers and jailers was the largest occupation, with an employment level 
     of 257,280, it accounted for only about 6 percent of state government em-
     ployment. With the exception of general office clerks that accounted for 
     around 5 percent of total employment, all the remaining occupations in 
     state government each represented less than 3 percent of total employment.
     (See table 3.)

   --Employment in local government was concentrated in teaching occupations. 
     Three of the largest--elementary, middle, and secondary school teachers,
     except special education--accounted for 20 percent of employment. Other
     large occupations were protective service occupations such as police and
     sheriff's patrol officers and fire fighters. (See table 4.)

   --Many of the largest occupations in the private sector were relatively low 
     paying, including waiters and waitresses with a mean hourly wage of $9.80. 
     Some occupations, however, paid significantly more on average, such as reg-
     istered nurses ($32.07) and general and operations managers ($53.77). (See
     table 1.)

Occupational Employment and Wages in Elementary and Secondary Schools
by Ownership

   --Local government-owned schools employed 1.4 million, 609,070, and 977,150 
     elementary, middle, and secondary school teachers, except special education, 
     respectively. (See table 5.)
  
   --Wages for most of the largest occupations in elementary and secondary schools 
     were higher in state and local government-owned schools than in privately owned 
     schools. For example, the annual mean wages for elementary school teachers, except 
     special education, in local and state government-owned schools were $54,110 and 
     $53,400, respectively, compared with $42,320 in privately owned schools.
     
   --Special education teachers accounted for a higher share of employment in local 
     and state government-owned schools than in privately owned schools. For example, 
     secondary school special education teachers accounted for 1.7 and 2.2 percent 
     of employment in local and state government-owned schools, and 1.2 percent of
     employment in privately owned schools.

   --School bus drivers accounted for 2.9 percent of employment in local government-
     owned schools, and less than 1 percent of employment in private schools.

   --Education administrators accounted for 3.5 percent of employment in privately
     owned schools and 2.4 percent of employment in local government-owned schools.
     
     
Occupational Employment and Wages in General Medical and Surgical Hospitals by Ownership

   --Wages for almost all of the largest occupations in general medical and surgical 
     hospitals were lowest in local government-owned establishments. (See table 6.)

   --Staffing patterns of hospitals were similar among different ownerships. 
     Some of the largest differences were among the nursing occupations. Registered 
     nurses accounted for 29.4 percent of employment in privately owned hospitals, 
     26.2 percent in local and 24.2 percent of employment in state government-owned 
     hospitals.

   --Nursing aides, orderlies, and attendants and licensed practical and licensed vo-
     cational nurses accounted for a slightly higher share of employment in local 
     government-owned hospitals than in privately owned and state government-owned
     hospitals.

Additional Information

The Occupational Employment Statistics program produces cross-industry occupational 
employment and wage estimates nationwide and for all states, 377 metropolitan areas, 
34 metropolitan divisions, and 174 nonmetropolitan areas. OES also publishes national 
industry-specific occupational employment and wage estimates for NAICS sectors and 
3-, 4-, and selected 5-digit industries. In addition to mean hourly and annual wages, 
available wage data include 10th, 25th, 50th (median), 75th, and 90th percentile 
wages, which can be used to show the distribution of wages within an occupation or 
industry. OES data are produced by a cooperative effort between BLS and State Work-
force Agencies, and are based on a sample of 1.2 million business establishments, 
collected in 6 semiannual panels over a 3-year period. State and federal government 
estimates are based on an annual census, while local government estimates are based 
on a probability sample. For more information about OES concepts and methodology, 
visit www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_tec.htm. Complete May 2009 Occupational Employment 
Statistics data are available from the OES Web site at www.bls.gov/oes.