October 2010
Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) Highlights:
Gulf Coast Occupational Employment and Wages
(PDF
version)
Some of the largest industries in areas along the Gulf of Mexico Coast
are related to oil and gas drilling, water transportation, and leisure and
hospitality. A closer look at the occupations and wages in these
industries and areas prior to the Gulf oil spill could provide insight
into potential implications of the spill for the labor force in the
region, although it is difficult to say which occupations may be adversely
affected in their employment or wages.
While the largest occupations in the Gulf areas were often the same
large occupations found in other areas of the United States, location
quotients1 can be used to show occupations that are more
highly concentrated in the Gulf areas than in other parts of the country.
Location quotients compare an occupation’s share of total employment in
the area to its share of total U.S. employment. A location quotient
greater than one indicates that the occupation is more concentrated in the
area than in the United States as a whole. Occupations that were the most
prevalent in the 25 areas2 along the Gulf Coast, measured in
terms of location quotients, are available in this table.
Some of the occupations that were the most prevalent in the Gulf Coast
areas included occupations associated with oil and gas extraction, water
transportation, and leisure and hospitality.
Occupations closely related to oil and gas extraction and water
transportation accounted for over 100,000 jobs across the 25 Gulf Coast
areas. Six of the 19 metropolitan areas and 2 of the 6 nonmetropolitan
areas had especially high employment concentrations of occupations
prevalent in the oil and gas and/or water transportation industries. The
location quotients for selected occupations in these 8 areas are shown in
figures 1 through 4.
Four of the metropolitan areas—Beaumont-Port Arthur, Victoria, Lake Charles, and Houma-Bayou
Cane-Thibodaux—are smaller metropolitan areas consisting of 2 parishes
or counties and are shown in figure 1. The Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux
metropolitan area dominates the graph with four occupations with location
quotients over 60, including captains, mates, and pilots of water
vessels; riggers; sailors
and marine oilers; and ship
engineers. Chemical plant and
system operators and petroleum
pump system operators, refinery operators, and gaugers also had high
location quotients for 3 of the metropolitan areas.
Click here to see these
data in table format.
Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown,
TX, and New
Orleans-Metairie-Kenner, LA, also had high employment concentrations
of occupations related to the oil and gas and water transportation
industries. In many of the occupations, the metropolitan areas were
similar in the concentrations of employment. For instance, both areas had
similar location quotients for geological and petroleum technicians as well as petroleum pump system operators, refinery operators, and
gaugers. Both areas also had high concentrations of petroleum
engineers.
Click here to see these
data in table format.
Two nonmetropolitan areas with high concentrations of oil and gas
occupations are shown in figures 3 and 4. The New
Iberia nonmetropolitan area is located in Louisiana and consists of
Acadia Parish, Assumption Parish, Iberia Parish, Jefferson Davis Parish,
St. James Parish, St. Landry Parish, St. Mary Parish, and Vermilion
Parish. More than half of the 20 occupations with the highest location
quotients in the New Iberia nonmetropolitan area were in some way related
to the oil and gas industry or to water transportation. Employment
concentrations for several of these occupations were more than 10 times as
high in the New Iberia nonmetropolitan area than in the United States as a
whole. For example, commercial
divers were 124 times more concentrated in the New Iberia
nonmetropolitan area than in the United States. The annual mean wages for
almost half of these occupations also were above the U.S. all-occupations
average of $43,460. For instance, petroleum engineers had an annual wage
of $84,960 and a location quotient of 6.3. Captains, mates, and pilots of
water vessels also had a high location quotient and an annual wage of
$73,860.
Click here to see these
data in table format.
The Gulf Coast Texas
nonmetropolitan area is located in Texas and consists of 17 counties.
The occupations with the highest location quotients in this area were more
diverse, and included a number of occupations not closely related to oil
and gas extraction, such as postsecondary agricultural science
teachers and personal and home
care aides. Among the oil- and gas-related occupations, service
unit operators, oil, gas, and mining had an employment concentration
approximately 41 times the U.S. average. Petroleum engineers were also
highly concentrated in this nonmetropolitan area, and had a high annual
mean wage of $116,210.
Click here to see these
data in table format.
The proximity to water and the types of entertainment found around the
Gulf Coast make it ideal for tourism and the service industries that
support it, such as traveler accommodation and food service. Two
metropolitan areas with high concentrations of leisure and
hospitality-related occupations—Gulfport-Biloxi, MS, and Panama
City-Lynn Haven, FL—are shown in figures 5 and 6. The occupations with
high location quotients in Gulfport-Biloxi overwhelmingly consist of
occupations that are directly related to gaming. Other leisure and
hospitality-related occupations include concierges, baggage porters and bellhops, and lodging managers.
Click here to see these
data in table format.
The Panama City-Lynn Haven, FL, metropolitan area also highlights the
large concentrations of occupations in the leisure and hospitality
industries. Particularly prevalent in this area were several occupations
related to lodging and food service, including hosts
and hostesses, restaurant, lounge, and coffee shop; hotel,
motel, and resort desk clerks; and restaurant
cooks. Like some of the other Gulf Coast areas highlighted above, this
area also included high concentrations of sailors and marine oilers and
captains, mates, and pilots of water vessels.
Click here to see these
data in table format.
Click here to see these
data in table format.
The South Florida
nonmetropolitan area also had high concentrations of several leisure
and hospitality-related occupations, such as tour
guides and escorts, bartenders, and dishwashers.
In addition to the occupations highlighted above, other occupations
were also prevalent in specific Gulf Coast areas. For example, several
nonmetropolitan areas had high concentrations of protective service
occupations, including the Northeast Florida, South Florida,
and Gulf Coast Texas nonmetropolitan areas. The Southwest
Alabama and Northwest
Florida nonmetropolitan areas had high location quotients for logging
occupations. Among metropolitan areas, McAllen-Edinburg-Mission,
TX, had high concentrations of several teaching occupations, while Naples-Marco Island, FL, had high
concentrations of construction and landscaping occupations. Although
occupations associated with oil and gas extraction, water transportation,
and leisure and hospitality were prevalent across the Gulf Coast region,
individual Gulf Coast areas also retained some occupational diversity,
suggesting that not every area may be equally affected by the Gulf oil
spill.
Complete Occupational Employment Statistics data for May 2009 are
available from the OES home page. This
highlight was prepared by Swati Patel. For more information, please contact the OES program.
1Location quotients represent the ratio of an occupation’s
share of total local employment to the occupation’s share of total U.S.
employment. If a location quotient is equal to 1, then the occupation has
the same share of area employment as it does of national employment.
Location quotients greater than 1 indicate that the occupation makes up a
larger share of local area employment than it does of national employment.
For example, if the location quotient for tile and marble setters was 4 in
the Naples-Marco Island, FL, metropolitan area, then that means that the
employment share of tile and marble setters was 4 times as high in
Naples-Marco Island, FL, as in the United States as a whole.
2The 25 areas include 19 metropolitan statistical areas
(MSAs) and 6 OES-defined nonmetropolitan areas in Florida, Alabama,
Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas that border the Gulf of Mexico.
Last Modified Date: March 30, 2018
United States Department of Labor
