April 2011
Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) Highlights:
Using
Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) Data in a Job Search
(PDF
version)
Searching for a job in a recovering economy can be a daunting task.
Whether they are recent graduates or professionals contemplating switching
careers, job seekers can ease this process by understanding the distinct
resources available to them. More specifically, prospective employees can
use Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) data to find the industries
and geographic areas with the highest employment and wages for occupations
that are of interest to them.
[Chart
data]
Chart 1 shows how employment for heavy and tractor-trailer truck
drivers declined between 2004 and 2009 in specific industries,
including employment services
and cement and concrete product
manufacturing. For this occupation, the employment level in the
employment services industry declined by 12,770. Meanwhile, other
industries, such as general
freight trucking, warehousing
and storage, and support
activities for road transportation, experienced an increase in the
number of heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers. The general freight
trucking industry increased its employment by 12,993 between 2004 and
2009. These data could be beneficial to heavy and tractor-trailer truck
drivers who may have been working in an industry that experienced an
employment decline by providing them with options for considering other
industries that are experiencing growth in employment in their
occupation.
A similar example would be individuals who have been laid off in the residential construction
industry. Employment in the residential construction industry has declined
since early 2006; a similar industry that has also experienced decline,
although not as much, is the nonresidential construction
industry. The nonresidential construction industry also tends to pay
higher wages compared with the residential construction industry. Chart 2
shows the employment levels and mean hourly wages for construction
laborers in some of the industries with the highest employment levels.
[Chart
data]
Some occupations, such as accountants, financial
managers, administrative services
managers, clerks, sales
workers, human resources
specialists, and laborers, can be found in almost every industry.
Other occupations are concentrated in a few industries, but they can still
be found in other industries. For example, paralegals
might focus their job searches on finding work within the legal
services industry, an industry that traditionally employs 73 percent
of paralegals. However, job seekers could broaden their searches to
include government employers, which
account for another 15 percent of jobs in this occupation. In other words,
to maximize their potential opportunities, job seekers might want to
examine alternative industries for employment. Different industries often
pay different wages. As a jobseeker, if earning a higher salary is a
priority, then applying to jobs that pay higher wages should be
considered.
Considering related occupations
The OES website has a comprehensive list of 800 occupations, which allows
individuals to consider related occupations. For example, heavy and
tractor-trailer truck drivers not only can consider switching industries
to improve their employment opportunities, but they also can consider
related occupations under “Transportation and Material Moving
Occupations.” Bus drivers and
taxi drivers and chauffeurs are
two of many driving-related occupations that require a very similar skill
set and training to that of heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers.
Similarly, under “Protective
Service Occupations” individuals will find occupations such as police officers, security
guards, correctional
officers, and private
investigators. The occupational profiles list can be especially useful
for people who would like more information about jobs with a similar skill
set. There were an estimated 1,028,830 security guards employed in May
2009, and their mean hourly wage was $12.70. A comparable occupation that
may require slightly different training is correctional officers and
jailers. Employment in that occupation was estimated at 455,350 in May
2009, with a mean hourly wage of $20.49.
[Chart
data]
Contemplating a specific industry
Alternatively, if job seekers are interested in working in a particular
industry, they can find information on the variety of jobs in that
industry. For instance, jobs in the healthcare industry include orderlies,
surgeons, and medical
records technicians and jobs in education include teachers, school
bus drivers, and education administrators.
A jobseeker interested in working in the motion
picture and sound recording industries could work in any number of
occupations involved in preproduction, production, and postproduction. For
example, writers and authors who
take an idea or existing work and create a screenplay or script could be
considered as working in preproduction. A production occupation might be
sound engineering technicians who
supervise all sound generated during filming. In May 2009, sound
engineering technicians earned a mean hourly wage of $28.08. A
postproduction occupation might be a film and video editor who studies
and assembles the footage recorded. Training requirements and job outlook
for these and over 250 occupations are available through the Occupational
Outlook Handbook. Selected occupations in the motion picture and sound
recording industries are included in Chart 4 alongside their mean hourly
wages.
[Chart
data]
Location matters
Geographically, OES produces cross-industry data for the nation as a
whole, for individual states, and for metropolitan and nonmetropolitan
areas. Employment concentration for an area, which can be measured by
location quotients, is one important factor to consider as a jobseeker.
The national location quotient for an occupation is always one. A location
quotient greater than 1.0 indicates more local concentration in an
occupation compared with the national average. Job seekers interested in
working as travel agents will
notice that specific states have higher-than-average employment
concentrations in this occupation, such as Hawaii,
North Dakota, Florida,
and Missouri. Chart 5 details how
travel agents are almost 2.5 times more concentrated in Hawaii compared
with the national average, but the employment level was at 860 for May
2009. Meanwhile, Florida had a slightly lower location quotient, since
travel agents were 1.88 times more concentrated in Florida compared with
the national average, but the employment level for that occupation was
almost 9.5 times higher than Hawaii’s, at 8,150. When considering where to
look for employment opportunities, job seekers can use OES data to examine
both the employment concentration and overall level of employment for
various occupations.
[Chart
data]
Although job seekers may be tempted to move to areas where wages are
significantly higher, which tend to be large metropolitan areas, they
should consider cost of living before packing up. For example, the New York metropolitan area may have
higher-than-average wages and employment, yet the high cost of living can
offset higher wages. Besides, not all occupations are concentrated in the
largest metropolitan areas in the United States. For example, aspiring zoologists and wildlife biologists
could search for jobs in Corvallis,
OR; Fairbanks, AK; and Lewiston, ID, which represent some
of the locations with high employment concentrations for this occupation.
(See chart 6.) Zoologists and wildlife biologists are about 39 times more
concentrated in Corvallis, OR; 32 times more concentrated in Fairbanks,
AK; and 21 times more concentrated in Lewiston, ID, compared with the
national average. Such a job seeker could also consider cities where
employment levels are highest, some of which include Seattle, Portland,
and San Diego. The Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA,
metropolitan area employed an estimated 920 zoologists and wildlife
biologists in May 2009. Meanwhile, the Portland-Vancouver-Beaverton,
OR-WA, metropolitan area had employment of 710 in this occupation and
the San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos,
CA, metropolitan area employed 340.
[Chart
data]
Looking at wages
Wages vary for numerous reasons, including skills, experience,
geographic locations, and industry. OES provides not only mean and median
wage data, but also wage range data by percentiles, including the 10th,
25th, 75th, and 90th percentiles. To demonstrate the usefulness of these
data, consider a student graduating with a degree in psychology who is
possibly interested in becoming a public relations specialist. This
job seeker may expect wages near the 10th percentile, at $30,520 annually,
or the 25th percentile, at $38,740 annually, since he or she is just
starting a new career and may lack experience. Meanwhile, a more
experienced job seeker could expect wages in the 75th percentile, at
$72,180 annually, or the 90th percentile, at $96,630 for the same
occupation.
To get started, job seekers can select occupations of interest to them
from the occupational profile
page. More information on employment and wages for all occupations in
a particular area can be found at the metropolitan and nonmetropolitan area
page, or occupations in industries of interest can be reviewed at the
industry-specific page. Wage data
for May 2010 will be released on May 17, 2011. Data on employment
projections, including the projected growth and decline in the
construction industry, are from the Employment Projections
Program. The Occupational Outlook Handbook is available from
the Occupational Outlook Handbook Program. This
highlight was prepared by Claudia Calderón. For more information, please
contact the OES
program.
Last Modified Date: March 30, 2018
