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November 2011
This OES data highlight uses May 2010 estimates to examine occupational employment and wage patterns in nonmetropolitan areas 1. Employment patterns in nonmetropolitan areas (NMAs) are different from those in metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) in multiple ways. Some occupations are found mainly in nonmetropolitan areas, even though such areas account for just 13 percent of employment in the United States. On the other hand, there are several occupations that are almost never found in nonmetropolitan areas, and there are some occupations that are found in approximately the same proportions in both metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas.
Tables 1 and 2 list the 10 occupations with the highest location quotients (LQs) for nonmetropolitan areas and metropolitan areas.
Occupation | NMA Location Quotient | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Loading machine operators, underground mining | 6.300 | ||||||
Mine shuttle car operators | 5.938 | ||||||
Roof bolters, mining | 5.494 | ||||||
Log graders and scalers | 5.334 | ||||||
Logging equipment operators | 5.289 | ||||||
Fallers | 5.097 | ||||||
Continuous mining machine operators | 5.009 | ||||||
Forest and conservation technicians | 4.313 | ||||||
Slaughterers and meat packers | 4.257 | ||||||
Forest fire inspectors and prevention specialists | 4.174 | ||||||
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics |
Occupation | MSA Location Quotient | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Subway and streetcar operators | 1.160 | ||||||
Models | 1.146 | ||||||
Flight attendants | 1.144 | ||||||
Semiconductor processors | 1.136 | ||||||
Actuaries | 1.134 | ||||||
Biochemists and biophysicists | 1.134 | ||||||
Shampooers | 1.134 | ||||||
Prosthodontists | 1.134 | ||||||
Sociologists | 1.133 | ||||||
Medical scientists, except epidemiologists | 1.132 | ||||||
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics |
Location quotients are useful for comparing the composition of jobs in an area relative to the average, or for finding areas that have high concentrations of jobs in certain occupations. As measured here, a location quotient shows the occupation’s share of an area’s employment relative to the national average. 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, and a location quotient of 0.5 indicates the area’s share of employment in the occupation is half the national share. Because the aggregated MSAs account for approximately 87 percent of total national employment, many of their location quotients are very close to 1. In contrast, NMAs have much greater variation in employment structure, thus reflecting the diversity and concentration of occupations in nonmetropolitan areas.
The occupational structure of nonmetropolitan areas exhibits several distinct patterns. Occupations that are more highly concentrated in nonmetropolitan areas tend to be production; extraction; farming, fishing, and forestry; or transportation and material moving occupations. Occupations with lower concentrations in nonmetropolitan areas tend to be arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media; business and financial operations; computer and mathematical; and life, physical, and social science occupations. There are some exceptions, but even within occupational groups found primarily in metropolitan areas, the individual occupations prevalent in nonmetropolitan areas are related to agriculture and natural resources. For example, the business-related occupations that are more heavily concentrated in nonmetropolitan areas include buyers and purchasing agents of farm products and farm labor contractors, and the science-related occupations in nonmetropolitan areas include agricultural and food science technicians, soil and plant scientists, zoologists and wildlife biologists, conservation scientists, and foresters.
Despite the differences between occupations concentrated in metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas, there are some occupations that are found in approximately the same proportions in both types of areas. These occupations have location quotients close to 1 in both the metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas and include clergy, pharmacists, and speech-language pathologists. (See table 3.)
Occupation | MSA Location Quotient | NMA Location Quotient | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Clergy | 0.998 | 1.020 | |||||
Pharmacists | 0.996 | 1.013 | |||||
Speech-language pathologists | 0.999 | 1.013 | |||||
Recreation workers | 1.005 | 1.018 | |||||
Dishwashers | 1.003 | 1.014 | |||||
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics |
A closer look at employment concentrations in nonmetropolitan areas reveals certain patterns in many individual areas. For example, although NMAs generally have a higher share of their employment in occupations related to agriculture, forestry, and natural resource extraction,2 most nonmetropolitan areas have high employment concentrations in just one or two of these sectors, and other NMAs have high location quotients in other sectors. Table 4 lists NMAs that have the highest location quotients for the occupations listed in table 2.
Area | Occupation | Employment | NMA Location Quotient | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Eastern Utah | Loading machine operators, underground mining | 180 | 154.6 | ||||
East Kentucky | Mine shuttle car operators | 580 | 205.6 | ||||
East Kentucky | Roof bolters, mining | 840 | 164.0 | ||||
North Idaho | Log graders and scalers | 110 | 118.5 | ||||
Natchitoches, Louisiana | Logging equipment operators | 580 | 39.3 | ||||
Southwest Mississippi | Fallers | 180 | 37.3 | ||||
Other Nevada | Continuous mining machine operators | 1,040 | 198.4 | ||||
Northern Mountains Region of California | Forest and conservation technicians | 1,500 | 94.2 | ||||
Southwest Minnesota | Slaughterers and meat packers | 3,130 | 36.9 | ||||
South Arkansas | Forest fire inspectors and prevention specialists | 50 | 32.7 | ||||
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics |
Following the general occupational pattern for NMAs, the Eastern Utah NMA has a strong emphasis on mining and oil and gas extraction occupations. In addition to underground mining loading machine operators, the occupations with the highest location quotients are rotary drill operators, oil and gas; helpers—extraction workers; derrick operators, oil and gas; and earth drillers, except oil and gas. Similarly, the East Kentucky NMA has a high concentration of jobs in mining. In addition to mine shuttle car operators, the occupations with the highest location quotients in this area are roof bolters, mining; extraction workers, all other; continuous mining machine operators; and helpers—extraction workers. The North Idaho; Natchitoches, Louisiana; and Southwest Mississippi areas have high concentrations of workers in occupations related to forestry and logging. In addition to log graders and scalers, the North Idaho nonmetropolitan area has high concentrations of forest and conservation technicians and foresters.
Another way to find employment patterns in NMAs is to look for occupations that are in high concentrations in the majority of NMAs. For example, occupations that are frequently found in relatively high concentrations in nonmetropolitan areas include correctional officers and jailers, primary and secondary school teachers, counselors and social workers, court reporters, emergency medical technicians, animal control workers, and occupations concentrated in local government or the post office.
A less common pattern is that some states have nonmetropolitan areas that appear to be specialized in certain sectors. For instance, nonmetropolitan areas in Arkansas, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee, Indiana, and North Carolina have higher concentrations of production employment. Another example is the science-oriented nonmetropolitan areas in Alaska, California, Idaho, and Montana.
Some nonmetropolitan areas are unique because they have relatively high shares of employment in occupations that are more commonly found in metropolitan areas. For example, areas in Alaska, Maryland, Hawaii, and New Mexico have high concentrations of occupations related to science, tourism, or technology. Tables 5, 6, and 7 show the diversity of employment in nonmetropolitan areas in Alaska, Maryland, and Hawaii.
Area and Occupation | Employment | Location Quotient | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Railbelt / Southwest Alaska | |||||||
Gaming and sports book writers and runners | 180 | 24.3 | |||||
Meat, poultry, and fish cutters and trimmers | 3,150 | 35.0 | |||||
Ship engineers | 110 | 21.3 | |||||
Zoologists and wildlife biologists | 220 | 22.5 | |||||
Southeast Alaska | |||||||
Captains, mates, and pilots of water vessels | 240 | 29.9 | |||||
Commercial pilots | 180 | 22.6 | |||||
Sailors and marine oilers | 370 | 43.4 | |||||
Ship engineers | 110 | 43.6 | |||||
Tour guides and escorts | 290 | 36.4 | |||||
Zoologists and wildlife biologists | 230 | 48.4 | |||||
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics |
The two NMAs in Alaska have high location quotients in occupations related to fishing, tourism, and the great outdoors. Both areas have high concentrations of zoologists and wildlife biologists as well as ship engineers. The areas differ in that the Southeast NMA has higher concentrations of tour guides and escorts; sailors and marine oilers; commercial pilots; and captains, mates, and pilots of water vessels, whereas the Railbelt/Southwest NMA has higher concentrations of gaming and sports book writers and meat, poultry, and fish cutters and trimmers.
In Hawaii, many of the occupations with high location quotients are related to travel and tourism. Dancers, as well as tour guides and escorts, have the highest LQs, 20.7 and 19.2, respectively. High location quotients do not necessarily imply high employment levels, especially for relatively small areas or occupations with low overall employment. For example, although anthropologists and archaeologists have an LQ of 6.0 in the nonmetropolitan area of Hawaii, the employment is still only 40.
Occupation | Employment | Location Quotient | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Anthropologists and archeologists | 40 | 6.0 | |||||
Captains, mates, and pilots of water vessels | 210 | 6.2 | |||||
Reservation and transportation ticket agents and travel clerks | 980 | 6.8 | |||||
Transportation attendants, except flight attendants | 230 | 7.7 | |||||
Baggage porters and bellhops | 480 | 9.1 | |||||
Transportation security screeners (federal only) | 500 | 10.0 | |||||
Concierges | 290 | 12.3 | |||||
Tour guides and escorts | 680 | 19.2 | |||||
Dancers | 280 | 20.7 | |||||
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics |
The three NMAs in Maryland present a strong contrast to the areas in Alaska and Hawaii. Two of the areas in Maryland are similar: in both the Upper Eastern Shore and Garrett County, motorboat mechanics and service technicians is the occupation with the highest location quotient. A unique NMA is St. Mary’s County in Maryland, where aerospace engineers have the highest LQ (34.8) in the state as well as the highest LQ among all NMAs for this occupation. Other occupations with LQs over 30 are logisticians (32.5) and computer and information research scientists (30.5). The rest of the occupations presented in table 7 are engineering and business related, with technical writers rounding out the occupations shown.
Area and Occupation | Employment | Location Quotient | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Upper Eastern Shore | |||||||
Court reporters | 80 | 8.0 | |||||
Motorboat mechanics and service technicians | 150 | 16.5 | |||||
Garrett County, Maryland | |||||||
Automotive and watercraft service attendants | 40 | 6.1 | |||||
Motorboat mechanics and service technicians | 40 | 25.7 | |||||
St. Mary's County, Maryland | |||||||
Aerospace engineers | 890 | 34.8 | |||||
Computer and information research scientists | 250 | 30.5 | |||||
Computer hardware engineers | 150 | 7.0 | |||||
Electrical and electronics engineering technicians | 400 | 8.4 | |||||
Engineering technicians, except drafters, all other | 530 | 24.6 | |||||
Engineers, all other | 490 | 10.7 | |||||
Logisticians | 1,110 | 32.5 | |||||
Management analysts | 1,090 | 6.2 | |||||
Operations research analysts | 270 | 13.3 | |||||
Technical writers | 100 | 7.1 | |||||
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics |
Wages in nonmetropolitan areas tend to be lower than the national average. In fact, mean wages in all except eight nonmetropolitan areas are below the U.S. hourly mean of $21.35. Wages may be lower in most nonmetropolitan areas because workers in metropolitan areas have higher wages for the same occupations, because employment in nonmetropolitan areas tends to be in lower paying occupations, or through a combination of both factors. Nonmetropolitan areas with the highest wages are Los Alamos County, New Mexico; and St. Mary’s County, Maryland. (See table 8.) Both of these areas have high shares of high-paying science and engineering occupations.
Area | Hourly mean wage | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Los Alamos County, NM | $36.42 | ||||||
St. Mary's County, MD | 29.12 | ||||||
Railbelt/Southwest Alaska | 23.69 | ||||||
North Central Massachusetts | 23.64 | ||||||
Southeast Alaska | 22.33 | ||||||
Nantucket Island and Martha's Vineyard | 21.93 | ||||||
Western New Hampshire | 21.76 | ||||||
Northwestern Connecticut | 21.40 | ||||||
Mother Lode Region of California | 21.20 | ||||||
Southwestern Wyoming | 21.03 | ||||||
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics |
The aggregate metropolitan and nonmetropolitan location quotients are based on a special tabulation of May 2010 OES data performed for the purposes of this highlight; location quotients, employment levels, and wages for all occupations and individual areas are available at www.bls.gov/oes/tables.htm. Complete May 2010 OES data are available from the OES home page at www.bls.gov/oes. This highlight was prepared by John I. Jones. For more information, please contact the OES program at www.bls.gov/oes/home.htm#contact.
Notes
Last Modified Date: November 9, 2011