When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 6 of the 22 occupational groups, including food preparation and serving related, personal care and service, and building and grounds cleaning and maintenance. Conversely, 12 groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including production, office and administrative support, and transportation and material moving. (See table A and box note at end of release.)

One occupational group—food preparation and serving related—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Atlantic City-Hammonton had 20,690 jobs in food preparation and serving related, accounting for 15.2 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 8.9-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $11.55, measurably above the national wage of $10.28.

With employment of 6,420, waiters and waitresses was the largest occupation within the food preparation and serving related group, followed by cooks, restaurant (2,100) and combined food preparation and serving workers, including fast food (1,930). Among the higher paying jobs were chefs and head cooks and first-line supervisors of food preparation and serving workers, with mean hourly wages of $27.96 and $19.85, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were combined food preparation and serving workers, including fast food ($9.23) and counter attendants, cafeteria, food concession, and coffee shop ($8.94). (Detailed occupational data for food preparation and serving related are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_12100.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 Atlantic City-Hammonton Metropolitan Statistical Area, above average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the food preparation and serving related group. For instance, dining room and cafeteria attendants and bartender helpers were employed at 3.7 times the national rate in Atlantic City, and bartenders, at 3.4 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, first-line supervisors of food preparation and serving workers had a location quotient of 1.4 in Atlantic City, indicating that this particular occupation’s local and national employment shares were closer.

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 New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development.

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.

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 Atlantic City-Hammonton Metropolitan Statistical Area included 1,434 establishments with a response rate of 81 percent. For more information about OES concepts and methodology, go to www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.tn.htm.

Area definition

The substate area data published in this release reflect the standards and definitions established by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget.

The Atlantic City-Hammonton, N.J.Metropolitan Statistical Area consists of Atlantic County.

Additional information

OES data are available on our regional web page at www.bls.gov/regions/northeast. 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: 800-877-8339.

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

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual(4)
Food Preparation and Serving Related Occupations	20,690	1.7	$11.55	$24,020
Chefs and Head Cooks	320	3.1	27.96	58,170
First-Line Supervisors of Food Preparation and Serving Workers	1,150	1.4	19.85	41,290
Cooks, Fast Food	180	0.4	11.98	24,910
Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria	180	0.4	14.46	30,070
Cooks, Restaurant	2,100	2.0	13.61	28,300
Cooks, Short Order	240	1.4	9.29	19,320
Food Preparation Workers	1,310	1.6	11.29	23,490
Bartenders	1,910	3.4	11.91	24,770
Combined Food Preparation and Serving Workers, Including Fast Food	1,930	0.6	9.23	19,200
Counter Attendants, Cafeteria, Food Concession, and Coffee Shop	950	2.1	8.94	18,590
Waiters and Waitresses	6,420	2.6	10.47	21,770
Food Servers, Nonrestaurant	520	2.1	10.09	20,980
Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender Helpers	1,530	3.7	10.06	20,920
Dishwashers	730	1.4	9.75	20,280
Hosts and Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, and Coffee Shop	930	2.6	10.49	21,820
Food Preparation and Serving Related Workers, All Other	290	7.5	10.45	21,730
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in Atlantic City-Hammonton, NJ, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_12100.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.