Workers in the Baltimore-Towson Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $24.95 in May 2013, 12 percent above the nationwide average of $22.33, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Sheila Watkins, the Bureau’s regional commissioner, noted that, after testing for statistical significance, wages in the local area were significantly higher than their respective national averages in 12 of the 22 major occupational groups, including computer and mathematical; management; and education, training, and library. Two groups—legal and construction and extraction—had average wages that were measurably lower than their respective national average. (See table A and box note at end of release.)

Table A. Occupational employment and wages by major occupational group, United States and the Baltimore-Towson Metropolitan Statistical Area, and measures of statistical significance, May 2013

Major occupational group	Percent of total employment		Mean hourly wage
	United States	Baltimore-Towson	United States	Baltimore-Towson	Percent difference(1)
Total, all occupations	100.0	100.0	$22.33	$24.95	12
Management	4.9	5.4	53.15	57.33	8
Business and financial operations	5.0	6.7	34.14	36.17	6
Computer and mathematical	2.8	4.3	39.43	44.74	13
Architecture and engineering	1.8	2.2	38.51	41.33	7
Life, physical, and social science	0.9	1.2	33.37	34.42	3
Community and social service	1.4	1.7	21.50	21.83	2
Legal	0.8	1.1	47.89	41.07	-14
Education, training, and library	6.3	6.7	24.76	27.61	12
Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media	1.3	1.3	26.72	26.72	0
Healthcare practitioners and technical	5.8	6.4	35.93	37.75	5
Healthcare support	3.0	2.8	13.61	14.62	7
Protective service	2.5	3.1	20.92	21.33	2
Food preparation and serving related	9.0	8.3	10.38	10.47	1
Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance	3.2	3.0	12.51	12.84	3
Personal care and service	3.0	2.8	11.88	12.97	9
Sales and related	10.6	9.9	18.37	18.64	1
Office and administrative support	16.2	16.3	16.78	18.09	8
Farming, fishing, and forestry	0.3	0.0	11.70	14.65	25
Construction and extraction	3.8	3.9	21.94	21.33	-3
Installation, maintenance, and repair	3.9	3.6	21.35	21.94	3
Production	6.6	3.3	16.79	17.88	6
Transportation and material moving	6.8	5.8	16.28	17.24	6
* The percent share of employment or mean hourly wage for this area is significantly different from the national average of all areas at the 90-percent confidence level.
Footnotes: (1) A positive percent difference measures how much the mean wage in Baltimore-Towson is above the national mean wage, while a negative percent difference reflects a lower wage..

When compared to the nationwide distribution, Baltimore employment was more highly concentrated in 8 of the 22 occupational groups including business and financial operations, computer and mathematical, and protective service. Conversely, seven groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation; these groups included production, transportation and material moving, and sales and related.

One occupational group—business and financial operations—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Baltimore had 85,610 jobs in business and financial operations, accounting for 6.7 percent of local area employment, significantly above the national share of 5.0 percent. The average hourly wage for this occupational group was $36.17, which was significantly above the national average of $34.14.

With employment of 14,410, accountants and auditors was one of the largest occupations within the business and financial operations group in the Baltimore area, followed by business operations specialists, all other (12,780). Among the higher paying jobs were management analysts and personal financial advisors, with mean hourly wages of $48.34 and $46.20, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were tax preparers ($18.01) and meeting, convention, and event planners ($25.47). (Detailed occupational data for the business and financial operations group are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_12580.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 Baltimore metropolitan area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in several of the detailed occupations within the business and financial operations group. For instance, compliance officers were employed at one-and-a-half times the national rate in Baltimore, and budget analysts, at more than twice the U.S. average. On the other hand, market research analysts and marketing specialists had a location quotient of 0.9 in Baltimore, meaning the local employment share in this particular occupation was close to the national average.

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 Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing, and Regulation.

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 2013 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected in May 2013, November 2012, May 2012, November 2011, May 2011, and November 2010. The overall national response rate for the six panels is 75.3 percent based on establishments and 71.6 percent based on employment. The sample in the Baltimore-Towson Metropolitan Statistical Area included 6,270 establishments with a response rate of 75 percent. For more information about OES concepts and methodology, go to www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.tn.htm.

The OES survey provides estimates of employment and hourly and annual wages for wage and salary workers in 22 major occupational groups and 821 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. OES data by state and metropolitan/nonmetropolitan area are available from www.bls.gov/oes/current/oessrcst.htm and www.bls.gov/oes/current/oessrcma.htm, respectively.

The May 2013 OES estimates are based on the 2010 Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) system and the 2012 North American Industry Classification System (NAICS). Information about the 2010 SOC is available on the BLS website at www.bls.gov/soc and information about the 2012 NAICS is available at www.bls.gov/bls/naics.htm.

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

The Baltimore-Towson, Md. Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Carroll, Harford, Howard, and Queen Anne’s County and Baltimore City in Maryland.

Additional information
OES data are available on our regional web page at www.bls.gov/regions/mid-atlantic. 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/2013/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: 1-800-877-8339.

 

Table 1. Employment and wage data from the Occupational Employment Statistics survey, by occupation, Baltimore-Towson Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2013

Occupation(1)	Employment(2)		Mean wage
	Level	Location quotient(3)	Hourly	Annual(4)
Business and financial operations occupations	85,610	1.3	$36.17	$75,220
Agents and business managers of artists, performers, and athletes	70	0.6	37.58	78,160
Buyers and purchasing agents, farm products	110	1.0	31.12	64,730
Wholesale and retail buyers, except farm products	1,070	1.0	27.59	57,380
Purchasing agents, except wholesale, retail, and farm products	2,990	1.1	32.91	68,450
Claims adjusters, examiners, and investigators	4,710	1.8	32.74	68,090
Insurance appraisers, auto damage	100	0.8	32.40	67,380
Compliance officers	3,450	1.5	33.23	69,110
Cost estimators	2,680	1.4	35.11	73,040
Human resources specialists	5,340	1.3	32.68	67,970
Labor relations specialists	630	0.9	30.37	63,180
Logisticians	2,190	1.9	40.81	84,880
Management analysts	8,700	1.6	48.34	100,540
Meeting, convention, and event planners	1,000	1.4	25.47	52,970
Fundraisers	690	1.4	25.49	53,010
Compensation, benefits, and job analysis specialists	710	0.9	31.16	64,820
Training and development specialists	3,530	1.6	30.17	62,760
Market research analysts and marketing specialists	3,910	0.9	32.28	67,130
Business operations specialists, all other	12,780	1.4	37.20	77,380
Accountants and auditors	14,410	1.3	36.00	74,870
Appraisers and assessors of real estate	670	1.1	25.21	52,440
Budget analysts	1,200	2.1	36.25	75,390
Credit analysts	590	0.9	33.31	69,290
Financial analysts	3,610	1.5	42.71	88,830
Personal financial advisors	2,630	1.5	46.20	96,090
Insurance underwriters	720	0.8	33.22	69,100
Financial examiners	360	1.2	39.13	81,390
Credit counselors	140	0.5	23.40	48,670
Loan officers	2,980	1.0	35.92	74,720
Tax examiners and collectors, and revenue agents	460	0.7	27.24	56,670
Tax preparers	520	0.8	18.01	37,470
Financial specialists, all other	2,660	1.9	28.01	58,260
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Baltimore-Towson MSA, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_12580.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.