Workers in the Harrisburg-Carlisle Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $21.70 in May 2013, about 3 percent below 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 lower than their respective national averages in 10 of the 22 major occupational groups, including architecture and engineering and computer and mathematical. (See table A and box note at end of release.)

When compared to the nationwide distribution, Harrisburg employment was more highly concentrated in 6 of the 22 occupational groups, including transportation and material moving, office and administrative support, and business and financial operations. Conversely, 10 groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation including production, sales and related, and management.

One occupational group—transportation and material moving—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Harrisburg had 30,170 jobs in transportation and material moving, accounting for 9.8 percent of local area employment, significantly above the national share of 6.8 percent. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $16.08, not significantly different from the national wage of $16.28.

With employment of 10,110, hand laborers and freight, stock, and material movers was the largest occupation within the transportation and material moving group, followed by heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers (5,780). Among the higher-paying jobs were first-line supervisors of transportation and material-moving machine and vehicle operators, with a mean hourly wage of $27.74, and first-line supervisors of hand helpers, laborers, and material movers with a wage of $25.46. At the lower end of the wage scale were hand packers and packagers ($10.35) and driver/sales workers ($10.80). (Detailed occupational data for transportation and material moving are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_25420.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 as it does nationally. In the Harrisburg area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in several of the occupations within the transportation and material moving group. For instance, hand laborers and freight, stock, and material movers were employed at nearly twice the national rate in Harrisburg, and hand packers and packagers, at two-and-a-half times the U.S. average. In contrast, light truck or delivery services drivers had a location quotient of 1.1 in Harrisburg, indicating that this particular occupation’s local employment share was similar to the national share.

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 Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry.

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 Harrisburg Metropolitan Statistical Area included 2,720 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 Harrisburg-Carlisle Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Cumberland, Dauphin, and Perry Counties in Pennsylvania.

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.