Workers in the Roanoke Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $19.66 in May 2013, 12 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 17 of the 22 major occupational groups, including architecture and engineering; computer and mathematical; and arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media. (See table A and box note at end of release.)

 

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

Major occupational group	Percent of total employment		Mean hourly wage
	United States	Roanoke	United States	Roanoke	Percent difference(1)
Total, all occupations	100.0	100.0	$22.33	$19.66*	-12
Management	4.9	3.7*	53.15	47.17*	-11
Business and financial operations	5.0	4.5	34.14	28.94*	-15
Computer and mathematical	2.8	1.6*	39.43	32.49*	-18
Architecture and engineering	1.8	1.2*	38.51	30.77*	-20
Life, physical, and social science	0.9	0.4*	33.37	28.05*	-16
Community and social service	1.4	1.7*	21.50	20.73	-4
Legal	0.8	0.5*	47.89	40.71*	-15
Education, training, and library	6.3	5.3	24.76	23.56	-5
Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media	1.3	1.0*	26.72	20.38*	-24
Healthcare practitioners and technical	5.8	8.0*	35.93	35.56	-1
Healthcare support	3.0	3.0	13.61	13.05*	-4
Protective service	2.5	2.5	20.92	16.32*	-22
Food preparation and serving related	9.0	8.8	10.38	9.76*	-6
Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance	3.2	2.6*	12.51	11.02*	-12
Personal care and service	3.0	2.9	11.88	10.48*	-12
Sales and related	10.6	10.8	18.37	17.85	-3
Office and administrative support	16.2	17.9*	16.78	15.49*	-8
Farming, fishing, and forestry	0.3	0.1*	11.70	13.99*	20
Construction and extraction	3.8	4.2	21.94	16.58*	-24
Installation, maintenance, and repair	3.9	4.6*	21.35	19.11*	-10
Production	6.6	7.8*	16.79	15.19*	-10
Transportation and material moving	6.8	7.1	16.28	15.18*	-7
* 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 Roanoke is above the national mean wage, while a negative percent difference reflects a lower wage.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, Roanoke employment was more highly concentrated in 5 of the 22 occupational groups including health care practitioners and technical, office and administrative support, and production. Conversely, eight groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation; these groups included management, computer and mathematical, and architecture and engineering.

One occupational group— healthcare practitioners and technical —was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Roanoke had 11,920 jobs in the healthcare practitioners and technical group, accounting for 8.0 percent of local area employment, significantly larger than the 5.8-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $35.56, not significantly different from the national average of $35.93.

With employment of 4,080, registered nurses was the largest occupation within the healthcare practitioners and technical group, followed by licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses (1,290). Among the higher-paying jobs were pharmacists with a mean hourly wages of $57.64 and physical therapists with a wage of $50.31. At the lower end of the wage scale were pharmacy technicians ($14.26) and emergency medical technicians and paramedics ($14.97). (Detailed occupational data for healthcare and practitioners are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_40220.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 Roanoke area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in several of the occupations within the healthcare practitioners and technical group. For instance, general internists were employed at nearly three times the national rate in Roanoke, and surgeons at over 2.5 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, dental hygienists had a location quotient of 1.0 in Roanoke, indicating that this particular occupation’s local and national employment shares were similar.

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 Virginia Employment Commission.

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 Roanoke Metropolitan Statistical Area included 1,821 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 Roanoke, Va. Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Botetourt, Craig, Franklin, and Roanoke Counties and Roanoke and Salem Cities in Virginia.

Additional information

OES data are available on our regional web page at https://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, Roanoke Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2013

Occupation(1)	Employment(2)		Mean wage
	Level	Location quotient(3)	Hourly	Annual(4)
Healthcare practitioners and technical occupations	11,920	1.4	$35.56	$73,960
Dentists, general	110	1.0	89.14	185,400
Dietitians and nutritionists	90	1.3	24.38	50,700
Optometrists	50	1.4	44.29	92,120
Pharmacists	510	1.6	57.64	119,900
Family and general practitioners	170	1.2	70.53	146,690
Internists, general	150	2.9	80.63	167,700
Obstetricians and gynecologists	70	2.7	95.00	197,610
Pediatricians, general	40	1.0	84.71	176,190
Psychiatrists	90	3.1	54.32	112,980
Surgeons	120	2.7	94.64	196,850
Physicians and surgeons, all other	660	1.9	105.70	219,850
Physician assistants	170	1.7	43.45	90,380
Occupational therapists	110	0.9	40.35	83,930
Physical therapists	340	1.5	50.31	104,640
Respiratory therapists	200	1.5	24.34	50,630
Speech-language pathologists	130	0.9	34.51	71,780
Exercise physiologists	30	5.0	22.63	47,080
Veterinarians	70	1.1	54.41	113,170
Registered nurses	4,080	1.4	27.63	57,470
Nurse practitioners	130	1.0	41.60	86,530
Audiologists	(5)	(5)	32.93	68,500
Medical and clinical laboratory technologists	170	0.9	22.03	45,820
Medical and clinical laboratory technicians	(5)	(5)	20.67	43,000
Dental hygienists	220	1.0	35.56	73,960
Cardiovascular technologists and technicians	50	0.9	29.15	60,640
Diagnostic medical sonographers	100	1.5	29.33	61,010
Radiologic technologists	280	1.3	23.78	49,470
Magnetic resonance image technologists	(5)	(5)	29.13	60,580
Emergency medical technicians and paramedics	220	0.8	14.97	31,150
Dietetic technicians	(5)	(5)	11.79	24,520
Pharmacy technicians	460	1.1	14.26	29,660
Surgical technologists	(5)	(5)	17.95	37,350
Veterinary technologists and technicians	70	0.7	17.44	36,260
Licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses	1,290	1.6	18.83	39,170
Medical records and health information technicians	330	1.6	16.16	33,600
Opticians, dispensing	(5)	(5)	14.03	29,170
Health technolgists and technicians, all other	100	1.0	(5)	(5)
Occupational health and safety specialists	80	1.1	27.17	56,520
Healthcare practitioners and technical workers, all other	100	2.0	18.14	37,740
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Roanoke MSA, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_40220.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. (5) Estimates not available.