Workers in the Scranton–Wilkes-Barre–Hazleton Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $19.97 in May 2016, roughly 16 percent below the nationwide average of $23.86, 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 18 of the 22 major occupational groups, including legal; arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media; and computer and mathematical.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment shares were significantly higher in six occupational groups including transportation and material moving; production; and office and administrative support. Conversely, 13 occupational groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation; these groups included management; business and financial operations; and computer and mathematical. (See table A and box note at end of release.)

 

Table A. Occupational employment and wages by major occupational group, United States and the Scranton–Wilkes-Barre–Hazleton Metropolitan Statistical Area, and measures of statistical significance, May 2016

Major occupational group	Percent of total employment			Mean hourly wage
	United States	Scranton		United States	Scranton		Percent difference (1)
Total, all occupations	$100.00	100.0		$23.86	$19.97		-16
Management	5.1	3.1	*	56.74	49.69	*	-12
Business and financial operations	5.2	3.5	*	36.09	30.67	*	-15
Computer and mathematical	3.0	1.7	*	42.25	29.53	*	-30
Architecture and engineering	1.8	1.4	*	40.53	35.19	*	-13
Life, physical, and social science	0.8	0.5	*	35.06	30.74	*	-12
Community and social service	1.4	1.9	*	22.69	19.99	*	-12
Legal	0.8	0.5	*	50.95	31.08	*	-39
Education, training, and library	6.2	5.4	*	26.21	26.31		0
Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media	1.4	0.8	*	28.07	19.56	*	-30
Healthcare practitioners and technical	5.9	6.8	*	38.06	32.75	*	-14
Healthcare support	2.9	3.7	*	14.65	14.45		-1
Protective service	2.4	2.1	*	22.03	21.49		-2
Food preparation and serving related	9.2	8.5	*	11.47	10.71	*	-7
Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance	3.2	3.2		13.47	12.00	*	-11
Personal care and service	3.2	3.3		12.74	11.30	*	-11
Sales and related	10.4	9.2	*	19.50	16.18	*	-17
Office and administrative support	15.7	17.2	*	17.91	16.47	*	-8
Farming, fishing, and forestry	0.3	0.1	*	13.37	18.29	*	37
Construction and extraction	4.0	3.4	*	23.51	21.49	*	-9
Installation, maintenance, and repair	3.9	3.9		22.45	21.00	*	-6
Production	6.5	8.4	*	17.88	17.11	*	-4
Transportation and material moving	6.9	11.4	*	17.34	16.52	*	-5
Footnotes:   (1) A positive percent difference measures how much the mean wage in the Scranton–Wilkes-Barre–Hazleton Metropolitan Statistical Area is above the national mean wage, while a negative difference reflects a lower wage. * 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.

One occupational group—production—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Scranton had 21,550 jobs in production, accounting for 8.4 percent of local area employment, significantly above the 6.5-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $17.11, significantly lower than the national wage of $17.88.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the production group included team assemblers (2,720), production worker helpers (2,060), and packaging and filling machine operators and tenders (1,550). Among the higher-paying jobs were first-line supervisors of production and operating workers, with a mean hourly wage of $26.91, and chemical equipment operators and tenders with a wage of $23.54. At the lower end of the wage scale were slaughterers and meat packers ($12.13) and laundry and dry-cleaning workers ($12.93). (Detailed occupational data for production are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_42540.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 Scranton, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the production group. For instance, metal and plastic extruding and drawing machine setters, operators, and tenders were employed at 4.0 times the national rate in Scranton. In contrast, machinists had a location quotient of 1.0 in Scranton, 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 Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry.

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. The OES program produces employment and wage estimates for over 800 occupations for all industries combined in the nation; the 50 states and the District of Columbia; 432 metropolitan areas and divisions; 167 nonmetropolitan areas; and Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. National estimates are also available by industry for NAICS sectors, 3-, 4-, and selected 5- and 6-digit industries, and by ownership across all industries and for schools and hospitals. OES data are available at www.bls.gov/oes/tables.htm.

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. The May 2016 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2016, November 2015, May 2015, November 2014, May 2014, and November 2013. The overall national response rate for the six panels, based on the 50 states and the District of Columbia, is 73 percent based on establishments and 69 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The unweighted employment of sampled establishments across all six semiannual panels represents approximately 58 percent of total national employment. The sample in the Scranton—Wilkes-Barre—Hazleton Metropolitan Division included 2,452 establishments with a response rate of 76 percent. For more information about OES concepts and methodology, go to www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.tn.htm.

The May 2016 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.

Metropolitan 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 Scranton—Wilkes-Barre—Hazleton Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Lackawanna, Luzerne, and Wyoming 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/current/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, Scranton–Wilkes-Barre–Hazleton Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2016

Occupation(1)	Employment(2)		Mean wage
	Level	Location quotient(3)	Hourly	Annual(4)
	Production occupations	21,550	1.3	$17.11	$35,590
First-line supervisors of production and operating workers	1,170	1.1	26.91	55,970
Electrical and electronic equipment assemblers	(5)	(5)	17.18	35,740
Structural metal fabricators and fitters	90	0.6	24.54	51,050
Team assemblers	2,720	1.3	13.75	28,600
Assemblers and fabricators, all other	360	0.9	12.38	25,740
Bakers	480	1.5	12.89	26,800
Butchers and meat cutters	350	1.4	15.44	32,110
Meat, poultry, and fish cutters and trimmers	40	0.2	14.63	30,420
Slaughterers and meat packers	260	1.8	12.13	25,230
Food batchmakers	480	1.8	14.99	31,180
Food cooking machine operators and tenders	60	1.0	14.24	29,610
Computer-controlled machine tool operators, metal and plastic	420	1.6	15.48	32,200
Computer numerically controlled machine tool programmers, metal and plastic	30	0.7	25.12	52,250
Extruding and drawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	530	4.0	18.01	37,460
Rolling machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	120	2.3	17.83	37,090
Cutting, punching, and press machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	690	2.0	17.93	37,290
Grinding, lapping, polishing, and buffing machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	130	1.0	14.99	31,180
Machinists	740	1.0	21.17	44,040
Molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	190	0.7	17.63	36,660
Multiple machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	410	1.9	18.97	39,450
Tool and die makers	80	0.6	23.16	48,180
Welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers	600	0.9	21.50	44,730
Welding, soldering, and brazing machine setters, operators, and tenders	100	1.1	18.52	38,510
Plating and coating machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	60	0.9	19.01	39,540
Metal workers and plastic workers, all other	(5)	(5)	15.96	33,200
Prepress technicians and workers	230	3.8	15.47	32,180
Printing press operators	700	2.3	18.06	37,570
Print binding and finishing workers	240	2.5	15.43	32,100
Laundry and dry-cleaning workers	420	1.1	12.93	26,880
Pressers, textile, garment, and related materials	70	0.9	9.70	20,170
Sewing machine operators	290	1.1	13.29	27,650
Upholsterers	40	0.8	13.18	27,410
Sawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, wood	110	1.2	14.43	30,020
Woodworking machine setters, operators, and tenders, except sawing	130	0.9	14.32	29,790
Stationary engineers and boiler operators	70	1.1	23.24	48,340
Water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators	210	1.0	22.27	46,330
Gas plant operators	(5)	(5)	28.00	58,240
Chemical equipment operators and tenders	140	1.0	23.54	48,970
Separating, filtering, clarifying, precipitating, and still machine setters, operators, and tenders	150	1.7	18.24	37,930
Grinding and polishing workers, hand	40	0.8	11.61	24,160
Mixing and blending machine setters, operators, and tenders	210	0.9	18.49	38,460
Cutting and slicing machine setters, operators, and tenders	130	1.1	16.01	33,290
Extruding, forming, pressing, and compacting machine setters, operators, and tenders	90	0.7	14.84	30,870
Furnace, kiln, oven, drier, and kettle operators and tenders	30	0.9	15.95	33,170
Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers	1,050	1.1	16.32	33,950
Dental laboratory technicians	70	1.0	19.06	39,650
Ophthalmic laboratory technicians	110	2.2	14.36	29,860
Packaging and filling machine operators and tenders	1,550	2.2	14.26	29,660
Coating, painting, and spraying machine setters, operators, and tenders	100	0.7	14.56	30,280
Painters, transportation equipment	100	1.0	17.50	36,400
Photographic process workers and processing machine operators	(5)	(5)	12.02	25,010
Adhesive bonding machine operators and tenders	140	4.5	17.10	35,560
Molders, shapers, and casters, except metal and plastic	60	0.8	14.80	30,790
Paper goods machine setters, operators, and tenders	1,460	8.6	22.16	46,090
Helpers--production workers	2,060	2.6	13.99	29,090
Production workers, all other	270	0.6	12.63	26,280
Footnotes:   (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Scranton—Wilkes-Barre—Hazleton Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_42540.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 released.