Workers in the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $22.56 in May 2017, 7 percent below the nationwide average of $24.34, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Sheila Watkins, the Bureau’s regional commissioner, noted that after testing for statistical significance, 11 of the 22 major occupational groups had average wages that were significantly lower than their respective national averages, including arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media; legal; and computer and mathematical. Three groups—education, training, and library; production; and healthcare support—had average wages that were measurably higher than their respective national average.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment shares were significantly higher in 5 of the 22 occupational groups, including transportation and material moving; healthcare practitioners and technical; and office and administrative support. Conversely, 11 groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation; these groups included business and financial operations; management; 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 Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton Metropolitan Statistical Area, and measures of statistical significance, May 2017

Major occupational group	Percent of total employment			Mean hourly wage
	United States	Allentown		United States	Allentown		Percent difference (1)
Total, all occupations	100	100		$24.34	$22.56	*	-7
Management	5.1	3.7	*	57.65	57.10		-1
Business and financial operations	5.2	3.7	*	36.70	34.36	*	-6
Computer and mathematical	3.0	1.8	*	43.18	36.60	*	-15
Architecture and engineering	1.8	2.0		41.44	38.80	*	-6
Life, physical, and social science	0.8	0.5	*	35.76	34.79		-3
Community and social service	1.5	1.5		23.10	21.67	*	-6
Legal	0.8	0.4	*	51.62	40.19	*	-22
Education, training, and library	6.1	6.2		26.67	28.98	*	9
Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media	1.4	0.9	*	28.34	21.90	*	-23
Healthcare practitioners and technical	6.0	7.4	*	38.83	37.90		-2
Healthcare support	2.9	3.4	*	15.05	15.50	*	3
Protective service	2.4	1.9	*	22.69	21.07		-7
Food preparation and serving related	9.3	8.7	*	11.88	11.41	*	-4
Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance	3.1	3.1		13.91	13.92		0
Personal care and service	3.6	4.0		13.11	12.51	*	-5
Sales and related	10.2	9.4	*	19.56	18.55	*	-5
Office and administrative support	15.4	16.3	*	18.24	17.43	*	-4
Farming, fishing, and forestry	0.3	0.1	*	13.87	14.87		7
Construction and extraction	4.0	3.0	*	24.01	24.09		0
Installation, maintenance, and repair	3.9	3.9		23.02	22.79		-1
Production	6.3	7.1	*	18.30	19.13	*	5
Transportation and material moving	7.0	10.9	*	17.82	17.02	*	-4
* 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 the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton Metropolitan Statistical Area is above the national mean wage, while a negative difference reflects a lower wage.

With employment of 16,150, 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 with 6,080 jobs. Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were first-line supervisors of transportation and material-moving workers, except aircraft cargo handling supervisors ($29.78) and heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers ($23.22). At the lower end of the wage scale were automotive and watercraft service attendants ($10.90) and taxi drivers and chauffeurs ($11.90). (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_10900.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 Allentown 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 2.4 times the national rate in Allentown, and heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers at 1.4 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, driver/sales workers had a location quotient of 1.0 in Allentown, 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 survey measuring occupational employment and wage rates for wage and salary workers in nonfarm establishments in the United States. The OES data available from BLS include cross-industry occupational employment and wage estimates for the nation; over 650 areas, including states and the District of Columbia, metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs), metropolitan divisions, nonmetropolitan areas, and territories; national industry-specific estimates at the NAICS sector, 3-, 4-, and selected 5- and 6-digit industry levels; and national estimates 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. Each year, two semiannual panels of approximately 200,000 sampled establishments are contacted, one panel in May and the other in November. Responses are obtained by mail, Internet or other electronic means, email, telephone, or personal visit. The May 2017 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2017, November 2016, May 2016, November 2015, May 2015, and November 2014. The overall national response rate for the six panels, based on the 50 states and the District of Columbia, is 72 percent based on establishments and 68 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The unweighted sample employment of 82 million across all six semiannual panels represents approximately 58 percent of total national employment. The sample in the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton Metropolitan Statistical Area included 3,504 establishments with a response rate of 73 percent. For more information about OES concepts and methodology, go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_tec.htm.

The May 2017 OES estimates are based on the 2010 Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) system and the 2017 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 2017 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 Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, Pa.-N.J. Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Carbon, Lehigh and Northampton Counties in Pennsylvania and Warren County in New Jersey.

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, Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2017

Occupation (1)	Employment (2)		Mean wage
	Level	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Transportation and material moving occupations	39,000	1.6	$17.02	$35,390
First-line supervisors of transportation and material-moving workers, except aircraft cargo handling supervisors	1,570	1.6	29.78	61,950
Commercial pilots	100	1.0	(5)	87,290
Bus drivers, transit and intercity	100	0.2	15.50	32,240
Bus drivers, school or special client	1,380	1.1	16.82	34,990
Driver/sales workers	1,050	1.0	13.93	28,980
Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers	6,080	1.4	23.22	48,290
Light truck or delivery services drivers	2,090	0.9	17.67	36,760
Taxi drivers and chauffeurs	500	1.0	11.90	24,750
Parking lot attendants	330	0.9	11.19	23,280
Automotive and watercraft service attendants	330	1.1	10.90	22,670
Transportation inspectors	30	0.4	46.16	96,010
Conveyor operators and tenders	100	1.5	17.52	36,430
Crane and tower operators	30	0.3	25.32	52,660
Excavating and loading machine and dragline operators	(6)	(6)	23.63	49,140
Industrial truck and tractor operators	(6)	(6)	17.39	36,170
Cleaners of vehicles and equipment	1,130	1.2	12.83	26,680
Laborers and freight, stock, and material movers, hand	16,150	2.4	14.29	29,730
Machine feeders and offbearers	260	1.4	14.68	30,530
Packers and packagers, hand	2,080	1.2	13.42	27,910
Refuse and recyclable material collectors	210	0.7	16.37	34,060
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_10900.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) Wages for some occupations that do not generally work year-round, full-time, are reported either as hourly wages or annual salaries depending on how they are typically paid. (6) Estimates not released.