Workers in the Roanoke Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $21.24 in May 2018, 15 percent below the nationwide average of $24.98, 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 lower than their respective national averages in 20 of the 22 major occupational groups, including legal; construction and extraction; and arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment shares were significantly higher in 8 of the 22 occupational groups, including health care practitioners and technical and production. Conversely, 9 groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation including management, computer and mathematical, and personal care and service. (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 2018

Major occupational group	Percent of total employment			Mean hourly wage
	United States	Roanoke		United States	Roanoke		Percent difference (1)
Total, all occupations	100	100		$24.98	$21.24	*	-15
Management	5.3	3.2	*	58.44	51.06	*	-13
Business and financial operations	5.3	5.1		36.98	31.42	*	-15
Computer and mathematical	3.0	1.5	*	44.01	36.94	*	-16
Architecture and engineering	1.8	1.3	*	42.01	34.70	*	-17
Life, physical, and social science	0.8	0.5	*	36.62	31.96	*	-13
Community and social service	1.5	1.7	*	23.69	21.85	*	-8
Legal	0.8	0.7	*	52.25	35.19	*	-33
Education, training, and library	6.1	5.4		27.22	21.73	*	-20
Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media	1.3	0.9	*	28.74	22.65	*	-21
Healthcare practitioners and technical	6.0	8.2	*	39.42	38.89		-1
Healthcare support	2.8	3.3	*	15.57	14.87	*	-4
Protective service	2.4	3.1	*	23.36	18.39	*	-21
Food preparation and serving related	9.2	8.6	*	12.30	10.52	*	-14
Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance	3.1	2.9		14.43	12.16	*	-16
Personal care and service	3.8	2.9	*	13.51	12.13	*	-10
Sales and related	10.0	9.8		20.09	18.84	*	-6
Office and administrative support	15.1	16.2	*	18.75	16.83	*	-10
Farming, fishing, and forestry	0.3	0.1	*	14.49	14.93		3
Construction and extraction	4.1	4.3		24.62	18.76	*	-24
Installation, maintenance, and repair	3.9	4.4	*	23.54	21.13	*	-10
Production	6.3	7.8	*	18.84	17.19	*	-9
Transportation and material moving	7.1	8.2	*	18.41	16.65	*	-10
Footnotes: (1) A positive percent difference measures how much the mean wage in the Roanoke Metropolitan Statistical Area is above the national mean wage, while a negative difference reflects a lower wage. * The mean hourly wage or percent share of employment is significantly different from the national average of all areas at the 90-percent confidence level.

One occupational group—office and administrative support—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Roanoke had 24,880 jobs in the office and administrative support occupations, accounting for 16.2 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 15.1-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $16.83, significantly lower than the national average of $18.75.

Customer service representatives and general office clerks were among the largest occupations within the office and administrative support group, with employment of 3,670 and 3,200, respectively. Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were first-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers with a mean hourly wage of $25.76 and postal service mail carriers with a wage of $24.90. At the lower end of the wage scale were hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks ($9.79) and stock clerks and order fillers ($12.38). (Detailed occupational data for office and administrative support are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupaions 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 office and administrative support group. For instance, loan interviewers and clerks were employed at 1.8 times the national rate in Roanoke, and postal service mail sorters, processors, and processing machine operators at 2.4 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, general office clerks 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 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 580 areas, including states and the District of Columbia, metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs), nonmetropolitan areas, and territories; national industry-specific estimates at the NAICS sector, 3-digit, most 4-digit, 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.

The OES survey is a cooperative effort between BLS and State Workforce Agencies (SWAs). BLS funds the survey and provides the procedures and technical support, while the State Workforce Agencies collect most of the data. OES estimates are constructed from a sample of about 1.2 million establishments. Each year, two semiannual panels of approximately 180,000 to 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 2018 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2018, November 2017, May 2017, November 2016, May 2016, and November 2015. The unweighted sample employment of 83 million across all six semiannual panels represents approximately 58 percent of total national employment. The overall national response rate for the six panels, based on the 50 states and the District of Columbia, is 71 percent based on establishments and 68 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The sample in the Roanoke Metropolitan Statistical Area included 1,726 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.

A value that is statistically different from another does not necessarily mean that the difference has economic or practical significance. Statistical significance is concerned with the ability to make confident statements about a universe based on sample. It is entirely possible that a large difference between two values is not significantly different statistically, while a small difference is, since both the size and heterogeneity of the sample affect the relative error of the data being tested.

The May 2018 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 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 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, Roanoke Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2018

Occupation (1)	Employment (2)		Mean wage
	Level	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Office and administrative support occupations	24,880	1.1	$16.83	$35,000
First-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers	1,700	1.1	25.76	53,570
Switchboard operators, including answering service	40	0.5	13.25	27,560
Bill and account collectors	130	0.5	17.21	35,800
Billing and posting clerks	490	1.0	17.31	36,000
Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks	1,790	1.1	17.46	36,310
Payroll and timekeeping clerks	250	1.6	19.40	40,340
Procurement clerks	120	1.6	17.01	35,380
Tellers	690	1.4	14.60	30,370
Brokerage clerks	(5)	(5)	22.23	46,240
Court, municipal, and license clerks	130	0.9	23.60	49,080
Credit authorizers, checkers, and clerks	40	1.4	16.16	33,600
Customer service representatives	3,670	1.2	16.03	33,350
Eligibility interviewers, government programs	230	1.5	18.87	39,250
File clerks	70	0.6	12.95	26,930
Hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks	250	0.9	9.79	20,370
Interviewers, except eligibility and loan	310	1.5	15.13	31,460
Library assistants, clerical	60	0.7	12.37	25,740
Loan interviewers and clerks	420	1.8	18.75	38,990
New accounts clerks	50	1.2	16.74	34,810
Order clerks	130	0.8	14.58	30,320
Human resources assistants, except payroll and timekeeping	180	1.3	16.72	34,770
Receptionists and information clerks	1,380	1.3	12.63	26,280
Information and record clerks, all other	180	1.1	21.36	44,420
Couriers and messengers	60	0.8	13.64	28,360
Police, fire, and ambulance dispatchers	110	1.1	17.98	37,410
Dispatchers, except police, fire, and ambulance	230	1.1	23.85	49,600
Meter readers, utilities	30	0.9	11.89	24,730
Postal service clerks	70	0.9	24.64	51,250
Postal service mail carriers	370	1.0	24.90	51,790
Postal service mail sorters, processors, and processing machine operators	260	2.4	23.99	49,890
Production, planning, and expediting clerks	340	0.9	21.99	45,730
Shipping, receiving, and traffic clerks	630	0.9	16.06	33,400
Stock clerks and order fillers	3,190	1.5	12.38	25,740
Weighers, measurers, checkers, and samplers, recordkeeping	60	0.9	16.50	34,310
Executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants	290	0.5	27.38	56,950
Legal secretaries	(5)	(5)	21.85	45,450
Medical secretaries	320	0.5	16.90	35,140
Secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive	2,020	0.9	16.32	33,940
Data entry keyers	140	0.8	14.45	30,060
Insurance claims and policy processing clerks	480	1.6	19.74	41,050
Mail clerks and mail machine operators, except postal service	200	2.2	11.66	24,250
Office clerks, general	3,200	1.0	15.34	31,910
Office machine operators, except computer	50	1.0	15.90	33,080
Office and administrative support workers, all other	130	0.6	18.90	39,310
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.