Workers in the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $34.90 in May 2019, about 36 percent above the nationwide average of $25.72, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Sheila Watkins, the Bureau’s regional commissioner, noted that, after testing for statistical significance, wages in the local area were higher than their respective national averages in 21 of the 22 major occupational groups, including life, physical, and social science; legal; and management. No other group had an hourly wage significantly lower than its respective national average.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, Washington area employment was more highly concentrated in 11 of the 22 occupational groups, including business and financial operations, computer and mathematical, and management. Conversely, eleven groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including production, transportation and material moving, and office and administrative support. (See table A and box note at end of release.)

One occupational group—computer and mathematical—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Washington had 242,090 jobs in computer and mathematical, accounting for 7.6 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 3.1-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $52.23, significantly above the national wage of $45.08.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the computer and mathematical group included software developers and software quality assurance analysts and testers (70,780), computer systems analysts (27,210), and network and computer systems administrators (19,890). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were computer and information research scientists and mathematicians, with mean hourly wages of $66.74 and $64.84, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were computer user support specialists ($31.40) and computer network support specialists ($37.86). (Detailed data for the computer and mathematical occupations are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_47900.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 than it does nationally. In the Washington area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the computer and mathematical group. For instance, information security analysts were employed at 5.7 times the national rate in Washington, and operations research analysts, at 3.9 times the U.S. average. Computer user support specialists had a location quotient of 1.4 in Washington, 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 District of Columbia Department of Employment Services.

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 the 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 1.1 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 2019 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2019, November 2018, May 2018, November 2017, May 2017, and November 2016. The unweighted sample employment of 83 million across all six semiannual panels represents approximately 57 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 Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area included 14,784 establishments with a response rate of 65 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 a 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 2019 OES estimates are the first set of OES estimates to be based in part on survey data collected using the 2018 SOC. These estimates use a hybrid of the 2010 and 2018 SOC systems. More information on the hybrid classification system is available at www.bls.gov/oes/soc_2018.htm.

The May 2019 OES estimates are based on the 2017 North American Industry Classification System (NAICS). More 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 Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC Metropolitan Statistical Area includes District of Columbia, Calvert, Charles, and Prince George's Counties of Maryland, Arlington County, Clarke County, Culpeper County, Fairfax County, Fauquier County, Loudoun County, Prince William County, Rappahannock County, Spotsylvania County, Stafford County, Warren County, Alexandria city, Fairfax city, Falls Church city, Fredericksburg city, Manassas city, and Manassas Park city of Virginia and Jefferson County of West Virginia.

For more information

Answers to frequently asked questions about the OES data are available at www.bls.gov/oes/oes_ques.htm. Detailed information about the OES program is available at www.bls.gov/oes/oes_doc.htm.

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 for computer and mathematical occupations, Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2019

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Computer and mathematical occupations	242,090	2.5	$52.23	$108,640
Computer systems analysts	27,210	2.1	52.31	108,800
Information security analysts	15,470	5.7	56.64	117,810
Computer and information research scientists	3,590	5.4	66.74	138,810
Computer network support specialists	7,300	1.8	37.86	78,750
Computer user support specialists	18,970	1.4	31.40	65,320
Computer network architects	8,920	2.7	62.70	130,410
Network and computer systems administrators	19,890	2.6	48.80	101,510
Database administrators and architects	6,180	2.3	51.52	107,170
Computer programmers	7,150	1.7	48.12	100,090
Software developers and software quality assurance analysts and testers	70,780	2.3	56.79	118,110
Web developers and digital interface designers	5,760	1.8	43.38	90,230
Computer occupations, all other	35,790	4.2	55.85	116,160
Actuaries	510	1.1	54.67	113,720
Mathematicians	220	3.9	64.84	134,860
Operations research analysts	8,380	3.9	51.61	107,360
Statisticians	4,650	5.5	51.05	106,190
Data scientists and mathematical science occupations, all other	1,320	2.0	46.18	96,040
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_47900.htm. (2) Estimates for detailed occupations may not sum to the totals due to rounding, and because the totals may include occupations that are 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.