Workers in the Roanoke, VA Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $24.05 in May 2021, 14-percent below the nationwide average of $28.01, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Alexandra Hall Bovee 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; computer and mathematical; and arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, Roanoke area employment was more highly concentrated in 10 of the 22 occupational groups, including healthcare practitioners and technical, and production. Ten groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including management, and computer and mathematical. (See table A.)

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 13,220 jobs in healthcare practitioners and technical, accounting for 9.1-percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 6.2-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $42.91, compared to the national wage of $43.80.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the healthcare practitioners and technical group included registered nurses (4,500), and licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses (1,180). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were cardiologists and psychiatrists, with mean hourly wages of $134.23 and $100.67, respectively. (See chart 1.) At the lower end of the wage scale were psychiatric technicians ($14.74) and ophthalmic medical technicians ($15.16). (Detailed data for the healthcare practitioners and technical occupations 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 than it does nationally. In the Roanoke area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the healthcare practitioners and technical group. For instance, general internal medicine physicians were employed at 5.1 times the national rate in Roanoke, and family medicine physicians, at 2.9 times the U.S. average. Psychiatric technicians 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 and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey, a federal-state cooperative program between BLS and State Workforce Agencies, in this case, the Virginia Employment Commission.

Technical Note

The Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey is a semiannual survey measuring occupational employment and wage rates for wage and salary workers in nonfarm establishments in the United States. The OEWS 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. OEWS data are available at www.bls.gov/oes/tables.htm.

The OEWS 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. OEWS estimates are constructed from a sample of about 1.1 million establishments. Each year, two semiannual panels of approximately 179,000 to 187,000 sampled establishments are contacted, one panel in May and the other in November. Responses are obtained by Internet or other electronic means, mail, email, telephone, or personal visit. The May 2021 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2021, November 2020, May 2020, November 2019, May 2019, and November 2018. The unweighted sampled employment of 82 million across all six semiannual panels represents approximately 62 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 67.2 percent based on establishments and 64.5 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The sample in the Roanoke, VA Metropolitan Statistical Area included 1,649 establishments with a response rate of 69 percent. For more information about OEWS 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.

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 County, Craig County, Franklin County, Roanoke city, Roanoke County, and Salem city in Virginia.

For more information

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

Information in this release will be made available to individuals with sensory impairments upon request. Voice phone: (202) 691-5200; Telecommunications Relay Service: 7-1-1.

Table 1. Employment and wage data for healthcare practitioners and technical occupations, Roanoke metropolitan area, May 2021

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Healthcare practitioners and technical occupations	13,220	1.5	$42.91	$89,240
Chiropractors	30	0.9	31.50	65,530
Dentists, general	180	1.6	72.32	150,420
Dietitians and nutritionists	100	1.4	29.43	61,220
Optometrists	30	0.9	50.87	105,810
Pharmacists	350	1.1	58.49	121,650
Physician assistants	270	2.0	54.75	113,880
Occupational therapists	170	1.3	43.27	90,000
Physical therapists	250	1.1	43.35	90,160
Respiratory therapists	230	1.7	28.08	58,410
Speech-language pathologists	160	1.1	41.94	87,240
Veterinarians	120	1.5	47.92	99,680
Registered nurses	4,500	1.4	33.36	69,380
Nurse practitioners	310	1.3	50.19	104,390
Audiologists	30	2.4	39.25	81,640
Cardiologists	(5)	(5)	134.23	279,210
Family medicine physicians	300	2.9	96.30	200,310
General internal medicine physicians	300	5.1	95.15	197,900
Psychiatrists	(5)	(5)	100.67	209,400
Physicians, all other	310	1.2	128.62	267,540
Dental hygienists	170	0.8	34.99	72,780
Clinical laboratory technologists and technicians	460	1.4	23.67	49,230
Diagnostic medical sonographers	100	1.2	34.21	71,160
Radiologic technologists and technicians	320	1.5	27.61	57,420
Emergency medical technicians	270	1.6	15.92	33,120
Paramedics	170	1.7	20.06	41,730
Pharmacy technicians	520	1.2	16.21	33,720
Psychiatric technicians	100	1.0	14.74	30,670
Surgical technologists	(5)	(5)	19.61	40,790
Veterinary technologists and technicians	100	0.8	18.50	38,480
Ophthalmic medical technicians	50	0.8	15.16	31,520
Licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses	1,180	1.8	22.19	46,150
Medical records specialists	440	2.4	21.45	44,610
Opticians, dispensing	100	1.3	20.95	43,580
Health technologists and technicians, all other	160	1.1	21.47	44,650
Surgical assistants	40	2.1	21.27	44,240
Healthcare practitioners and technical workers, all other	30	0.7	22.70	47,220
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Roanoke, VA Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_40220.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. (5) Estimate not released.