Workers in the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $27.37 in May 2022, 8 percent below the nationwide average of $29.76, 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 13 of the 22 major occupational groups, including arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media; legal; and computer and mathematical. Five groups had significantly higher wages than their respective national averages, including educational instruction and library; production; and installation, maintenance, and repair.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, Allentown area employment was more highly concentrated in 5 of the 22 occupational groups, including transportation and material moving, healthcare practitioners and technical, and production. Twelve groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including business and financial operations, computer and mathematical, and management. (See table A.)

One occupational group—transportation and material moving—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Allentown had 55,120 jobs in transportation and material moving, accounting for 15.3 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 9.2-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $21.40, significantly above the national wage of $21.12.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the transportation and material moving group included laborers and freight, stock, and material movers, hand (16,080), stockers and order fillers (10,380), and heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers (6,670). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were transportation inspectors and first-line supervisors of transportation and material moving workers, except aircraft cargo handling supervisors, with mean hourly wages of $38.56 and $31.03, respectively (See chart 1). At the lower end of the wage scale were automotive and watercraft service attendants ($13.59) and ambulance drivers and attendants, except emergency medical technicians ($14.25). (Detailed data for the transportation and material moving occupations 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 than it does nationally. In the Allentown area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in some of the occupations within the transportation and material moving group. For instance, industrial truck and tractor operators were employed at 3.3 times the national rate in Allentown, and packers and packagers, hand, at 2.9 times the U.S. average. Driver/sales workers had a location quotient of 0.9 in Allentown, 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 Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry, and the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development.

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 2022 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2022, November 2021, May 2021, November 2020, May 2020, and November 2019. The unweighted sampled employment of 80 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 65.4 percent based on establishments and 62.5 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The sample in the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ Metropolitan Statistical Area included 3,367 establishments with a response rate of 59 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 Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Warren County, NJ; Carbon County, PA; Lehigh County, PA; and Northampton County, PA.

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 transportation and material moving occupations, Allentown metropolitan area, May 2022

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages ($)
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Transportation and material moving occupations	55,120	1.7	21.40	44,510
First-line supervisors of transportation and material moving workers, except aircraft cargo handling supervisors	2,280	1.6	31.03	64,550
Ambulance drivers and attendants, except emergency medical technicians	60	2.3	14.25	29,640
Driver/sales workers	1,130	0.9	16.91	35,170
Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers	6,670	1.4	27.04	56,250
Light truck drivers	3,200	1.2	22.74	47,310
Bus drivers, school	1,060	1.2	21.59	44,910
Bus drivers, transit and intercity	390	1.1	21.56	44,850
Shuttle drivers and chauffeurs	480	1.0	16.32	33,940
Motor vehicle operators, all other	80	0.7	13.04	27,120
Parking attendants	210	0.8	15.09	31,390
Automotive and watercraft service attendants	300	1.2	13.59	28,280
Transportation inspectors	60	0.9	38.56	80,210
Crane and tower operators	50	0.5	28.15	58,540
Industrial truck and tractor operators	6,320	3.3	22.18	46,130
Cleaners of vehicles and equipment	820	0.9	15.88	33,030
Laborers and freight, stock, and material movers, hand	16,080	2.2	19.69	40,960
Machine feeders and offbearers	(5)	(5)	23.89	49,680
Packers and packagers, hand	4,600	2.9	20.35	42,330
Stockers and order fillers	10,380	1.5	18.53	38,530
Refuse and recyclable material collectors	320	1.0	19.06	39,640
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_10900.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.