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News Release Information

24-1030-PHI
Monday, May 20, 2024

Contacts Technical information: Media contact:

Occupational Employment and Wages in Pittsburgh — May 2023

Workers in the Pittsburgh, PA Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $29.60 in May 2023, 6 percent below the nationwide average of $31.48, 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 18 of the 22 major occupational groups, including computer and mathematical; arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media; and legal. Two groups had significantly higher wages than their respective national averages: educational instruction and library and also production.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, Pittsburgh area employment was more highly concentrated in 8 of the 22 occupational groups, including healthcare practitioners and technical, office and administrative support, and healthcare support. Ten groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including transportation and material moving, production, and computer and mathematical. (See table A.)

Table A. Occupational employment and wages by major occupational group, United States and the Pittsburgh metropolitan area, and measures of statistical significance, May 2023
Major occupational groupPercent of total employmentMean hourly wage ($)
United StatesPittsburghUnited StatesPittsburghPercent difference (1)

Total, all occupations

100.0100.031.4829.60*-6

Management

6.96.866.2361.95*-6

Business and financial operations

6.66.2*43.5539.74*-9

Computer and mathematical

3.42.9*54.3945.54*-16

Architecture and engineering

1.72.0*47.6444.76*-6

Life, physical, and social science

0.90.8*42.2436.01*-15

Community and social service

1.61.8*28.3626.25*-7

Legal

0.80.864.3457.72*-10

Educational instruction and library

5.85.731.9233.64*5

Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media

1.41.1*36.3129.07*-20

Healthcare practitioners and technical

6.17.4*49.0745.64*-7

Healthcare support

4.75.3*18.3717.11*-7

Protective service

2.32.1*27.7425.86*-7

Food preparation and serving related

8.79.0*16.5814.97*-10

Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance

2.92.6*18.4317.68*-4

Personal care and service

2.02.3*18.4816.89*-9

Sales and related

8.88.3*25.6223.12*-10

Office and administrative support

12.212.9*23.0522.16*-4

Farming, fishing, and forestry

0.30.1*19.2218.31-5

Construction and extraction

4.14.4*29.5729.891

Installation, maintenance, and repair

3.94.028.1327.34*-3

Production

5.85.2*22.9023.69*3

Transportation and material moving

9.18.4*22.4521.66*-4

Footnotes:
(1) A positive percent difference measures how much the mean wage in the Pittsburgh, PA 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—healthcare practitioners and technical—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Pittsburgh had 79,490 jobs in healthcare practitioners and technical, accounting for 7.4 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 6.1-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $45.64, significantly below the national wage of $49.07.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the healthcare practitioners and technical group included registered nurses (27,470), licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses (4,230), and pharmacy technicians (3,710). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were anesthesiologists and radiologists, with mean hourly wages of $190.43 and $160.94, respectively. (See chart 1.) At the lower end of the wage scale were dietetic technicians ($17.45) and emergency medical technicians ($18.31). (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_38300.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 Pittsburgh area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in some of the occupations within the healthcare practitioners and technical group. For instance, physician assistants were employed at 2.1 times the national rate in Pittsburgh, and family medicine physicians, at 2.0 times the U.S. average. Occupational therapists had a location quotient of 1.0 in Pittsburgh, indicating that this particular occupation’s local and national employment shares were similar.

The statistics in this release are from the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey, a cooperative effort between BLS and the State Workforce Agencies (SWAs). BLS funds the survey and provides the procedures and technical support. State Workforce Agencies collect most of the data: in this case, the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry.


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. Full OEWS data tables are available online.

Additional information about the OEWS estimates and methodology are available in the national Technical Notes. The overall national response rate for the six panels, based on the 50 states and the District of Columbia, is 65.8 percent based on establishments and 64.3 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The sample in the Pittsburgh, PA Metropolitan Statistical Area included 5,638 establishments with a response rate of 55 percent.

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 Pittsburgh, PA Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Allegheny County, Armstrong County, Beaver County, Butler County, Fayette County, Washington County, and Westmoreland County.

 

For more information

Answers to frequently asked questions about the OEWS data, as well as general program documentation, are available on the OEWS website.

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, Pittsburgh metropolitan area, May 2023
Occupation (1)EmploymentMean wages ($)
Level (2)Location quotient (3)HourlyAnnual (4)

Healthcare practitioners and technical occupations

79,4901.245.6494,940

Chiropractors

(5)(5)40.0383,260

Dentists, general

6300.774.20154,330

Dietitians and nutritionists

6201.231.5765,670

Optometrists

(5)(5)65.92137,110

Pharmacists

3,0701.360.49125,830

Physician assistants

2,1702.153.20110,650

Podiatrists

801.279.13164,590

Occupational therapists

1,0301.041.6786,670

Physical therapists

1,9701.246.2296,150

Radiation therapists

1101.043.4090,270

Recreational therapists

1501.325.9153,890

Respiratory therapists

1,1201.233.3869,420

Speech-language pathologists

9900.838.5280,130

Exercise physiologists

300.627.7457,690

Therapists, all other

1000.930.5563,540

Veterinarians

5401.058.52121,720

Registered nurses

27,4701.239.5382,220

Nurse anesthetists

5601.793.62194,730

Nurse practitioners

1,8600.961.89128,730

Audiologists

(5)(5)40.5584,350

Anesthesiologists

4501.9190.43396,090

Family medicine physicians

1,5802.0132.40275,390

General internal medicine physicians

2500.5132.29275,170

Pediatricians, general

4101.7103.93216,180

Physicians, pathologists

400.6154.57321,510

Psychiatrists

1300.8125.39260,810

Radiologists

1800.8160.94334,760

Physicians, all other

6,3202.982.29171,150

Ophthalmologists, except pediatric

700.9140.18291,580

Surgeons, all other

900.5(5)(5)

Dental hygienists

1,6601.134.8572,490

Healthcare diagnosing or treating practitioners, all other

2701.245.8995,440

Clinical laboratory technologists and technicians

2,4401.027.8858,000

Cardiovascular technologists and technicians

6501.733.0668,770

Diagnostic medical sonographers

5000.935.7474,350

Nuclear medicine technologists

1201.037.7778,560

Radiologic technologists and technicians

1,5201.031.7766,070

Magnetic resonance imaging technologists

5201.837.9878,990

Emergency medical technicians

1,5101.318.3138,080

Paramedics

8901.325.7353,520

Dietetic technicians

1200.717.4536,300

Pharmacy technicians

3,7101.119.2039,940

Psychiatric technicians

8601.119.2940,120

Surgical technologists

8501.126.5955,310

Veterinary technologists and technicians

9201.120.6042,850

Ophthalmic medical technicians

6101.220.1941,990

Licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses

4,2301.027.6657,530

Medical records specialists

2,0601.623.2048,260

Opticians, dispensing

5501.019.7241,010

Orthotists and prosthetists

1201.934.0970,910

Hearing aid specialists

901.229.9062,190

Health technologists and technicians, all other

1,3701.123.6749,220

Health information technologists and medical registrars

1600.732.2867,140

Athletic trainers

3801.9(6)53,260

Genetic counselors

1004.940.7484,740

Healthcare practitioners and technical workers, all other

1800.730.7563,960

Footnotes:
(1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Pittsburgh, PA Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_38300.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.
(6) 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.

 

Last Modified Date: Monday, May 20, 2024