Workers in the Atlantic City-Hammonton, NJ Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $25.32 in May 2020, about 6 percent below the nationwide average of $27.07, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Chief Regional Economist Martin Kohli noted that, after testing for statistical significance, wages in the local area were lower than their respective national averages in 6 of the 22 major occupational groups, including legal; arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media; and sales and related. Four groups had significantly higher wages than their respective national averages, including construction and extraction, educational instruction and library, and personal care and service.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, Atlantic City area employment was more highly concentrated in 6 of the 22 occupational groups, including food preparation and serving related, personal care and service, and building and grounds cleaning and maintenance. Twelve groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including production, business and financial operations, and transportation and material moving. (See table A.)

One occupational group—personal care and service—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Atlantic City had 6,050 jobs in personal care and service, accounting for 5.5 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 1.9-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $16.61, significantly above the national wage of $15.68.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the personal care and service group included gambling dealers (2,730), amusement and recreation attendants (530), and first-line supervisors of gambling services workers (490). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were first-line supervisors of gambling services workers and first-line supervisors of personal service and entertainment and recreation workers, except gambling services, with mean hourly wages of $28.43 and $22.76, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were ushers, lobby attendants, and ticket takers ($12.22) and baggage porters and bellhops ($12.67). (Detailed data for the personal care and service occupations are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_12100.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 Atlantic City area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the personal care and service group. For instance, gambling dealers were employed at 50.9 times the national rate in Atlantic City, and first-line supervisors of gambling services workers, at 32.5 times the U.S. average. Exercise trainers and group fitness instructors had a location quotient of 1.3 in Atlantic City, 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 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 180,000 to 185,000 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 2020 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2020, November 2019, May 2019, November 2018, May 2018, and November 2017. The unweighted sample employment of 83 million across all six semiannual panels represents approximately 56 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 69 percent based on establishments and 66 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The sample in the Atlantic City-Hammonton, NJ Metropolitan Statistical Area included 1,269 establishments with a response rate of 80 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 Atlantic City-Hammonton, NJ Metropolitan Statistical Area consists of Atlantic County.

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; Federal Relay Service: (800) 877-8339.

Table 1. Employment and wage data for personal care and service occupations, Atlantic City metropolitan area, May 2020

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Personal care and service occupations	6,050	2.8	$16.61	$34,560
First-line supervisors of gambling services workers	490	32.5	28.43	59,130
First-line supervisors of personal service and entertainment and recreation workers, except gambling services	180	1.3	22.76	47,350
Animal caretakers	270	1.7	14.02	29,160
Gambling dealers	2,730	50.9	14.93	31,060
Ushers, lobby attendants, and ticket takers	80	1.0	12.22	25,430
Amusement and recreation attendants	530	2.7	(5)	(5)
Locker room, coatroom, and dressing room attendants	30	3.8	12.91	26,860
Hairdressers, hairstylists, and cosmetologists	(5)	(5)	17.10	35,560
Manicurists and pedicurists	350	6.1	12.83	26,680
Baggage porters and bellhops	110	4.9	12.67	26,350
Concierges	30	1.2	14.26	29,670
Childcare workers	200	0.5	14.15	29,430
Exercise trainers and group fitness instructors	250	1.3	21.69	45,110
Recreation workers	180	0.7	15.75	32,750
Crematory operators and personal care and service workers, all other	230	4.8	12.36	25,720
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Atlantic City-Hammonton, NJ Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_12100.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.