Workers in the Newark Metropolitan Division had an average (mean) hourly wage of $28.79 in May 2016, about 21 percent above the nationwide average of $23.86, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Chief Regional Economist Martin Kohli noted that, after testing for statistical significance, average wages in the local area were higher than their respective national averages in 21 of the 22 major occupational groups, including management; life, physical, and social science; and legal. No group had an average hourly wage significantly lower than its respective national average.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 12 of the 22 occupational groups, including education, training, and library; transportation and material moving; and business and financial operations. Conversely, 10 groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including food preparation and serving related; production; and construction and extraction. (See table A and box note at end of release.)

One occupational group—education, training, and library—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Newark had 90,000 jobs in education, training, and library, accounting for 7.8 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 6.2-percent share nationally. The average annual wage for this occupational group locally was $59,720, significantly above the national wage of $54,520.

Some of the largest detailed occupations within the education, training, and library group included teacher assistants (16,400); elementary school teachers, except special education (14,180); and secondary school teachers, except special and career/technical education (9,250). Among the higher paying jobs were postsecondary business teachers and postsecondary psychology teachers, with mean annual wages of $107,320 and $102,680, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were substitute teachers ($28,520) and preschool teachers, except special education ($39,940). (Detailed occupational data for education, training, and library are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/2016/may/oes_35084.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 Newark Metropolitan Division, above-average concentrations of employment were found in some of the occupations within the education, training, and library group. For instance, special education teachers, kindergarten and elementary school were employed at 2.5 times the national rate in Newark, and special education teachers, middle school, at 2.4 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, postsecondary business teachers had a location quotient of 1.0 in Newark, 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 New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development.

Technical Note

The Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) survey is a semiannual mail 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 650 areas, including states and the District of Columbia, metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs), metropolitan divisions, nonmetropolitan areas, and territories; national industry-specific estimates at the NAICS sector, 3-, 4-, 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.

OES estimates are constructed from a sample of about 1.2 million establishments. Each year, two semiannual panels of approximately 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 2016 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2016, November 2015, May 2015, November 2014, May 2014, and November 2013. The overall national response rate for the six panels, based on the 50 states and the District of Columbia, is 73 percent based on establishments and 69 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The unweighted employment of sampled establishments across all six semiannual panels represents approximately 58 percent of total national employment. The sample in the Newark Metropolitan Division included 6,526 establishments with a response rate of 71 percent. For more information about OES concepts and methodology, go to www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.tn.htm.

The May 2016 OES estimates are based on the 2010 Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) system and the 2012 North American Industry Classification System (NAICS). Information about the 2010 SOC is available on the BLS website at www.bls.gov/soc and information about the 2012 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 Newark, N.J. Metropolitan Division  includes Essex, Hunterdon, Morris, Somerset, Sussex, and Union Counties in New Jersey; and Pike County in Pennsylvania.

Additional information

OES data are available on our regional web page at www.bls.gov/regions/northeast. Answers to frequently asked questions about the OES data are available at www.bls.gov/oes/oes_ques.htm. Detailed technical information about the OES survey is available in our Survey Methods and Reliability Statement on the BLS website at www.bls.gov/oes/current/methods_statement.pdf.

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 from the Occupational Employment Statistics survey, by occupation, Newark Metropolitan Division, May 2016

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Education, training, and library occupations	90,000	1.3	$28.71	$59,720
Business teachers, postsecondary	690	1.0	(5)	107,320
Computer science teachers, postsecondary	410	1.5	(5)	93,650
Mathematical science teachers, postsecondary	520	1.2	(5)	91,800
Architecture teachers, postsecondary	170	2.8	(5)	(5)
Engineering teachers, postsecondary	520	1.7	(5)	(5)
Biological science teachers, postsecondary	280	0.7	(5)	98,860
Chemistry teachers, postsecondary	190	1.1	(5)	95,700
Environmental science teachers, postsecondary	80	1.8	(5)	(5)
Physics teachers, postsecondary	90	0.8	(5)	104,500
Anthropology and archeology teachers, postsecondary	90	1.8	(5)	115,110
Economics teachers, postsecondary	60	0.5	(5)	117,610
Political science teachers, postsecondary	230	1.7	(5)	95,810
Psychology teachers, postsecondary	440	1.4	(5)	102,680
Sociology teachers, postsecondary	120	1.0	(5)	93,080
Social sciences teachers, postsecondary, all other	70	0.6	(5)	(5)
Health specialties teachers, postsecondary	1,350	0.9	(5)	100,270
Nursing instructors and teachers, postsecondary	650	1.4	(5)	97,240
Education teachers, postsecondary	390	0.8	(5)	86,550
Criminal justice and law enforcement teachers, postsecondary	130	1.1	(5)	83,690
Art, drama, and music teachers, postsecondary	630	0.8	(5)	70,430
Communications teachers, postsecondary	340	1.5	(5)	88,670
English language and literature teachers, postsecondary	710	1.2	(5)	89,060
Foreign language and literature teachers, postsecondary	190	0.8	(5)	102,580
History teachers, postsecondary	330	1.8	(5)	85,850
Philosophy and religion teachers, postsecondary	220	1.2	(5)	98,230
Recreation and fitness studies teachers, postsecondary	80	0.6	(5)	89,260
Vocational education teachers, postsecondary	690	0.7	30.97	64,410
Preschool teachers, except special education	3,840	1.2	19.20	39,940
Kindergarten teachers, except special education	1,470	1.2	(5)	66,820
Elementary school teachers, except special education	14,180	1.2	(5)	69,180
Middle school teachers, except special and career/technical education	6,980	1.4	(5)	70,070
Secondary school teachers, except special and career/technical education	9,250	1.1	(5)	74,390
Career/technical education teachers, secondary school	(5)	(5)	(5)	68,990
Special education teachers, preschool	(5)	(5)	(5)	71,080
Special education teachers, kindergarten and elementary school	3,850	2.5	(5)	67,820
Special education teachers, middle school	1,780	2.4	(5)	69,970
Special education teachers, secondary school	1,640	1.5	(5)	74,210
Special education teachers, all other	680	2.1	(5)	70,400
Self-enrichment education teachers	2,870	1.5	28.00	58,230
Teachers and instructors, all other, except substitute teachers	2,500	1.0	(5)	50,780
Substitute teachers	6,130	1.2	13.71	28,520
Curators	40	0.5	33.42	69,510
Librarians	1,880	1.8	32.69	68,000
Library technicians	870	1.1	21.62	44,960
Instructional coordinators	870	0.7	36.80	76,550
Teacher assistants	16,400	1.6	(5)	28,790
Education, training, and library workers, all other	1,110	1.3	27.71	57,630
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Newark, NJ-PA Metropolitan Division, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_35084.htm. (2) Estimates for detailed occupations do not sum to the totals because the totals include occupations 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.