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News Release Information

24-1032-PHI
Monday, May 20, 2024

Contacts Technical information: Media contact:

Occupational Employment and Wages in Richmond — May 2023

Workers in the Richmond, VA Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $30.55 in May 2023, 3 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 17 of the 22 major occupational groups, including legal; arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media; and construction and extraction.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, Richmond area employment was more highly concentrated in 10 of the 22 occupational groups, including business and financial operations, sales and related, and office and administrative support. Seven groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including production, management, and healthcare support. (See table A.)

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

Total, all occupations

100.0 100.0 31.48 30.55* -3

Management

6.9 5.6* 66.23 66.84 1

Business and financial operations

6.6 8.9* 43.55 41.76* -4

Computer and mathematical

3.4 3.9* 54.39 52.10* -4

Architecture and engineering

1.7 1.3* 47.64 43.99* -8

Life, physical, and social science

0.9 0.9 42.24 40.32* -5

Community and social service

1.6 2.1* 28.36 28.52 1

Legal

0.8 1.0* 64.34 58.64* -9

Educational instruction and library

5.8 5.7 31.92 29.52* -8

Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media

1.4 1.4 36.31 30.79* -15

Healthcare practitioners and technical

6.1 6.5* 49.07 46.67* -5

Healthcare support

4.7 3.8* 18.37 17.37* -5

Protective service

2.3 2.6* 27.74 26.46* -5

Food preparation and serving related

8.7 7.9* 16.58 16.40 -1

Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance

2.9 2.8* 18.43 16.97* -8

Personal care and service

2.0 2.2* 18.48 17.91* -3

Sales and related

8.8 9.4* 25.62 25.58 0

Office and administrative support

12.2 12.8* 23.05 22.47* -3

Farming, fishing, and forestry

0.3 0.1* 19.22 20.60* 7

Construction and extraction

4.1 4.4* 29.57 25.44* -14

Installation, maintenance, and repair

3.9 4.0 28.13 27.21* -3

Production

5.8 3.6* 22.90 22.49* -2

Transportation and material moving

9.1 9.1 22.45 21.48* -4

Footnotes:
(1) A positive percent difference measures how much the mean wage in the Richmond, VA 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—business and financial operations—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Richmond had 57,620 jobs in business and financial operations, accounting for 8.9 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 6.6-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $41.76, significantly below the national wage of $43.55.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the business and financial operations group included accountants and auditors (7,540), management analysts (6,410), and project management specialists (4,930). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were personal financial advisors and financial risk specialists, with mean hourly wages of $70.68 and $56.81, respectively. (See chart 1.) At the lower end of the wage scale were credit counselors ($25.27) and tax examiners, revenue agents, and collectors ($27.81). (Detailed data for the business and financial operations occupations are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_40060.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 Richmond area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the business and financial operations group. For instance, buyers and purchasing agents were employed at 1.9 times the national rate in Richmond, and management analysts, at 1.8 times the U.S. average. Financial and investment analysts had a location quotient of 1.0 in Richmond, 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 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. 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 Richmond, VA Metropolitan Statistical Area included 3,961 establishments with a response rate of 48 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 Richmond, VA Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Amelia County, Caroline County, Charles City County, Chesterfield County, Colonial Heights city, Dinwiddie County, Goochland County, Hanover County, Henrico County, Hopewell city, King William County, New Kent County, Petersburg city, Powhatan County, Prince George County, Richmond city, and Sussex 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 business and financial operations occupations, Richmond metropolitan area, May 2023
Occupation (1) Employment Mean wages ($)
Level (2) Location quotient (3) Hourly Annual (4)

Business and financial operations occupations

57,620 1.3 41.76 86,860

Buyers and purchasing agents

3,760 1.9 38.42 79,920

Claims adjusters, examiners, and investigators

1,210 1.0 35.13 73,070

Compliance officers

2,250 1.4 36.07 75,020

Cost estimators

1,370 1.5 34.08 70,880

Human resources specialists

4,880 1.3 36.57 76,060

Labor relations specialists

210 0.8 49.32 102,580

Logisticians

1,090 1.1 41.67 86,670

Project management specialists

4,930 1.2 48.28 100,430

Management analysts

6,410 1.8 47.67 99,160

Meeting, convention, and event planners

610 1.2 28.11 58,460

Fundraisers

600 1.4 31.94 66,440

Compensation, benefits, and job analysis specialists

750 1.8 38.11 79,270

Training and development specialists

2,500 1.5 33.81 70,310

Market research analysts and marketing specialists

3,720 1.0 39.16 81,460

Business operations specialists, all other

5,600 1.2 39.48 82,120

Accountants and auditors

7,540 1.2 41.37 86,050

Property appraisers and assessors

200 0.8 34.20 71,140

Budget analysts

340 1.7 41.61 86,540

Credit analysts

730 2.3 53.40 111,060

Financial and investment analysts

1,360 1.0 55.75 115,960

Personal financial advisors

1,880 1.6 70.68 147,020

Insurance underwriters

700 1.6 35.99 74,860

Financial risk specialists

400 1.7 56.81 118,170

Financial examiners

580 2.1 45.53 94,700

Credit counselors

180 1.5 25.27 52,560

Loan officers

1,760 1.3 41.02 85,320

Tax examiners and collectors, and revenue agents

540 2.5 27.81 57,840

Tax preparers

550 1.6 31.10 64,690

Financial specialists, all other

940 1.8 34.65 72,080

Footnotes:
(1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Richmond, VA Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_40060.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.

 

Last Modified Date: Monday, May 20, 2024