Workers in the Omaha-Council Bluffs Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $20.53 in May 2013, about 8 percent below the nationwide average of $22.33, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Regional Commissioner Charlene Peiffer noted that, after testing for statistical significance, wages in the local area were significantly higher than their respective national averages in 2 of the 22 major occupational groups. Seventeen groups had significantly lower wages than their respective national averages, including legal; arts, design, entertainment sports, and media; and architecture and engineering.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 6 of the 22 occupational groups, including transportation and material moving; computer and mathematical; and office and administrative support. Conversely, 10 groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including management; production; and architecture and engineering. (See table A and box note at end of release.)

One occupational group—transportation and material moving—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Omaha-Council Bluffs had 37,810 jobs in transportation and material moving, accounting for 8.3 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 6.8-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $15.58, compared to the national wage of $16.28.

With employment of 13,290, heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers was the largest occupation within the transportation and material moving group, followed by laborers and freight, stock, and material movers, hand (8,930) and packers and packagers, hand (2,520). Among the higher paying jobs were transportation inspectors and first-line supervisors of transportation and material-moving machine and vehicle operators, with mean hourly wages of $39.13 and $25.15, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were parking lot attendants ($9.84) and automotive and watercraft service attendants ($10.09). (Detailed occupational data for transportation and material moving are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/2013/may/oes_36540.htm.

Location quotients allow for the exploration of an area’s occupational make-up 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 Omaha-Council Bluffs Metropolitan Statistical Area, above average concentrations of employment were found in some of the occupations within the transportation and material moving group. For instance, heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers were employed at 2.4 times the national rate in Omaha, and machine feeders and offbearers, at 1.7 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, taxi drivers and chauffeurs had a location quotient of 1.0 in Omaha, 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 Nebraska Department of Labor and Iowa 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. Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands are also surveyed, but their data are not included in the national estimates. OES estimates are constructed from a sample of about 1.2 million establishments. Forms are mailed to approximately 200,000 sampled establishments in May and November each year for a 3-year period. May 2013 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected in May 2013, November 2012, May 2012, November 2011, May 2011, and November 2010. The overall national response rate for the six panels is 75.3 percent based on establishments and 71.6 percent based on employment. The sample in the Omaha-Council Bluffs Metropolitan Statistical Area included 4,184 establishments with a response rate of 82 percent. For more information about OES concepts and methodology, go to www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.tn.htm.

The OES survey provides estimates of employment and hourly and annual wages for wage and salary workers in 22 major occupational groups and 821 detailed occupations for the nation, states, metropolitan statistical areas, metropolitan divisions, and nonmetropolitan areas. In addition, employment and wage estimates for 94 minor groups and 458 broad occupations are available in the national data. OES data by state and metropolitan/nonmetropolitan area are available from www.bls.gov/oes/current/oessrcst.htm and www.bls.gov/oes/current/oessrcma.htm, respectively.

The May 2013 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.

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 Omaha-Council Bluffs, Nebr. Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Cass, Douglas, Sarpy, Saunders, and Washington Counties of Nebraska and Harrison, Mills, and Pottawattamie Counties of Iowa.

Additional information

OES data are available on our regional web page at www.bls.gov/regions/midwest. 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/2013/may/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: 1-800-877-8339.

Table 1. Employment and wage data from the Occupational Employment Statistics survey, by occupation, Omaha-Council Bluffs Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2013

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual(4)
Transportation and Material Moving Occupations	37,810	1.2	$15.58	$32,410
First-Line Supervisors of Helpers, Laborers, and Material Movers, Hand	730	1.3	24.20	50,330
First-Line Supervisors of Transportation and Material-Moving Machine and Vehicle Operators	590	0.9	25.15	52,300
Commercial Pilots	100	0.8	(5)	87,210
Bus Drivers, Transit and Intercity	350	0.6	16.27	33,830
Bus Drivers, School or Special Client	1,510	0.9	13.53	28,150
Driver/Sales Workers	1,170	0.9	11.02	22,930
Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers	13,290	2.4	19.11	39,740
Light Truck or Delivery Services Drivers	2,490	0.9	14.67	30,510
Taxi Drivers and Chauffeurs	580	1.0	11.34	23,580
Motor Vehicle Operators, All Other	400	1.8	12.40	25,800
Parking Lot Attendants	160	0.4	9.84	20,480
Automotive and Watercraft Service Attendants	220	0.6	10.09	20,990
Transportation Inspectors	30	0.4	39.13	81,380
Transportation Workers, All Other	70	0.5	15.83	32,920
Conveyor Operators and Tenders	170	1.2	13.91	28,930
Crane and Tower Operators	110	0.8	18.70	38,890
Dredge Operators	80	13.8	12.18	25,340
Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operators	(5)	(5)	21.77	45,290
Industrial Truck and Tractor Operators	1,620	0.9	15.00	31,200
Cleaners of Vehicles and Equipment	1,390	1.3	11.20	23,290
Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand	8,930	1.1	12.61	26,220
Machine Feeders and Offbearers	630	1.7	12.63	26,270
Packers and Packagers, Hand	2,520	1.1	10.20	21,220
Refuse and Recyclable Material Collectors	200	0.5	14.77	30,720
Material Moving Workers, All Other	60	0.7	20.11	41,830
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in Omaha-Council Bluffs, NE-IA, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_36540.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.