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News Release Information

15-932-CHI
Wednesday, August 26, 2015

Contacts Technical information: Media contact:
  • (312) 353-1138

Occupational Employment and Wages in Chicago-Joliet-Naperville, Ill. Metropolitan Division — May 2014

Workers in the Chicago-Joliet-Naperville Metropolitan Division had an average (mean) hourly wage of $24.48 in May 2014, about 8 percent above the nationwide average of $22.71, 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 higher than their respective national averages in 10 of the 22 major occupational groups, including construction and extraction; sales and related; and installation, maintenance, and repair.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 8 of the 22 occupational groups, including management; 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; construction and extraction; and installation, maintenance, and repair. (See table A and box note at end of release.)

Table A. Occupational employment and wages by major occupational group, United States and the Chicago-Joliet-Naperville Metropolitan Division, and measures of statistical significance, May 2014
Major occupational group Percent of total employment Mean hourly wage
United States Chicago United States Chicago Percent difference (1)

Total, all occupations

100.0% 100.0% $22.71 $24.48* 8

Management

5.0 6.6* 54.08 53.84 0

Business and financial operations

5.1 5.7* 34.81 35.97* 3

Computer and mathematical

2.8 3.3* 40.37 38.67* -4

Architecture and engineering

1.8 1.4* 39.19 37.48* -4

Life, physical, and social science

0.8 0.5* 33.69 33.77 0

Community and social services

1.4 1.3* 21.79 23.63* 8

Legal

0.8 1.0* 48.61 48.07 -1

Education, training, and library

6.2 6.7* 25.10 26.92* 7

Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media

1.3 1.3 26.82 28.10 5

Healthcare practitioners and technical

5.8 5.4* 36.54 36.40 0

Healthcare support

2.9 2.8 13.86 13.90 0

Protective service

2.4 2.7* 21.14 23.58 12

Food preparation and serving related

9.1 7.9* 10.57 10.67 1

Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance

3.2 3.1 12.68 13.89* 10

Personal care and service

3.1 2.9* 12.01 12.83* 7

Sales and related

10.5 10.6 18.59 21.10* 14

Office and administrative support

16.0 15.5* 17.08 18.16* 6

Farming, fishing, and forestry

0.3 0.1* 12.09 15.01* 24

Construction and extraction

3.9 2.8* 22.40 31.88* 42

Installation, maintenance, and repair

3.9 3.0* 21.74 24.03* 11

Production

6.6 7.0* 17.06 16.82 -1

Transportation and material moving

6.8 8.3* 16.57 17.26 4

Footnotes:
(1) A positive percent difference measures how much the mean wage in Chicago is above the national mean wage, while a negative difference reflects a lower wage.
* The percent share of employment or mean hourly wage for this area 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. Chicago-Joliet-Naperville had 212,900 jobs in business and financial operations, accounting for 5.7 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 5.1-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $35.97, significantly above the national wage of $34.81.

Some of the largest detailed occupations within the business and financial operations group included accountants and auditors (34,750); management analysts (18,790); and market research analysts and marketing specialists (13,420). Among the higher paying jobs were management analysts and personal financial advisors, with mean hourly wages of $49.02 and $48.67, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were credit counselors ($24.87) and tax preparers ($24.90). (Detailed occupational data for business and financial operations are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/2014/may/oes_16974.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 Chicago-Joliet-Naperville Metropolitan Division, above-average concentrations of employment were found in some of the occupations within the business and financial operations group. For instance, personal financial advisors were employed at 1.7 times the national rate in Chicago, and insurance underwriters, at 1.7 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, market research analysts and marketing specialists had a location quotient of 1.0 in Chicago, 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 Illinois Department of Employment Security.

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.


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. May 2014 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2014, November 2013, May 2013, November 2012, May 2012, and November 2011. The overall national response rate for the six panels is 74.3 percent based on establishments and 70.5 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The unweighted employment of sampled establishments across all six semiannual panels represents approximately 57.1 percent of total national employment. (Response rates are slightly lower for these estimates due to the federal shutdown in October 2013.) The sample in the Chicago-Joliet-Naperville Metropolitan Division included 11,895 establishments with a response rate of 62 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 2014 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 Chicago-Joliet-Naperville, Ill. Metropolitan Division  includes Cook, DeKalb, DuPage, Grundy, Kane, Kendall, McHenry, and Will Counties.

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/2014/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: 800-877-8339.

 

Table 1. Employment and wage data from the Occupational Employment Statistics survey, by occupation, Chicago-Joliet-Naperville Metropolitan Division, May 2014
Occupation (1) Employment Mean wages
Level (2) Location quotient (3) Hourly Annual (4)

Business and Financial Operations Occupations

212,900 1.1 $35.97 $74,820

Agents and Business Managers of Artists, Performers, and Athletes

220 0.7 38.59 80,260

Buyers and Purchasing Agents, Farm Products

280 0.9 27.27 56,720

Wholesale and Retail Buyers, Except Farm Products

3,780 1.2 29.10 60,530

Purchasing Agents, Except Wholesale, Retail, and Farm Products

5,650 0.7 30.69 63,830

Claims Adjusters, Examiners, and Investigators

10,130 1.4 31.49 65,510

Insurance Appraisers, Auto Damage

390 1.0 30.33 63,100

Compliance Officers

4,610 0.7 36.88 76,700

Cost Estimators

4,690 0.8 33.02 68,680

Human Resources Specialists

11,920 0.9 30.04 62,490

Labor Relations Specialists

2,930 1.3 31.02 64,520

Logisticians

2,630 0.8 31.78 66,100

Management Analysts

18,790 1.2 49.02 101,960

Meeting, Convention, and Event Planners

2,460 1.1 25.04 52,090

Fundraisers

850 0.6 25.52 53,090

Compensation, Benefits, and Job Analysis Specialists

1,460 0.7 30.35 63,140

Training and Development Specialists

5,110 0.8 29.40 61,140

Market Research Analysts and Marketing Specialists

13,420 1.0 31.69 65,910

Business Operations Specialists, All Other

36,980 1.4 33.54 69,760

Accountants and Auditors

34,750 1.1 35.71 74,270

Appraisers and Assessors of Real Estate

1,400 0.8 28.22 58,700

Budget Analysts

930 0.6 37.59 78,200

Credit Analysts

2,060 1.1 36.52 75,970

Financial Analysts

9,830 1.4 43.11 89,660

Personal Financial Advisors

9,500 1.7 48.67 101,230

Insurance Underwriters

4,430 1.7 32.17 66,910

Financial Examiners

2,010 2.0 44.39 92,320

Credit Counselors

460 0.6 24.87 51,720

Loan Officers

9,300 1.1 40.24 83,690

Tax Examiners and Collectors, and Revenue Agents

880 0.5 39.65 82,470

Tax Preparers

2,880 1.5 24.90 51,780

Financial Specialists, All Other

8,150 2.1 37.40 77,800

Footnotes:
(1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in Chicago-Joliet-Naperville, IL Metropolitan Division, see www.bls.gov/oes/tables.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.
 

 

Last Modified Date: Wednesday, August 26, 2015