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News Release Information

15-896-CHI
Tuesday, July 14, 2015

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

Occupational Employment and Wages in Davenport-Moline-Rock Island — May 2014

Workers in the Davenport-Moline-Rock Island Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $20.24 in May 2014, about 11 percent below 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 2 of the 22 major occupational groups. Fourteen groups had significantly lower wages than their respective national averages, including management; arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media; and legal.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 4 of the 22 occupational groups, including production; transportation and material moving; and installation, maintenance, and repair. Conversely, 10 groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including office and administrative support; personal care and service; and sales and related. (See table A and box note at end of release.)

Table A. Occupational employment and wages by major occupational group, United States and the Davenport-Moline-Rock Island Metropolitan Statistical Area, and measures of statistical significance, May 2014
Major occupational groupPercent of total employmentMean hourly wage
United StatesDavenportUnited StatesDavenportPercent difference (1)

Total, all occupations

100.0%100.0%$22.71$20.24*-11

Management

5.05.3*54.0842.66*-21

Business and financial operations

5.14.6*34.8131.32*-10

Computer and mathematical

2.82.3*40.3734.67*-14

Architecture and engineering

1.81.639.1935.71*-9

Life, physical, and social science

0.80.5*33.6932.29-4

Community and social services

1.41.321.7921.41-2

Legal

0.80.5*48.6141.57*-14

Education, training, and library

6.26.125.1023.75-5

Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media

1.31.0*26.8219.58*-27

Healthcare practitioners and technical

5.85.336.5432.58*-11

Healthcare support

2.92.813.8613.23*-5

Protective service

2.42.0*21.1420.21-4

Food preparation and serving related

9.19.210.579.71*-8

Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance

3.23.212.6812.31-3

Personal care and service

3.12.2*12.0111.32*-6

Sales and related

10.59.9*18.5916.63*-11

Office and administrative support

16.014.6*17.0815.35*-10

Farming, fishing, and forestry

0.30.2*12.0914.64*21

Construction and extraction

3.94.422.4024.28*8

Installation, maintenance, and repair

3.94.5*21.7420.36*-6

Production

6.610.4*17.0616.52-3

Transportation and material moving

6.88.5*16.5715.12*-9

Footnotes:
(1) A positive percent difference measures how much the mean wage in Davenport 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—production—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Davenport-Moline-Rock Island had 18,770 jobs in production, accounting for 10.4 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 6.6-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $16.52, compared to the national wage of $17.06.

Some of the largest detailed occupations within the production group included team assemblers (3,430), inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers (1,390), and first-line supervisors of production and operating workers (1,160). Among the higher paying jobs were stationary engineers and boiler operators; and first-line supervisors of production and operating workers, with mean hourly wages of $43.45 and $26.45, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were laundry and dry-cleaning workers ($10.38) and pressers, textile, garment, and related materials ($10.94). (Detailed occupational data for production are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/2014/may/oes_19340.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 Davenport-Moline-Rock Island Metropolitan Statistical Area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the production group. For instance, meat, poultry, and fish cutters and trimmers were employed at 5.5 times the national rate in Davenport, and grinding, lapping, polishing, and buffing machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic, at 3.9 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, laundry and dry-cleaning workers had a location quotient of 0.9 in Davenport, 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, Iowa Workforce Development and the Illinois Department of Employment Security.

Note

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 Davenport-Moline-Rock Island Metropolitan Statistical Area included 2,650 establishments with a response rate of 74 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 Davenport-Moline-Rock Island, Iowa-Ill. Metropolitan Statistical Area  includes Scott County of Iowa and Henry, Mercer, and Rock Island Counties of Illinois.

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, Davenport-Moline-Rock Island Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2014
Occupation (1)EmploymentMean wages
Level (2)Location quotient (3)HourlyAnnual (4)

Production Occupations

18,7701.6$16.52$34,360

First-Line Supervisors of Production and Operating Workers

1,1601.526.4555,010

Electrical and Electronic Equipment Assemblers

2000.713.1827,410

Structural Metal Fabricators and Fitters

600.618.7238,930

Team Assemblers

3,4302.312.7326,470

Assemblers and Fabricators, All Other

4401.412.2925,560

Bakers

1800.811.7624,460

Butchers and Meat Cutters

2401.313.2027,450

Meat, Poultry, and Fish Cutters and Trimmers

1,1005.513.7728,630

Food Batchmakers

(5)(5)14.5130,180

Food Processing Workers, All Other

801.313.1227,280

Computer-Controlled Machine Tool Operators, Metal and Plastic

5202.617.8937,200

Computer Numerically Controlled Machine Tool Programmers, Metal and Plastic

401.222.3646,510

Forging Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic

401.318.1737,800

Cutting, Punching, and Press Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic

1400.615.2631,730

Drilling and Boring Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic

(5)(5)15.7432,740

Grinding, Lapping, Polishing, and Buffing Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic

3703.913.7228,540

Lathe and Turning Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic

1703.014.7330,640

Machinists

1,0702.022.4746,740

Metal-Refining Furnace Operators and Tenders

(5)(5)15.7732,810

Molding, Coremaking, and Casting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic

3702.218.4838,440

Multiple Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic

4803.717.8037,020

Tool and Die Makers

1401.426.3454,780

Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers

1,0102.018.5138,510

Welding, Soldering, and Brazing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders

(5)(5)14.1629,460

Heat Treating Equipment Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic

(5)(5)15.9433,150

Plating and Coating Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic

1102.314.7830,740

Metal Workers and Plastic Workers, All Other

702.325.8953,850

Prepress Technicians and Workers

300.717.0135,380

Printing Press Operators

1600.718.3938,260

Print Binding and Finishing Workers

901.413.4828,040

Laundry and Dry-Cleaning Workers

2300.910.3821,590

Pressers, Textile, Garment, and Related Materials

(5)(5)10.9422,760

Sewing Machine Operators

600.311.4823,880

Cabinetmakers and Bench Carpenters

400.3(5)(5)

Stationary Engineers and Boiler Operators

601.243.4590,390

Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant and System Operators

2101.421.4944,710

Separating, Filtering, Clarifying, Precipitating, and Still Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders

901.619.6040,770

Crushing, Grinding, and Polishing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders

601.416.7134,770

Mixing and Blending Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders

1300.819.2840,110

Extruding, Forming, Pressing, and Compacting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders

1101.216.1133,500

Inspectors, Testers, Sorters, Samplers, and Weighers

1,3902.117.1835,730

Dental Laboratory Technicians

801.715.2731,750

Ophthalmic Laboratory Technicians

401.1(5)(5)

Packaging and Filling Machine Operators and Tenders

7101.415.1531,520

Coating, Painting, and Spraying Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders

700.514.7530,680

Painters, Transportation Equipment

701.121.7445,230

Photographic Process Workers and Processing Machine Operators

401.113.2327,530

Molders, Shapers, and Casters, Except Metal and Plastic

401.018.7939,080

Helpers--Production Workers

9701.712.4725,930

Production Workers, All Other

6502.214.0629,250

Footnotes:
(1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in Davenport-Moline-Rock Island, IA-IL, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_19340.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.
 

 

Last Modified Date: Tuesday, July 14, 2015