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News Release Information

15-893-CHI
Wednesday, August 26, 2015

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

Occupational Employment and Wages in Lake County-Kenosha County — May 2014

Workers in the Lake County-Kenosha County Metropolitan Division had an average (mean) hourly wage of $24.64 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 11 of the 22 major occupational groups, including legal; life, physical, and social science; and construction and extraction.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 4 of the 22 occupational groups, including management; production; and building and grounds cleaning and maintenance. Conversely, 11 groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including healthcare practitioners and technical; construction and extraction; and food preparation and serving 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 Lake County-Kenosha County Metropolitan Division, and measures of statistical significance, May 2014
Major occupational group Percent of total employment Mean hourly wage
United States Lake County United States Lake County Percent difference (1)

Total, all occupations

100.0% 100.0% $22.71 $24.64* 8

Management

5.0 7.7* 54.08 58.44* 8

Business and financial operations

5.1 5.5 34.81 35.11 1

Computer and mathematical

2.8 3.4 40.37 39.60 -2

Architecture and engineering

1.8 1.6* 39.19 37.78 -4

Life, physical, and social science

0.8 0.9 33.69 41.60* 23

Community and social services

1.4 1.0* 21.79 25.20* 16

Legal

0.8 0.4* 48.61 64.59* 33

Education, training, and library

6.2 6.9* 25.10 25.79 3

Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media

1.3 0.9* 26.82 24.92* -7

Healthcare practitioners and technical

5.8 4.6* 36.54 37.37 2

Healthcare support

2.9 2.2* 13.86 14.76* 6

Protective service

2.4 1.6* 21.14 22.90 8

Food preparation and serving related

9.1 8.1* 10.57 10.70 1

Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance

3.2 4.0* 12.68 13.82* 9

Personal care and service

3.1 3.3 12.01 12.85* 7

Sales and related

10.5 11.1 18.59 20.28* 9

Office and administrative support

16.0 17.1 17.08 18.19* 6

Farming, fishing, and forestry

0.3 0.1* 12.09 11.60 -4

Construction and extraction

3.9 2.8* 22.40 27.88* 24

Installation, maintenance, and repair

3.9 3.1* 21.74 23.47* 8

Production

6.6 7.5* 17.06 17.42 2

Transportation and material moving

6.8 6.2 16.57 15.22* -8

Footnotes:
(1) A positive percent difference measures how much the mean wage in Lake County 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—management—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Lake County-Kenosha County had 30,310 jobs in management, accounting for 7.7 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 5.0-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $58.44, significantly above the national wage of $54.08.

Some of the largest detailed occupations within the management group included general and operations managers (7,650), financial managers (2,350), and sales managers (2,180). Among the higher paying jobs were chief executives and natural sciences managers, with mean hourly wages of $91.62 and $88.24, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were education administrators, preschool and childcare center/program ($23.20) and food service managers ($23.89). (Detailed occupational data for management are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/2014/may/oes_29404.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 Lake County-Kenosha County Metropolitan Division, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the management group. For instance, marketing managers were employed at 2.6 times the national rate in Lake County-Kenosha County, and purchasing managers, at 2.4 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, architectural and engineering managers had a location quotient of 1.0 in Lake County-Kenosha County, 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 and the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development.

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 Lake County-Kenosha County Metropolitan Division included 3,781 establishments with a response rate of 67 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 Lake County-Kenosha County, Ill.-Wis. Metropolitan Division  includes Lake County of Illinois and Kenosha County of Wisconsin.

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, Lake County-Kenosha County Metropolitan Division, May 2014
Occupation (1) Employment Mean wages
Level (2) Location quotient (3) Hourly Annual (4)

Management Occupations

30,310 1.5 $58.44 $121,560

Chief Executives

1,460 2.0 91.62 190,570

General and Operations Managers

7,650 1.3 57.32 119,230

Legislators

160 1.0 (5) 29,770

Advertising and Promotions Managers

160 1.9 48.12 100,080

Marketing Managers

1,370 2.6 68.53 142,540

Sales Managers

2,180 2.1 61.58 128,080

Public Relations and Fundraising Managers

160 1.0 64.27 133,690

Administrative Services Managers

1,130 1.4 37.49 77,970

Computer and Information Systems Managers

(5) (5) 64.32 133,790

Financial Managers

2,350 1.6 66.48 138,270

Industrial Production Managers

660 1.4 50.74 105,540

Purchasing Managers

500 2.4 58.25 121,170

Transportation, Storage, and Distribution Managers

460 1.5 60.16 125,130

Compensation and Benefits Managers

80 1.8 68.35 142,180

Human Resources Managers

570 1.7 61.07 127,030

Training and Development Managers

160 1.8 59.95 124,690

Construction Managers

410 0.6 41.62 86,560

Education Administrators, Preschool and Childcare Center/Program

140 1.1 23.20 48,250

Education Administrators, Elementary and Secondary School

1,110 1.6 (5) 103,700

Education Administrators, Postsecondary

330 0.9 46.38 96,460

Education Administrators, All Other

80 0.9 35.05 72,910

Architectural and Engineering Managers

520 1.0 66.55 138,430

Food Service Managers

700 1.2 23.89 49,680

Funeral Service Managers

30 1.3 38.37 79,810

Lodging Managers

30 0.4 32.16 66,880

Medical and Health Services Managers

620 0.7 48.50 100,880

Natural Sciences Managers

360 2.3 88.24 183,530

Postmasters and Mail Superintendents

30 0.6 35.60 74,040

Property, Real Estate, and Community Association Managers

540 1.1 27.96 58,160

Social and Community Service Managers

240 0.7 33.72 70,140

Managers, All Other

(5) (5) 61.10 127,090

Footnotes:
(1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in Lake County-Kenosha County, IL-WI 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.
(5) Estimate not released.
 

 

Last Modified Date: Wednesday, August 26, 2015