Workers in the Lake County-Kenosha County Metropolitan Division had an average (mean) hourly wage of $25.29 in May 2015, about 9 percent above the nationwide average of $23.23, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Assistant Commissioner for Regional Operations Charlene Peiffer noted that, after testing for statistical significance, wages in the local area were higher than their respective national averages in 12 of the 22 major occupational groups, including legal; life, physical, and social science; and construction and extraction. Three groups had significantly lower wages than their respective national averages: architecture and engineering; arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media; and transportation and material moving.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 5 of the 22 occupational groups, including management; production; and sales and related. Conversely, 11 groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including construction and extraction; food preparation and serving related; and healthcare practitioners and technical. (See table A and box note at end of release.)

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 32,140 jobs in management, accounting for 8.1 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 5.0-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $58.59, significantly above the national wage of $55.30.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the management group included general and operations managers (7,870); sales managers (2,290); and marketing managers (1,700). Among the higher paying jobs were chief executives and natural sciences managers, with mean hourly wages of $92.23 and $82.72, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were food service managers ($23.88) and property, real estate, and community association managers ($27.13). (Detailed occupational data for management are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/2015/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 3.1 times the national rate in Lake County, and purchasing managers, at 2.4 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, food service managers had a location quotient of 1.0 in Lake 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.

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. The OES program produces employment and wage estimates for over 800 occupations for all industries combined in the nation; the 50 states and the District of Columbia; 432 metropolitan areas and divisions; 167 nonmetropolitan areas; and Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. National estimates are also available by industry for NAICS sectors, 3-, 4-, and selected 5- and 6-digit industries, and by ownership across all industries and for schools and hospitals. OES data are available at www.bls.gov/oes/tables.htm.

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 2015 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2015, November 2014, May 2014, November 2013, May 2013, and November 2012. The overall national response rate for the six panels is 73.5 percent based on establishments and 69.6 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The unweighted employment of sampled establishments across all six semiannual panels represents approximately 57.9 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 3,813 establishments with a response rate of 66 percent. For more information about OES concepts and methodology, go to www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.tn.htm.

The May 2015 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.

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 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/2015/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 2015

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Management Occupations	32,140	1.6	$58.59	$121,870
Chief Executives	1,290	1.9	92.23	191,850
General and Operations Managers	7,870	1.3	62.28	129,540
Legislators	190	1.2	(5)	39,250
Advertising and Promotions Managers	240	2.8	50.52	105,090
Marketing Managers	1,700	3.1	65.86	136,990
Sales Managers	2,290	2.2	62.81	130,640
Public Relations and Fundraising Managers	180	1.1	59.35	123,450
Administrative Services Managers	(5)	(5)	35.97	74,830
Computer and Information Systems Managers	(5)	(5)	66.30	137,900
Financial Managers	(5)	(5)	65.23	135,670
Industrial Production Managers	710	1.5	49.18	102,290
Purchasing Managers	510	2.4	54.54	113,450
Transportation, Storage, and Distribution Managers	560	1.8	57.55	119,710
Compensation and Benefits Managers	90	1.9	67.20	139,780
Human Resources Managers	670	1.9	57.54	119,680
Construction Managers	530	0.8	42.22	87,820
Education Administrators, Preschool and Childcare Center/Program	170	1.3	(5)	(5)
Education Administrators, Elementary and Secondary School	850	1.3	(5)	97,910
Education Administrators, Postsecondary	310	0.8	46.28	96,260
Education Administrators, All Other	120	1.3	49.33	102,610
Architectural and Engineering Managers	590	1.1	66.00	137,270
Food Service Managers	590	1.0	23.88	49,670
Funeral Service Managers	30	1.3	32.71	68,040
Lodging Managers	80	0.8	30.13	62,670
Medical and Health Services Managers	830	0.9	49.21	102,370
Natural Sciences Managers	420	2.7	82.72	172,060
Postmasters and Mail Superintendents	30	0.7	35.38	73,590
Property, Real Estate, and Community Association Managers	480	1.0	27.13	56,440
Social and Community Service Managers	280	0.8	28.95	60,210
Managers, All Other	(5)	(5)	57.70	120,020
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Lake County-Kenosha County 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) Estimates not released.