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News Release Information

16-575-CHI
Wednesday, June 29, 2016

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

Occupational Employment and Wages in Rockford — May 2015

Workers in the Rockford Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $21.01 in May 2015, about 10 percent below 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 lower than their respective national averages in 12 of the 22 major occupational groups: management; computer and mathematical; and arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media. Two groups had significantly higher wages than their respective national averages, including construction and extraction; and production

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 3 of the 22 occupational groups: production; transportation and material moving; and healthcare practitioners and technical. Conversely, 10 groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including business and financial operations; computer and mathematical; and construction and extraction. (See table A and box note at end of release.)

Table A. Occupational employment and wages by major occupational group, United States and the Rockford Metropolitan Statistical Area, and measures of statistical significance, May 2015
Major occupational groupPercent of total employmentMean hourly wage
United StatesRockfordUnited StatesRockfordPercent difference (1)

Total, all occupations

100.0%100.0%$23.23$21.01*-10

Management

5.04.855.3044.76*-19

Business and Financial Operations

5.13.1*35.4829.38*-17

Computer and Mathematical

2.90.9*41.4332.91*-21

Architecture and Engineering

1.81.939.8933.68*-16

Life, Physical, and Social Science

0.80.3*34.2430.97*-10

Community and Social Services

1.41.2*22.1922.01-1

Legal

0.80.3*49.7443.74-12

Education, Training, and Library

6.26.425.4826.815

Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media

1.31.0*27.3919.20*-30

Healthcare Practitioner and Technical

5.86.6*37.4035.24*-6

Healthcare Support

2.93.114.1914.462

Protective Service

2.42.221.4522.706

Food Preparation and Serving Related

9.17.9*10.9810.26*-7

Building and Grounds Cleaning and Maintenance

3.22.6*13.0212.44-4

Personal Care and Service

3.12.712.3311.17*-9

Sales and Related

10.59.618.9016.88*-11

Office and Administrative Support

15.814.8*17.4716.51*-5

Farming, Fishing, and Forestry

0.3(2)12.67(2) 

Construction and Extraction

4.02.8*22.8828.42*24

Installation, Maintenance, and Repair

3.93.922.1122.381

Production

6.615.3*17.4118.59*7

Transportation and Material Moving

6.98.8*16.9015.64*-7

Footnotes:
(1) A positive percent difference measures how much the mean wage in Rockford is above the national mean wage, while a negative difference reflects a lower wage.
(2) Estimate not released
* 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. Rockford had 6,970 jobs in management, accounting for 4.8 percent of local area employment, similar to the 5.0-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $44.76, significantly below the national wage of $55.30.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the management group included general and operations managers (2,390); financial managers (440); and chief executives (430). Among the higher paying jobs were chief executives; and architectural and engineering managers, with mean hourly wages of $80.63 and $51.02, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were property, real estate, and community association managers ($19.05) and education administrators, preschool and childcare center/program ($19.97). (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_40420.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 Rockford Metropolitan Statistical Area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in some of the occupations within the management group. For instance, industrial production managers were employed at 2.0 times the national rate in Rockford, and chief executives, at 1.7 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, general and operations managers had a location quotient of 1.1 in Rockford, 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.

Notes on Occupational Employment Statistics Data

With the issuance of data for May 2015, the OES program has incorporated redefined metropolitan area definitions as designated by the Office of Management and Budget. OES data are available for 394 metropolitan areas, 38 metropolitan divisions, and 167 OES-defined nonmetropolitan areas. A listing of the areas and their definitions can be found at www.bls.gov/oes/current/msa_def.htm.

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. 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 Rockford Metropolitan Statistical Area included 1,703 establishments with a response rate of 68 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 Rockford, Ill. Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Boone and Winnebago 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/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, Rockford Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2015
Occupation (1)EmploymentMean wages
Level (2)Location quotient (3)HourlyAnnual (4)

Management Occupations

6,9700.9$44.76$93,110

Chief Executives

4301.780.63167,720

General and Operations Managers

2,3901.145.6494,930

Legislators

500.8(5)45,020

Marketing Managers

1200.651.01106,110

Sales Managers

3500.946.4496,600

Administrative Services Managers

2700.931.7365,990

Computer and Information Systems Managers

1800.547.1197,980

Financial Managers

4400.847.9399,700

Industrial Production Managers

3502.041.5386,370

Purchasing Managers

1201.543.0089,430

Transportation, Storage, and Distribution Managers

1100.935.5974,020

Human Resources Managers

1401.138.7480,580

Construction Managers

900.340.9085,070

Education Administrators, Preschool and Childcare Center/Program

400.819.9741,540

Education Administrators, Elementary and Secondary School

(5)(5)(5)95,740

Architectural and Engineering Managers

2001.151.02106,120

Food Service Managers

2000.920.7843,220

Medical and Health Services Managers

4301.347.5798,950

Property, Real Estate, and Community Association Managers

1000.619.0539,630

Social and Community Service Managers

1000.826.1554,400

Managers, All Other

4701.239.0681,250

Footnotes:
(1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Rockford Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_40420.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.
 

 

Last Modified Date: Wednesday, June 29, 2016