Workers in the Bloomington Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $24.50 in May 2016, compared to the nationwide average of $23.86, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Assistant Commissioner for Regional Operations Charlene Peiffer noted that wages in the local area were not significantly different from their respective national averages in 14 of 22 major occupational groups, including legal, production, and healthcare practitioners and technical. Two occupational groups had wages higher than their respective national averages, including construction and extraction.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 6 of the 22 occupational groups, including business and financial operations, management, and computer and mathematical. Conversely, 11 groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including production, transportation and material moving, and sales and related. (See table A and box note at end of release.)

One occupational group—business and financial operations—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Bloomington had 9,090 jobs in business and financial operations, accounting for 10.1 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 5.2-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $33.12, significantly below the national wage of $36.09.

Some of the largest detailed occupations within the business and financial operations group included claims adjusters, examiners, and investigators (1,110); insurance underwriters (720); and financial analysts (690). Among the higher paying jobs were compensation, benefits, and job analysis specialists with mean hourly wages of $37.89 and training and development specialists, $36.62. At the lower end of the wage scale were meeting, convention, and event planners ($21.43) and market research analysts and marketing specialists ($28.18). (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/2016/may/oes_14010.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 Bloomington Metropolitan Statistical Area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the business and financial operations group. For instance, insurance underwriters in Bloomington were employed at 12.2 times the national rate, and claims adjusters, examiners, and investigators, at 6.3 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, human resources specialists in Bloomington had a location quotient of 1.2, 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.

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 data available from BLS include cross-industry occupational employment and wage estimates for the nation; over 650 areas, including states and the District of Columbia, metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs), metropolitan divisions, nonmetropolitan areas, and territories; national industry-specific estimates at the NAICS sector, 3-, 4-, and selected 5- and 6-digit industry levels, and national estimates 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. Each year, two semiannual panels of approximately 200,000 sampled establishments are contacted, one panel in May and the other in November. Responses are obtained by mail, Internet or other electronic means, email, telephone, or personal visit. The May 2016 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2016, November 2015, May 2015, November 2014, May 2014, and November 2013. The overall national response rate for the six panels, based on the 50 states and the District of Columbia, is 73 percent based on establishments and 69 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The unweighted employment of sampled establishments across all six semiannual panels represents approximately 58 percent of total national employment. The sample in the Bloomington Metropolitan Statistical Area included 1,118 establishments with a response rate of 64 percent. For more information about OES concepts and methodology, go to www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.tn.htm.

The May 2016 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 Bloomington, Ill. Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Dewitt and McLean 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/current/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, Bloomington Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2016

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Business and financial operations occupations	9,090	2.0	$33.12	$68,890
Purchasing agents, except wholesale, retail, and farm products	280	1.5	36.60	76,130
Claims adjusters, examiners, and investigators	1,110	6.3	30.90	64,280
Compliance officers	340	1.9	30.61	63,680
Cost estimators	80	0.6	31.55	65,630
Human resources specialists	400	1.2	30.64	63,730
Logisticians	60	0.6	34.46	71,680
Management analysts	(5)	(5)	36.61	76,140
Meeting, convention, and event planners	(5)	(5)	21.43	44,580
Fundraisers	50	1.2	28.60	59,500
Compensation, benefits, and job analysis specialists	180	3.6	37.89	78,800
Training and development specialists	270	1.5	36.62	76,170
Market research analysts and marketing specialists	460	1.3	28.18	58,620
Business operations specialists, all other	780	1.3	28.19	58,630
Accountants and auditors	540	0.7	34.52	71,800
Financial analysts	690	3.8	32.62	67,840
Personal financial advisors	70	0.6	(5)	(5)
Insurance underwriters	720	12.2	31.40	65,320
Loan officers	90	0.5	29.47	61,300
Financial specialists, all other	80	1.1	39.34	81,840
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Bloomington, IL, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_14010.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.