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News Release Information

17-533-CHI
Wednesday, June 28, 2017

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

Occupational Employment and Wages in Lincoln — May 2016

Workers in the Lincoln Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $21.40 in May 2016, about 10 percent below the nationwide average of $23.86, 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 13 of the 22 major occupational groups, including computer and mathematical; management; and life, physical, and social science. Wages were not significantly different from the nationwide averages in seven major occupational groups.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 5 of the 22 occupational groups, including office and administrative support; business and financial operations; and community and social service. Conversely, eight groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including management; protective 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 Lincoln Metropolitan Statistical Area, and measures of statistical significance, May 2016
Major occupational groupPercent of total employmentMean hourly wage
United StatesLincolnUnited StatesLincolnPercent difference (1)

Total, all occupations

100.0100.0$23.86$21.40*-10

Management

5.14.2*56.7447.87*-16

Business and financial operations

5.26.3*36.0929.20*-19

Computer and mathematical

3.03.342.2530.48*-28

Architecture and engineering

1.81.6*40.5333.66*-17

Life, physical, and social science

0.81.1*35.0626.95*-23

Community and social service

1.42.2*22.6918.23*-20

Legal

0.80.6*50.9543.88-14

Education, training, and library

6.25.926.2126.381

Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media

1.41.6*28.0721.25*-24

Healthcare practitioners and technical

5.96.038.0633.67*-12

Healthcare support

2.92.6*14.6514.29-2

Protective service

2.41.6*22.0320.75-6

Food preparation and serving related

9.29.011.4710.73*-6

Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance

3.23.013.4712.30*-9

Personal care and service

3.23.012.7412.25-4

Sales and related

10.49.7*19.5017.20*-12

Office and administrative support

15.716.9*17.9116.39*-8

Farming, fishing, and forestry

0.30.1*13.3719.24*44

Construction and extraction

4.04.123.5120.69*-12

Installation, maintenance, and repair

3.93.4*22.4522.370

Production

6.56.417.8818.79*5

Transportation and material moving

6.97.217.3419.1410

Footnotes:
(1) A positive percent difference measures how much the mean wage in the Lincoln Metropolitan Statistical Area 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—office and administrative support—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Lincoln had 29,660 jobs in office and administrative support, accounting for 16.9 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 15.7-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $16.39, significantly below the national wage of $17.91.

Some of the largest detailed occupations within the office and administrative support group included office clerks, general (4,550); customer service representatives (4,450); and secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive (2,410). Among the higher paying jobs were cargo and freight agents with mean hourly wages of $24.84 and postal service mail carriers, $24.14. At the lower end of the wage scale were hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks ($10.90) and stock clerks and order fillers ($12.07). (Detailed occupational data for office and administrative support are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/2016/may/oes_30700.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 Lincoln Metropolitan Statistical Area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in some of the occupations within the office and administrative support group. For instance, interviewers, except eligibility and loan, were employed at 3.6 times the national rate in Lincoln, and insurance claims and policy processing clerks, at 2.4 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, receptionists and information clerks had a location quotient of 1.0 in Lincoln, 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 Nebraska Department of Labor.

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. 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 Lincoln Metropolitan Statistical Area included 1,841 establishments with a response rate of 83 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 Lincoln, Nebr. Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Lancaster and Seward 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, Lincoln Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2016
Occupation (1)EmploymentMean wages
Level (2)Location quotient (3)HourlyAnnual (4)

Office and administrative support occupations

29,6601.1$16.39$34,090

First-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers

2,1801.223.7849,460

Switchboard operators, including answering service

2101.912.5026,010

Bill and account collectors

3300.915.4732,180

Billing and posting clerks

4800.816.3534,010

Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks

2,2701.217.0535,460

Payroll and timekeeping clerks

1600.820.2442,100

Procurement clerks

1401.616.6534,630

Tellers

6901.112.5626,110

Brokerage clerks

(5)(5)20.4542,530

Court, municipal, and license clerks

1000.618.4638,400

Customer service representatives

4,4501.315.5232,290

File clerks

700.413.2727,610

Hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks

2800.910.9022,670

Interviewers, except eligibility and loan

8303.613.7128,510

Library assistants, clerical

400.313.5028,080

Loan interviewers and clerks

2701.019.1839,890

New accounts clerks

1302.516.8435,020

Order clerks

1800.814.5730,300

Human resources assistants, except payroll and timekeeping

2301.418.5738,630

Receptionists and information clerks

1,2601.012.7626,540

Cargo and freight agents

(5)(5)24.8451,660

Couriers and messengers

2202.412.3225,620

Police, fire, and ambulance dispatchers

700.619.1739,870

Dispatchers, except police, fire, and ambulance

1800.718.2437,940

Postal service clerks

700.723.0647,960

Postal service mail carriers

3200.824.1450,210

Postal service mail sorters, processors, and processing machine operators

1100.823.9549,820

Production, planning, and expediting clerks

3000.823.5849,050

Shipping, receiving, and traffic clerks

4100.516.7634,850

Stock clerks and order fillers

2,2400.912.0725,110

Weighers, measurers, checkers, and samplers, recordkeeping

1001.119.6440,860

Executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants

1,2601.622.8647,560

Legal secretaries

2000.818.2938,050

Medical secretaries

6100.917.4936,380

Secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive

2,4100.816.6334,580

Computer operators

1903.319.7441,060

Data entry keyers

2901.215.2431,690

Word processors and typists

600.715.9333,140

Insurance claims and policy processing clerks

8102.418.2237,890

Mail clerks and mail machine operators, except postal service

1201.113.4527,970

Office clerks, general

4,5501.213.5028,080

Office machine operators, except computer

400.614.9231,040

Statistical assistants

302.518.5938,670

Office and administrative support workers, all other

2400.921.0143,710

Footnotes:
(1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Lincoln, NE, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_30700.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, June 28, 2017