Workers in the Fargo Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $23.68 in May 2018, about 5 percent below the nationwide average of $24.98, 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 11 of the 22 major occupational groups including legal, computer and mathematical, and architecture and engineering.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 4 of the 22 occupational groups, including healthcare practitioners and technical, personal care and service, and construction and extraction. Conversely, six groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including protective service, food preparation and serving related, and production. (See table A and box note at end of release.)

One occupational group—healthcare practitioners and technical—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Fargo had 10,020 jobs in healthcare practitioners and technical, accounting for 7.3 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 6.0-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $36.14, significantly below the national wage of $39.42.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the healthcare practitioners and technical group included registered nurses (3,500), licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses (880), and pharmacists (670). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were family and general practitioners and dentists, general, with mean hourly wages of $101.00 and $81.13, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were dietetic technicians ($12.73) and emergency medical technicians and paramedics ($13.69). (Detailed data for the healthcare practitioners and technical occupations are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_22020.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 Fargo Metropolitan Statistical Area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in some of the occupations within the healthcare practitioners and technical group. For instance, pharmacists were employed at 2.3 times the national rate in Fargo, and opticians, dispensing, at 1.9 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, speech-language pathologists had a location quotient of 1.1 in Fargo, 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, Job Service North Dakota and the Minnesota Department of Employment & Economic Development.

Technical Note

The Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) survey is a semiannual 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 580 areas, including states and the District of Columbia, metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs), nonmetropolitan areas, and territories; national industry-specific estimates at the NAICS sector, 3-digit, most 4-digit, 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.

The OES survey is a cooperative effort between BLS and the State Workforce Agencies (SWAs). BLS funds the survey and provides the procedures and technical support, while the State Workforce Agencies collect most of the data. OES estimates are constructed from a sample of about 1.2 million establishments. Each year, two semiannual panels of approximately 180,000 to 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 2018 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2018, November 2017, May 2017, November 2016, May 2016, and November 2015. The unweighted sample employment of 83 million across all six semiannual panels represents approximately 58 percent of total national employment. The overall national response rate for the six panels, based on the 50 states and the District of Columbia, is 71 percent based on establishments and 68 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The sample in the Fargo Metropolitan Statistical Area included 1,984 establishments with a response rate of 71 percent. For more information about OES concepts and methodology, go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_tec.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.

The May 2018 OES estimates are based on the 2010 Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) system and the 2017 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 2017 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 Fargo, ND-MN Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Cass County of North Dakota and Clay County of Minnesota.

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, Fargo Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2018

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Healthcare practitioners and technical occupations	10,020	1.2	$36.14	$75,180
Chiropractors	80	2.3	34.33	71,400
Dentists, general	80	0.8	81.13	168,760
Dietitians and nutritionists	110	1.8	26.89	55,930
Optometrists	40	1.1	58.86	122,430
Pharmacists	670	2.3	43.76	91,020
Family and general practitioners	60	0.6	101.00	210,080
Internists, general	60	1.6	(5)	(5)
Physicians and surgeons, all other	(5)	(5)	122.99	255,820
Physician assistants	100	0.9	54.34	113,030
Occupational therapists	170	1.4	31.46	65,440
Physical therapists	200	0.9	37.34	77,680
Respiratory therapists	140	1.1	28.34	58,950
Speech-language pathologists	150	1.1	32.71	68,040
Veterinarians	60	0.9	44.84	93,260
Registered nurses	3,500	1.2	32.33	67,250
Nurse practitioners	180	1.1	47.09	97,960
Health diagnosing and treating practitioners, all other	40	1.0	23.96	49,840
Clinical laboratory technologists and technicians	400	1.3	23.91	49,740
Dental hygienists	220	1.1	31.80	66,140
Cardiovascular technologists and technicians	80	1.5	26.94	56,030
Diagnostic medical sonographers	120	1.8	33.68	70,060
Radiologic technologists	290	1.5	26.50	55,120
Magnetic resonance imaging technologists	80	2.1	29.96	62,320
Emergency medical technicians and paramedics	(5)	(5)	13.69	28,480
Dietetic technicians	(5)	(5)	12.73	26,480
Pharmacy technicians	450	1.1	18.59	38,670
Surgical technologists	120	1.1	20.72	43,100
Veterinary technologists and technicians	120	1.2	16.81	34,950
Ophthalmic medical technicians	60	1.3	17.71	36,840
Licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses	880	1.3	21.89	45,530
Medical records and health information technicians	170	0.9	22.18	46,140
Opticians, dispensing	130	1.9	16.34	33,980
Health technologists and technicians, all other	110	0.9	20.54	42,720
Occupational health and safety specialists	80	1.0	37.69	78,400
Occupational health and safety technicians	40	2.4	24.90	51,790
Healthcare practitioners and technical workers, all other	40	1.1	21.51	44,730
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Fargo, ND-MN Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_22020.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.