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News Release Information

22-966-CHI
Friday, August 26, 2022

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

Occupational Employment and Wages in Ann Arbor — May 2021

Workers in the Ann Arbor, MI Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $29.33 in May 2021, 5 percent above the nationwide average of $28.01, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Jason Palmer noted that, after testing for statistical significance, wages in the local area were higher than their respective national averages in 5 of the 22 major occupational groups, including healthcare support, construction and extraction, and building and grounds cleaning and maintenance. Eleven groups had significantly lower wages than their respective national averages, including legal; computer and mathematical; and life, physical, and social science.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, Ann Arbor area employment was more highly concentrated in 9 of the 22 occupational groups, including educational instruction and library, healthcare practitioners and technical, and architecture and engineering. Twelve groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including transportation and material moving, sales and related, and construction and extraction. (See table A.)

Table A. Occupational employment and wages by major occupational group, United States and the Ann Arbor metropolitan area, and measures of statistical significance, May 2021
Major occupational groupPercent of total employmentMean hourly wage
United StatesAnn ArborUnited StatesAnn ArborPercent difference (1)

Total, all occupations

100.0100.0$28.01$29.33*5

Management

6.35.8*59.3158.29*-2

Business and financial operations

6.46.539.7237.60*-5

Computer and mathematical

3.34.2*48.0139.33*-18

Architecture and engineering

1.72.8*44.1041.75*-5

Life, physical, and social science

0.91.7*38.8135.01*-10

Community and social service

1.62.1*25.9424.00*-7

Legal

0.80.5*54.3845.60*-16

Educational instruction and library

5.811.9*29.8829.54*-1

Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media

1.31.5*31.7829.73*-6

Healthcare practitioners and technical

6.211.9*43.8044.451

Healthcare support

4.74.8*16.0217.50*9

Protective service

2.41.3*25.6825.660

Food preparation and serving related

8.06.4*14.1614.62*3

Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance

2.92.4*16.2317.00*5

Personal care and service

1.82.7*16.1714.49*-10

Sales and related

9.46.4*22.1522.512

Office and administrative support

13.012.1*20.8819.91*-5

Farming, fishing, and forestry

0.30.1*16.7016.740

Construction and extraction

4.22.1*26.8728.13*5

Installation, maintenance, and repair

4.02.7*25.6626.28*2

Production

6.04.7*20.7120.610

Transportation and material moving

9.05.4*19.8819.71-1

Footnotes:
(1) A positive percent difference measures how much the mean wage in the Ann Arbor, MI Metropolitan Statistical Area is above the national mean wage, while a negative difference reflects a lower wage.
* The mean hourly wage or percent share of employment is significantly different from the national average of all areas at the 90-percent confidence level.

One occupational group—healthcare practitioners and technical—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Ann Arbor had 24,050 jobs in healthcare practitioners and technical, accounting for 11.9 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 6.2-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $44.45, compared to the national wage of $43.80.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the healthcare practitioners and technical group included registered nurses (9,600), pharmacy technicians (930), and clinical laboratory technologists and technicians (870). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were nurse anesthetists and family medicine physicians, with mean hourly wages of $133.08 and $105.30, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were dietetic technicians ($17.53), veterinary technologists and technicians ($18.32), and pharmacy technicians ($18.99). (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_11460.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 Ann Arbor area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the healthcare practitioners and technical group. For instance, psychiatric technicians were employed at 4.7 times the national rate in Ann Arbor, and nurse anesthetists, at 4.0 times the U.S. average. Speech-language pathologists had a location quotient of 1.1 in Ann Arbor, indicating that this particular occupation’s local and national employment shares were similar.

These statistics are from the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey, a federal-state cooperative program between BLS and State Workforce Agencies, in this case, the Michigan Department of Technology, Management & Budget.

Changes to the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) Data

With the May 2021 estimates release, the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) program has implemented a new model-based (MB3) estimation method. For more information, see the May 2021 Survey Methods and Reliability Statement at www.bls.gov/oes/methods_21.pdf and the Monthly Labor Review article at www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2019/article/model-based-estimates-for-the-occupational-employment-statistics-program.htm. OEWS estimates for the years 2015-19 were recalculated using the new estimation method and are available as research estimates at www.bls.gov/oes/oes-mb3-methods.htm.

The May 2021 OEWS estimates are also the first estimates based entirely on survey data collected using the 2018 Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) system. To improve data quality, the OEWS program aggregates some occupations to the SOC broad occupation level or as OEWS-specific combinations of 2018 SOC detailed occupations.


Technical Note

The Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey is a semiannual survey measuring occupational employment and wage rates for wage and salary workers in nonfarm establishments in the United States. The OEWS 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. OEWS data are available at www.bls.gov/oes/tables.htm.

The OEWS 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. OEWS estimates are constructed from a sample of about 1.1 million establishments. Each year, two semiannual panels of approximately 179,000 to 187,000 sampled establishments are contacted, one panel in May and the other in November. Responses are obtained by Internet or other electronic means, mail, email, telephone, or personal visit. The May 2021 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2021, November 2020, May 2020, November 2019, May 2019, and November 2018. The unweighted sampled employment of 82 million across all six semiannual panels represents approximately 62 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 67.2 percent based on establishments and 64.5 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The sample in the Ann Arbor, MI Metropolitan Statistical Area included 1,663 establishments with a response rate of 68 percent. For more information about OEWS 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.

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 Ann Arbor, MI Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Washtenaw County.

For more information

Answers to frequently asked questions about the OEWS data are available at www.bls.gov/oes/oes_ques.htm. Detailed information about the OEWS program is available at www.bls.gov/oes/oes_doc.htm.

Information in this release will be made available to individuals with sensory impairments upon request. Voice phone: (202) 691-5200; Telecommunications Relay Service: 7-1-1.

Table 1. Employment and wage data for healthcare practitioners and technical occupations, Ann Arbor metropolitan area, May 2021
Occupation (1)EmploymentMean wages
Level (2)Location quotient (3)HourlyAnnual (4)

Healthcare practitioners and technical occupations

24,0501.9$44.45$92,450

Dentists, general

2501.672.84151,500

Dietitians and nutritionists

2002.130.9164,290

Optometrists

400.862.51130,020

Pharmacists

6101.462.04129,030

Physician assistants

6003.255.14114,700

Occupational therapists

3401.938.9781,060

Physical therapists

5101.642.7488,900

Radiation therapists

502.038.5080,070

Recreational therapists

1305.425.5453,120

Respiratory therapists

3802.032.0166,590

Speech-language pathologists

2301.140.7684,780

Exercise physiologists

605.825.1352,260

Veterinarians

1101.048.53100,950

Registered nurses

9,6002.240.7984,830

Nurse anesthetists

2504.0133.08276,810

Nurse practitioners

6201.955.54115,520

Audiologists

502.743.0789,580

Family medicine physicians

1601.1105.30219,030

General internal medicine physicians

3003.655.36115,140

Obstetricians and gynecologists

601.881.74170,010

Pediatricians, general

2104.347.0397,810

Psychiatrists

902.481.08168,650

Physicians, all other

8302.3117.95245,340

Surgeons, all other

1303.245.7095,050

Dental hygienists

3301.134.6872,140

Healthcare diagnosing or treating practitioners, all other

2205.944.7393,040

Clinical laboratory technologists and technicians

8701.928.0758,390

Cardiovascular technologists and technicians

2603.231.0964,670

Diagnostic medical sonographers

2502.334.1070,920

Nuclear medicine technologists

502.038.0379,090

Radiologic technologists and technicians

6002.031.0164,500

Magnetic resonance imaging technologists

1302.534.3771,500

Paramedics

2201.621.9545,650

Dietetic technicians

501.517.5336,460

Pharmacy technicians

9301.518.9939,510

Psychiatric technicians

6304.727.0156,170

Surgical technologists

3502.224.0550,020

Veterinary technologists and technicians

1600.918.3238,100

Ophthalmic medical technicians

1501.622.4746,730

Licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses

5900.626.6255,380

Medical records specialists

3101.225.4752,980

Opticians, dispensing

1101.119.7941,170

Orthotists and prosthetists

403.035.1273,050

Health technologists and technicians, all other

4902.425.0252,040

Health information technologists and medical registrars

601.227.1256,400

Athletic trainers

1203.1(5)59,540

Healthcare practitioners and technical workers, all other

801.330.7864,030

Footnotes:
(1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Ann Arbor, MI Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_11460.htm.
(2) Estimates for detailed occupations may not sum to the totals due to rounding, and because the totals may include occupations that are 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) Wages for some occupations that do not generally work year-round, full time, are reported either as hourly wages or annual salaries depending on how they are typically paid.

 

Last Modified Date: Friday, August 26, 2022