Department of Labor Logo United States Department of Labor
Dot gov

The .gov means it's official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you're on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

News Release Information

24-1287-CHI
Monday, July 22, 2024

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

Occupational Employment and Wages in Madison — May 2023

Workers in the Madison, WI Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $31.74 in May 2023, compared to the nationwide average of $31.48, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Jason Palmer noted that higher paying major occupational groups included management ($67.62), legal ($57.75), and healthcare practitioners and technical ($53.76). Lower paying occupations included food preparation and serving related ($15.53), building and grounds cleaning and maintenance ($18.41), and personal care and service ($18.69). (See table A.)

Occupational groups with the highest employment in the Madison area included office and administrative support (12.1 percent), sales and related (8.6 percent), and food preparation and serving related (8.1 percent). Major occupational groups on the lower end of local employment included legal (0.7 percent); protective service (1.4 percent); and arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media (1.6 percent). (See table A.)

Table A. Occupational employment and wages by major occupational group, United States and the Madison metropolitan area, May 2023
Major occupational groupPercent of total employmentMean hourly wage ($)
United StatesMadisonUnited StatesMadison

Total, all occupations

100.0100.031.4831.74

Management

6.95.466.2367.62

Business and financial operations

6.67.943.5539.76

Computer and mathematical

3.45.454.3945.17

Architecture and engineering

1.72.147.6441.93

Life, physical, and social science

0.92.242.2437.93

Community and social service

1.61.628.3629.11

Legal

0.80.764.3457.75

Educational instruction and library

5.86.531.9233.26

Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media

1.41.636.3129.16

Healthcare practitioners and technical

6.17.049.0753.76

Healthcare support

4.73.918.3719.31

Protective service

2.31.427.7430.21

Food preparation and serving related

8.78.116.5815.53

Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance

2.92.818.4318.41

Personal care and service

2.01.718.4818.69

Sales and related

8.88.625.6225.43

Office and administrative support

12.212.123.0523.07

Farming, fishing, and forestry

0.30.219.2219.31

Construction and extraction

4.13.629.5731.83

Installation, maintenance, and repair

3.93.428.1329.04

Production

5.86.522.9023.24

Transportation and material moving

9.17.122.4521.28

One occupational group—office and administrative support—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Madison had 47,900 jobs in office and administrative support, accounting for 12.1 percent of local area employment, compared to the 12.2-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $23.07, compared to the national wage of $23.05.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the office and administrative support group included customer service representatives (7,950), office clerks, general (6,470), and secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive (4,720). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were first-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers and executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants, with mean hourly wages of $34.47 and $31.00, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks ($15.82) and mail clerks and mail machine operators, except postal service ($16.75). (Detailed data for the office and administrative support occupations are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_31540.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 Madison area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in some of the occupations within the office and administrative support group. For instance, couriers and messengers were employed at 2.6 times the national rate in Madison, and data entry keyers, at 1.6 times the U.S. average. Secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive had a location quotient of 1.0 in Madison, indicating that this particular occupation’s local and national employment shares were similar.

The statistics in this release are from the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey, a cooperative effort between BLS and the State Workforce Agencies (SWAs). BLS funds the survey and provides the procedures and technical support. State Workforce Agencies collect most of the data: in this case, the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development.


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. Full OEWS data tables are available online.

Additional information about the OEWS estimates and methodology are available in the national Technical Notes. The overall national response rate for the six panels, based on the 50 states and the District of Columbia, is 65.8 percent based on establishments and 64.3 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The sample in the Madison, WI Metropolitan Statistical Area included 2,980 establishments with a response rate of 65 percent.

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 Madison, WI Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Columbia County, Dane County, Green County, and Iowa County.

For more information

Answers to frequently asked questions about the OEWS data, as well as general program documentation, are available on the OEWS website.

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 office and administrative support occupations, Madison metropolitan area, May 2023
Occupation (1)EmploymentMean wages ($)
Level (2)Location quotient (3)HourlyAnnual (4)

Office and administrative support occupations

47,9001.023.0747,990

First-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers

3,7901.034.4771,700

Switchboard operators, including answering service

900.818.7639,020

Bill and account collectors

3900.822.0945,960

Billing and posting clerks

1,1701.022.7647,340

Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks

4,5701.223.9749,860

Payroll and timekeeping clerks

3800.926.8055,750

Procurement clerks

1801.122.2146,190

Tellers

1,1301.319.0139,530

Financial clerks, all other

600.522.6947,190

Brokerage clerks

400.327.1856,530

Court, municipal, and license clerks

1700.428.6159,500

Customer service representatives

7,9501.121.6945,110

Eligibility interviewers, government programs

2600.728.5459,350

File clerks

3401.620.5442,730

Hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks

6601.015.8232,910

Library assistants, clerical

2201.017.8137,040

Loan interviewers and clerks

6701.322.7847,390

New accounts clerks

2602.422.7247,250

Order clerks

1200.519.9241,440

Human resources assistants, except payroll and timekeeping

2801.122.7747,360

Receptionists and information clerks

3,6901.418.3138,070

Reservation and transportation ticket agents and travel clerks

(5)(5)20.7943,240

Information and record clerks, all other

2500.622.6947,200

Cargo and freight agents

600.228.2558,750

Couriers and messengers

4802.617.6336,680

Public safety telecommunicators

1900.728.0058,240

Dispatchers, except police, fire, and ambulance

3400.623.5548,990

Postal service clerks

1500.727.9858,190

Postal service mail carriers

7000.829.0760,460

Postal service mail sorters, processors, and processing machine operators

2300.828.3859,020

Production, planning, and expediting clerks

8300.826.8955,930

Shipping, receiving, and inventory clerks

2,0901.020.4342,490

Weighers, measurers, checkers, and samplers, recordkeeping

400.324.1550,230

Executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants

9000.731.0064,470

Legal secretaries and administrative assistants

3100.822.9347,690

Medical secretaries and administrative assistants

8900.522.7747,360

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

4,7201.022.9847,790

Data entry keyers

6501.617.8437,110

Word processors and typists

800.823.4248,710

Insurance claims and policy processing clerks

9401.525.0452,070

Mail clerks and mail machine operators, except postal service

1400.816.7534,840

Office clerks, general

6,4701.020.7643,190

Office machine operators, except computer

701.020.8543,370

Proofreaders and copy markers

302.226.2054,500

Office and administrative support workers, all other

7201.622.6747,140

Footnotes:
(1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Madison, WI Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_31540.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) Estimate not released.

 

Last Modified Date: Monday, July 22, 2024