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News Release Information

23-1187-CHI
Friday, July 14, 2023

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

Occupational Employment and Wages in Omaha-Council Bluffs — May 2022

Workers in the Omaha-Council Bluffs, NE-IA Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $27.89 in May 2022, 6 percent below the nationwide average of $29.76, 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 lower than their respective national averages in 17 of the 22 major occupational groups, including legal; arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media; and management. Two groups had significantly higher wages than their respective national averages, including transportation and material moving.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, Omaha area employment was more highly concentrated in 8 of the 22 occupational groups, including management, computer and mathematical, and construction and extraction. Eleven groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including healthcare support, production, and transportation and material moving. (See table A.)

Table A. Occupational employment and wages by major occupational group, United States and the Omaha metropolitan area, and measures of statistical significance, May 2022
Major occupational groupPercent of total employmentMean hourly wage
United StatesOmahaUnited StatesOmahaPercent difference (1)

Total, all occupations

100.0100.0$29.76$27.89*-6

Management

6.77.7*63.0854.57*-13

Business and financial operations

6.56.3*41.3935.76*-14

Computer and mathematical

3.44.2*51.9943.84*-16

Architecture and engineering

1.71.2*45.5239.88*-12

Life, physical, and social science

0.90.8*40.2133.21*-17

Community and social service

1.61.4*26.8123.45*-13

Legal

0.80.7*59.8748.08*-20

Educational instruction and library

5.75.5*30.4127.39*-10

Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media

1.41.336.7826.70*-27

Healthcare practitioners and technical

6.16.4*46.5247.953

Healthcare support

4.63.6*17.1017.311

Protective service

2.31.7*25.9726.121

Food preparation and serving related

8.58.8*15.4514.43*-7

Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance

2.93.017.2616.42*-5

Personal care and service

1.92.6*17.4116.09*-8

Sales and related

8.99.2*24.2222.69*-6

Office and administrative support

12.613.1*21.9020.51*-6

Farming, fishing, and forestry

0.30.1*18.2120.65*13

Construction and extraction

4.14.9*28.0826.17*-7

Installation, maintenance, and repair

3.93.926.7725.80*-4

Production

5.95.1*21.8120.58*-6

Transportation and material moving

9.28.4*21.1222.24*5

Footnotes:
(1) A positive percent difference measures how much the mean wage in the Omaha-Council Bluffs, NE-IA 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—management—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Omaha had 36,250 jobs in management, accounting for 7.7 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 6.7-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $54.57, significantly below the national wage of $63.08.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the management group included general and operations managers (10,260), financial managers (2,960), and computer and information systems managers (2,650). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were chief executives and architectural and engineering managers, with mean hourly wages of $128.21 and $67.25, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were education and childcare administrators, preschool and daycare ($27.88) and lodging managers ($30.07). (Detailed data for the management occupations are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_36540.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 Omaha area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the management group. For instance, chief executives were employed at 1.9 times the national rate in Omaha, and administrative services managers, at 1.9 times the U.S. average. Property, real estate, and community association managers had a location quotient of 1.0 in Omaha, 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 Nebraska Department of Labor, and Iowa Workforce Development.

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

The May 2022 OEWS estimates use the model-based (MB3) estimation method implemented with the May 2021 estimates release. Additional updates were made to the MB3 wage processing methodology for May 2022. For more information, see the May 2022 Survey Methods and Reliability Statement.

The May 2022 estimates are the first OEWS estimates to be produced using the 2022 NAICS, which replaces the 2017 NAICS used for the May 2017-May 2021 estimates. See North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) at BLS for details.


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 2022 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2022, November 2021, May 2021, November 2020, May 2020, and November 2019. The unweighted sampled employment of 80 million across all six semiannual panels represents approximately 57 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 65.4 percent based on establishments and 62.5 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The sample in the Omaha-Council Bluffs, NE-IA Metropolitan Statistical Area included 3,991 establishments with a response rate of 66 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 Omaha-Council Bluffs, NE-IA Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Harrison County, IA; Mills County, IA; Pottawattamie County, IA; Cass County, NE; Douglas County, NE; Sarpy County, NE; Saunders County, NE; and Washington County, NE.

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 management occupations, Omaha metropolitan area, May 2022
Occupation (1)EmploymentMean wages
Level (2)Location quotient (3)HourlyAnnual (4)

Management occupations

36,2501.2$54.57$113,500

Chief executives

1,2301.9128.21266,670

General and operations managers

10,2601.047.4298,640

Legislators

1100.8(6)73,420

Advertising and promotions managers

1101.645.7395,110

Marketing managers

1,2301.258.09120,820

Sales managers

1,8201.163.06131,160

Public relations managers

2201.157.73120,070

Fundraising managers

1902.353.74111,770

Administrative services managers

1,4001.950.02104,030

Facilities managers

5901.647.2898,340

Computer and information systems managers

2,6501.661.73128,400

Financial managers

2,9601.365.55136,350

Industrial production managers

6100.950.73105,520

Purchasing managers

2501.062.14129,240

Transportation, storage, and distribution managers

5301.051.73107,590

Compensation and benefits managers

1001.853.75111,800

Human resources managers

8001.459.11122,960

Training and development managers

2301.852.51109,220

Farmers, ranchers, and other agricultural managers

301.644.3892,300

Construction managers

1,5201.643.5790,620

Education and childcare administrators, preschool and daycare

3001.627.8858,000

Education administrators, kindergarten through secondary

8200.9(6)104,120

Education administrators, postsecondary

6401.250.31104,640

Architectural and engineering managers

6801.167.25139,880

Food service managers

9101.231.3165,120

Entertainment and recreation managers, except gambling

801.135.7474,340

Lodging managers

1401.130.0762,540

Medical and health services managers

2,1901.457.38119,350

Natural sciences managers

1400.555.79116,050

Property, real estate, and community association managers

8601.033.0768,790

Social and community service managers

6201.233.1668,960

Emergency management directors

401.143.7991,090

Funeral home managers

300.846.6196,960

Personal service managers, all other

903.328.1758,590

Managers, all other

1,7801.055.65115,750

Footnotes:
(1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Omaha-Council Bluffs, NE-IA Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_36540.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.
(6) 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, July 14, 2023