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News Release Information

24-1306-CHI
Wednesday, July 10, 2024

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

Occupational Employment and Wages in Omaha-Council Bluffs — May 2023

Workers in the Omaha-Council Bluffs, NE-IA Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $29.34 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 ($57.93), legal ($53.62), and healthcare practitioners and technical ($46.91). Lower paying occupations included food preparation and serving related ($16.03), personal care and service ($16.63), and building and grounds cleaning and maintenance ($17.59). (See table A.)

Occupational groups with the highest employment in the Omaha area included office and administrative support (12.1 percent), food preparation and serving related (9.3 percent), and sales and related (9.0 percent). Major occupational groups on the lower end of local employment included legal (0.7 percent); life, physical, and social science (0.7 percent); and arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media (1.2 percent). (See table A.)

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

Total, all occupations

100.0100.031.4829.34

Management

6.97.866.2357.93

Business and financial operations

6.66.643.5536.48

Computer and mathematical

3.44.054.3946.81

Architecture and engineering

1.71.247.6441.31

Life, physical, and social science

0.90.742.2434.29

Community and social service

1.61.428.3624.97

Legal

0.80.764.3453.62

Educational instruction and library

5.85.431.9232.36

Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media

1.41.236.3128.14

Healthcare practitioners and technical

6.16.649.0746.91

Healthcare support

4.73.718.3718.78

Protective service

2.31.727.7428.82

Food preparation and serving related

8.79.316.5816.03

Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance

2.92.818.4317.59

Personal care and service

2.02.818.4816.63

Sales and related

8.89.025.6223.10

Office and administrative support

12.212.123.0521.81

Farming, fishing, and forestry

0.30.119.2221.46

Construction and extraction

4.15.129.5728.09

Installation, maintenance, and repair

3.93.828.1327.41

Production

5.85.322.9022.19

Transportation and material moving

9.18.622.4521.40

One occupational group—office and administrative support—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Omaha had 58,590 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 $21.81, 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 (9,840), secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive (6,480), and first-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers (5,050). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were meter readers, utilities and executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants, with mean hourly wages of $36.35 and $31.62, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were library assistants, clerical ($13.97) and hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks ($14.50). (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_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 some of the occupations within the office and administrative support group. For instance, interviewers, except eligibility and loan were employed at 2.2 times the national rate in Omaha, and reservation and transportation ticket agents and travel clerks, at 1.7 times the U.S. average. Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks had a location quotient of 1.0 in Omaha, 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 Nebraska Department of Labor and Iowa 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 Omaha-Council Bluffs, NE-IA Metropolitan Statistical Area included 4,030 establishments with a response rate of 68 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 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, 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, Omaha metropolitan area, May 2023
Occupation (1)EmploymentMean wages ($)
Level (2)Location quotient (3)HourlyAnnual (4)

Office and administrative support occupations

58,5901.021.8145,370

First-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers

5,0501.129.9562,290

Switchboard operators, including answering service

1100.818.6738,830

Bill and account collectors

4500.720.3642,340

Billing and posting clerks

2,1101.522.0545,860

Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks

4,8001.023.7149,310

Gambling cage workers

401.017.0035,350

Payroll and timekeeping clerks

5301.125.7453,540

Procurement clerks

4002.022.7947,410

Tellers

1,3601.318.2838,030

Financial clerks, all other

500.427.1956,550

Brokerage clerks

2001.324.7251,420

Court, municipal, and license clerks

2200.426.1254,330

Credit authorizers, checkers, and clerks

1002.224.6951,360

Customer service representatives

9,8401.120.0241,630

Eligibility interviewers, government programs

1400.325.5253,080

File clerks

3401.319.0939,700

Hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks

8201.014.5030,170

Interviewers, except eligibility and loan

1,1002.217.6536,710

Library assistants, clerical

1400.513.9729,050

Loan interviewers and clerks

4400.722.4646,710

New accounts clerks

3903.022.4446,670

Order clerks

3301.119.2940,130

Human resources assistants, except payroll and timekeeping

2900.922.4746,740

Receptionists and information clerks

2,8300.917.2135,800

Reservation and transportation ticket agents and travel clerks

6501.717.5236,450

Information and record clerks, all other

3700.822.0645,880

Cargo and freight agents

4101.227.3056,790

Couriers and messengers

1700.816.6734,660

Public safety telecommunicators

1700.525.9854,040

Dispatchers, except police, fire, and ambulance

6601.024.7351,450

Meter readers, utilities

701.136.3575,600

Postal service clerks

2100.927.9658,160

Postal service mail carriers

9600.929.2560,830

Postal service mail sorters, processors, and processing machine operators

5901.627.2656,690

Production, planning, and expediting clerks

8900.724.3150,570

Shipping, receiving, and inventory clerks

2,5701.019.9141,420

Weighers, measurers, checkers, and samplers, recordkeeping

1200.722.4046,590

Executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants

1,2000.831.6265,780

Legal secretaries and administrative assistants

7701.623.5048,880

Medical secretaries and administrative assistants

2,3801.020.4142,450

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

6,4801.120.9743,610

Data entry keyers

3700.819.0339,570

Word processors and typists

800.721.5644,840

Insurance claims and policy processing clerks

1,1901.523.4048,660

Mail clerks and mail machine operators, except postal service

3801.818.2237,900

Office clerks, general

4,4300.618.6238,720

Office machine operators, except computer

600.717.2435,860

Statistical assistants

1104.824.2250,380

Office and administrative support workers, all other

1,1802.215.5432,320

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.

 

Last Modified Date: Wednesday, July 10, 2024