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News Release Information

23-993-CHI
Thursday, June 22, 2023

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

Occupational Employment and Wages in Rochester — May 2022

Workers in the Rochester, MN Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $35.41 in May 2022, 19 percent above 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 higher than their respective national averages in 9 of the 22 major occupational groups, including healthcare practitioners and technical; construction and extraction; and life, physical, and social science. Ten groups had significantly lower wages than their respective national averages, including legal; arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media; and management.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, Rochester area employment was more highly concentrated in 4 of the 22 occupational groups, including healthcare practitioners and technical; healthcare support; and life, physical, and social science. Seventeen groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including transportation and material moving, business and financial operations, and sales and related. (See table A.)

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

Total, all occupations

100.0100.0$29.76$35.41*19

Management

6.75.2*63.0854.96*-13

Business and financial operations

6.53.7*41.3938.65*-7

Computer and mathematical

3.42.0*51.9945.56*-12

Architecture and engineering

1.71.2*45.5240.46*-11

Life, physical, and social science

0.91.6*40.2143.32*8

Community and social service

1.61.9*26.8129.42*10

Legal

0.80.3*59.8745.47*-24

Educational instruction and library

5.74.9*30.4125.33*-17

Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media

1.40.8*36.7827.83*-24

Healthcare practitioners and technical

6.121.8*46.5267.99*46

Healthcare support

4.67.3*17.1019.17*12

Protective service

2.31.2*25.9728.22*9

Food preparation and serving related

8.57.4*15.4514.82*-4

Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance

2.92.2*17.2618.38*6

Personal care and service

1.91.7*17.4117.752

Sales and related

8.97.0*24.2221.11*-13

Office and administrative support

12.612.121.9022.77*4

Farming, fishing, and forestry

0.30.1*18.2118.914

Construction and extraction

4.13.6*28.0831.24*11

Installation, maintenance, and repair

3.92.9*26.7726.820

Production

5.95.1*21.8122.62*4

Transportation and material moving

9.26.0*21.1220.39*-3

Footnotes:
(1) A positive percent difference measures how much the mean wage in the Rochester, MN 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. Rochester had 25,560 jobs in healthcare practitioners and technical, accounting for 21.8 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 6.1-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $67.99, significantly above the national wage of $46.52.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the healthcare practitioners and technical group included registered nurses (6,760) and licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses (2,110). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were radiologists and physicians, pathologists, with mean hourly wages of $183.88 and $183.60, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were emergency medical technicians ($19.96) and veterinary technologists and technicians ($20.58). (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_40340.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 Rochester area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the healthcare practitioners and technical group. For instance, dermatologists were employed at 24.1 times the national rate in Rochester, and nurse midwives, at 19.0 times the U.S. average. Occupational therapists had a location quotient of 1.0 in Rochester, 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 Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic 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 Rochester, MN Metropolitan Statistical Area included 1,163 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 Rochester, MN Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Dodge County, Fillmore County, Olmsted County, and Wabasha 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, Rochester metropolitan area, May 2022
Occupation (1)EmploymentMean wages
Level (2)Location quotient (3)HourlyAnnual (4)

Healthcare practitioners and technical occupations

25,5603.6$67.99$141,420

Chiropractors

501.639.7682,710

Dentists, general

1101.183.58173,850

Dietitians and nutritionists

1402.536.6776,270

Optometrists

802.671.06147,810

Pharmacists

6302.470.75147,150

Physician assistants

1,1009.957.76120,130

Occupational therapists

1101.039.0981,310

Physical therapists

2801.641.6186,560

Respiratory therapists

900.943.1889,820

Speech-language pathologists

1401.137.0677,080

Therapists, all other

503.933.0168,660

Veterinarians

601.050.15104,310

Registered nurses

6,7602.843.3090,060

Nurse anesthetists

50013.6109.36227,470

Nurse midwives

12019.051.48107,080

Nurse practitioners

1,2105.961.03126,940

Audiologists

11010.245.4594,540

Anesthesiologists

1705.7171.16356,020

Dermatologists

22024.1(5)(5)

Emergency medicine physicians

602.6168.25349,970

Family medicine physicians

6407.9128.10266,450

Physicians, pathologists

706.7183.60381,890

Radiologists

35014.9183.88382,480

Physicians, all other

1,3005.4143.61298,700

Orthopedic surgeons, except pediatric

19012.5(7)(7)

Surgeons, all other

75036.4156.35325,210

Dental hygienists

2501.539.7882,730

Healthcare diagnosing or treating practitioners, all other

(5)(5)72.79151,400

Clinical laboratory technologists and technicians

1,1104.230.2162,830

Diagnostic medical sonographers

2604.142.9689,350

Nuclear medicine technologists

302.347.5398,870

Radiologic technologists and technicians

8104.736.4975,900

Emergency medical technicians

3102.319.9641,520

Paramedics

1702.330.4563,330

Pharmacy technicians

7001.921.6144,960

Surgical technologists

2402.930.8664,180

Veterinary technologists and technicians

1401.520.5842,800

Ophthalmic medical technicians

1502.833.0168,660

Licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses

2,1104.225.7853,620

Medical records specialists

2801.924.8251,620

Opticians, dispensing

1101.821.6144,940

Health technologists and technicians, all other

4203.328.9960,300

Health information technologists and medical registrars

1103.738.3179,680

Athletic trainers

803.5(6)54,370

Surgical assistants

1007.050.37104,760

Footnotes:
(1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Rochester, MN Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_40340.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.
(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.
(7) This wage is equal to or greater than $115.00 per hour or $239,200 per year.

 

Last Modified Date: Thursday, June 22, 2023