Workers in the Salt Lake City Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $21.51 in May 2012, slightly below the nationwide average of $22.01, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Regional Commissioner Stanley W. Suchman noted that, after testing for statistical significance, wages in the local area were significantly higher than their respective national averages in 5 of the 22 major occupational groups, including sales and related, transportation and material moving, and personal care and service. Thirteen groups had significantly lower wages than their respective national averages, including life, physical, and social science; computer and mathematical; and management.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 7 of the 22 occupational groups, including office and administrative support, construction and extraction, and computer and mathematical. Conversely, 10 groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including food preparation and serving related; education, training, and library; and personal care and service. (See table A and box note at end of release.)

Table A. Occupational employment and wages by major occupational group, United States and the Salt Lake City Metropolitan Statistical Area, and measures of statistical significance, May 2012

Major occupational group	Percent of total employment		Mean hourly wage
	United States	Salt Lake City	United States	Salt Lake City	Percent difference (1)
Total, all occupations	100.0%	100.0%	$22.01	$21.51*	-2
Management	4.9	4.9	52.20	48.25*	-8
Business and financial operations	4.9	5.3*	33.44	30.49*	-9
Computer and mathematical	2.7	3.4*	38.55	34.12*	-11
Architecture and engineering	1.8	2.2*	37.98	35.11*	-8
Life, physical, and social science	0.8	0.8*	32.87	28.15*	-14
Community and social services	1.4	1.0*	21.27	20.40*	-4
Legal	0.8	0.9*	47.39	45.36	-4
Education, training, and library	6.4	5.2*	24.62	21.33*	-13
Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media	1.3	1.6*	26.20	22.79*	-13
Healthcare practitioner and technical	5.9	5.0*	35.35	36.03	2
Healthcare support	3.0	2.3*	13.36	12.62*	-6
Protective service	2.5	2.4	20.70	18.37*	-11
Food preparation and serving related	8.9	7.1*	10.28	10.46	2
Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance	3.3	3.1*	12.34	11.25*	-9
Personal care and service	2.9	1.9*	11.80	12.49*	6
Sales and related	10.6	11.1	18.26	19.98*	9
Office and administrative support	16.4	19.8*	16.54	15.66*	-5
Farming, fishing, and forestry	0.3	0.1*	11.65	14.56*	25
Construction and extraction	3.8	5.6*	21.61	19.69*	-9
Installation, maintenance, and repair	3.9	3.9	21.09	21.66*	3
Production	6.6	6.1*	16.59	16.45	-1
Transportation and material moving	6.7	6.5	16.15	17.58*	9
Footnotes: (1) A positive percent difference measures how much the mean wage in Salt Lake City is above the national mean wage, while a negative difference reflects a lower wage. * The percent share of employment or mean hourly wage for this area is significantly different from the national average of all areas at the 90-percent confidence level.

One occupational group—office and administrative support—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Salt Lake City had 122,960 jobs in office and administrative support, accounting for 19.8 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 16.4-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $15.66, measurably below the national wage of $16.54.

With employment of 22,670, customer service representatives was the largest occupation within the office and administrative support group, followed by general office clerks (14,680) and secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive (10,110). Among the higher paying jobs were postal service mail carriers and postal service clerks, with mean hourly wages of $25.78 and $24.15, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were mail clerks and mail machine operators, except postal service ($10.42) and hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks ($10.55). (Detailed occupational data for office and administrative support are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/2012/may/oes_41620.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 Salt Lake City Metropolitan Statistical Area, above average concentrations of employment were found in some of the occupations within the office and administrative support group. For instance, data entry keyers were employed at 2.3 times the national rate in Salt Lake City, and customer service representatives at 2.1 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks had a location quotient of 1.0 in Salt Lake City, indicating that this particular occupation’s local and national employment shares were similar.

These statistics are from the Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) survey, a federal-state cooperative program between BLS and State Workforce Agencies, in this case, the Utah Department of Workforce Services.

With the release of the May 2012 estimates, OES data are based on the 2010 Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) system for the first time. The OES survey provides estimates of employment and hourly and annual wages for wage and salary workers in 22 major occupational groups and more than 800 detailed occupations for the nation, states, metropolitan statistical areas, metropolitan divisions, and nonmetropolitan areas. In addition, employment and wage estimates for 94 minor groups and 458 broad occupations are available in the national data for the first time. Information about the 2010 SOC is available on the BLS website at www.bls.gov/soc.

The May 2012 OES estimates are the first to be produced using the 2012 North American Industry Classification System (NAICS). Information about the 2012 NAICS is available on the BLS website at www.bls.gov/bls/naics.htm.

Technical Note

The Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) survey is a semiannual mail survey measuring occupational employment and wage rates for wage and salary workers in nonfarm establishments in the United States. Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands are also surveyed, but their data are not included in the national estimates. OES estimates are constructed from a sample of about 1.2 million establishments. Forms are mailed to approximately 200,000 sampled establishments in May and November each year for a 3-year period. May 2012 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected in May 2012, November 2011, May 2011, November 2010, May 2010, and November 2009. The overall national response rate for the six panels is 76.6 percent based on establishments and 72.9 percent based on employment. The sample in the Salt Lake City Metropolitan Statistical Area included 4,594 establishments with a response rate of 76 percent. For more information about OES concepts and methodology, go to www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.tn.htm.

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 Salt Lake City, Utah Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Salt Lake, Summit, and Tooele Counties.

Additional information

OES data are available on our regional web page at www.bls.gov/regions/mountain-plains/home.htm. Answers to frequently asked questions about the OES data are available at www.bls.gov/oes/oes_ques.htm. Detailed technical information about the OES survey is available in our Survey Methods and Reliability Statement on the BLS website at www.bls.gov/oes/2012/may/methods_statement.pdf. Information in this release will be made available to sensory impaired individuals upon request – Voice phone: 202-691-5200; Federal Relay Service: 1-800-877-8339.

 

Table 1. Employment and wage data from the Occupational Employment Statistics survey, by occupation, Salt Lake City Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2012

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual(4)
Office and Administrative Support Occupations	122,960	1.2	$15.66	$32,580
First-Line Supervisors of Office and Administrative Support Workers	8,970	1.4	23.48	48,850
Switchboard Operators, Including Answering Service	330	0.6	13.24	27,550
Telephone Operators	250	4.9	12.24	25,460
Bill and Account Collectors	2,610	1.4	17.36	36,100
Billing and Posting Clerks	1,980	0.9	16.13	33,540
Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks	7,320	1.0	16.41	34,130
Payroll and Timekeeping Clerks	670	0.8	18.29	38,050
Procurement Clerks	420	1.3	17.41	36,210
Tellers	2,670	1.0	11.30	23,500
Financial Clerks, All Other	(5)	(5)	16.79	34,910
Brokerage Clerks	290	1.0	20.63	42,910
Correspondence Clerks	(5)	(5)	18.37	38,210
Court, Municipal, and License Clerks	430	0.7	15.15	31,510
Credit Authorizers, Checkers, and Clerks	370	1.5	17.09	35,540
Customer Service Representatives	22,670	2.1	15.04	31,280
Eligibility Interviewers, Government Programs	730	1.2	17.60	36,610
File Clerks	650	0.9	13.48	28,050
Hotel, Motel, and Resort Desk Clerks	1,030	0.9	10.55	21,950
Interviewers, Except Eligibility and Loan	990	1.1	12.93	26,890
Library Assistants, Clerical	370	0.8	10.77	22,400
Loan Interviewers and Clerks	1,590	1.7	16.49	34,300
New Accounts Clerks	150	0.6	13.92	28,960
Order Clerks	1,170	1.2	14.33	29,810
Human Resources Assistants, Except Payroll and Timekeeping	570	0.9	17.06	35,480
Receptionists and Information Clerks	4,910	1.1	12.07	25,110
Reservation and Transportation Ticket Agents and Travel Clerks	3,900	6.0	15.59	32,430
Information and Record Clerks, All Other	490	0.6	18.73	38,960
Cargo and Freight Agents	(5)	(5)	14.17	29,470
Couriers and Messengers	340	0.9	11.22	23,340
Police, Fire, and Ambulance Dispatchers	460	1.0	16.77	34,880
Dispatchers, Except Police, Fire, and Ambulance	1,090	1.2	18.49	38,460
Meter Readers, Utilities	100	0.5	22.60	47,010
Postal Service Clerks	210	0.6	24.15	50,230
Postal Service Mail Carriers	890	0.6	25.78	53,620
Postal Service Mail Sorters, Processors, and Processing Machine Operators	530	0.8	23.22	48,310
Production, Planning, and Expediting Clerks	1,420	1.1	22.12	46,010
Shipping, Receiving, and Traffic Clerks	3,260	1.0	14.28	29,690
Stock Clerks and Order Fillers	8,010	0.9	11.60	24,120
Weighers, Measurers, Checkers, and Samplers, Recordkeeping	420	1.3	15.14	31,500
Executive Secretaries and Executive Administrative Assistants	4,540	1.2	21.28	44,270
Legal Secretaries	1,030	1.0	19.22	39,990
Medical Secretaries	2,240	0.9	14.70	30,580
Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive	10,110	1.0	15.63	32,510
Computer Operators	500	1.5	15.10	31,410
Data Entry Keyers	2,270	2.3	14.87	30,920
Word Processors and Typists	280	0.6	14.19	29,520
Desktop Publishers	50	0.6	18.09	37,630
Insurance Claims and Policy Processing Clerks	1,610	1.5	16.30	33,900
Mail Clerks and Mail Machine Operators, Except Postal Service	650	1.3	10.42	21,670
Office Clerks, General	14,680	1.1	12.75	26,520
Office Machine Operators, Except Computer	350	1.1	12.34	25,660
Proofreaders and Copy Markers	210	3.8	15.33	31,880
Statistical Assistants	70	1.0	19.01	39,530
Office and Administrative Support Workers, All Other	680	0.6	15.34	31,900
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in Salt Lake City, UT, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_41620.htm. (2) Estimates for detailed occupations do not sum to the totals because the totals include occupations 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.