Workers in the Billings Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $20.03 in May 2014, about 12 percent below the nationwide average of $22.71, 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 higher than their respective national averages in 2 of the 22 major occupational groups: production; and transportation and material moving. Thirteen groups had significantly lower wages than their respective national averages, including legal; management; and computer and mathematical.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 7 of the 22 occupational groups, including sales and related; healthcare practitioners and technical; and construction and extraction. Conversely, nine groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including production; education, training, and library; and management. (See table A and box note at end of release.)

One occupational group—healthcare practitioners and technical—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Billings had 6,310 jobs in healthcare practitioners and technical, accounting for 7.8 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 5.8-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $36.55, similar to the national wage of $36.54.

Some of the largest detailed occupations within the healthcare practitioners and technical group included registered nurses (2,030), licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses (600), and medical records and health information technicians (310). Among the higher paying jobs were pharmacists and physician assistants, with mean hourly wages of $55.31 and $45.03, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were psychiatric technicians ($12.94) and veterinary technologists and technicians ($14.29). (Detailed occupational data for healthcare practitioners and technical are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/2014/may/oes_13740.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 Billings Metropolitan Statistical Area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the healthcare practitioners and technical group. For instance, occupational health and safety specialists were employed at 3.9 times the national rate in Billings, and psychiatric technicians, at 3.1 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, pharmacy technicians had a location quotient of 1.1 in Billings, 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 Montana Department of Labor and Industry.

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. May 2014 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2014, November 2013, May 2013, November 2012, May 2012, and November 2011. The overall national response rate for the six panels is 74.3 percent based on establishments and 70.5 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The unweighted employment of sampled establishments across all six semiannual panels represents approximately 57.1 percent of total national employment. (Response rates are slightly lower for these estimates due to the federal shutdown in October 2013.) The sample in the Billings Metropolitan Statistical Area included 1,475 establishments with a response rate of 80 percent. For more information about OES concepts and methodology, go to www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.tn.htm.

The OES survey provides estimates of employment and hourly and annual wages for wage and salary workers in 22 major occupational groups and 821 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. OES data by state and metropolitan/nonmetropolitan area are available from www.bls.gov/oes/current/oessrcst.htm and www.bls.gov/oes/current/oessrcma.htm, respectively.

The May 2014 OES estimates are based on the 2010 Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) system and the 2012 North American Industry Classification System (NAICS). Information about the 2010 SOC is available on the BLS website at www.bls.gov/soc and information about the 2012 NAICS is available at www.bls.gov/bls/naics.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 Billings, Mont. Metropolitan Statistical Area  includes Carbon and Yellowstone Counties.

Additional information

OES data are available on our regional web page at www.bls.gov/regions/mountain-plains. 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/2014/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: 800-877-8339.

Table 1. Employment and wage data from the Occupational Employment Statistics survey, by occupation, Billings Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2014

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations	6,310	1.3	$36.55	$76,030
Dentists, General	120	2.0	73.25	152,350
Optometrists	40	2.1	42.42	88,230
Pharmacists	220	1.3	55.31	115,050
Obstetricians and Gynecologists	40	2.7	115.21	239,640
Physicians and Surgeons, All Other	190	1.0	118.11	245,680
Physician Assistants	100	1.9	45.03	93,670
Occupational Therapists	70	1.0	31.11	64,710
Physical Therapists	130	1.1	35.01	72,820
Respiratory Therapists	100	1.3	25.18	52,370
Speech-Language Pathologists	80	1.0	34.99	72,780
Veterinarians	60	1.5	40.44	84,110
Registered Nurses	2,030	1.3	31.34	65,180
Nurse Practitioners	90	1.2	46.99	97,730
Medical and Clinical Laboratory Technologists	110	1.1	30.39	63,220
Medical and Clinical Laboratory Technicians	100	1.0	19.77	41,120
Dental Hygienists	160	1.4	31.94	66,430
Diagnostic Medical Sonographers	40	1.1	31.44	65,400
Radiologic Technologists	160	1.4	25.83	53,720
Pharmacy Technicians	250	1.1	15.96	33,200
Psychiatric Technicians	120	3.1	12.94	26,930
Veterinary Technologists and Technicians	90	1.6	14.29	29,720
Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses	600	1.4	19.04	39,600
Medical Records and Health Information Technicians	310	2.8	19.41	40,380
Opticians, Dispensing	(5)	(5)	15.11	31,430
Health Technologists and Technicians, All Other	(5)	(5)	19.76	41,100
Occupational Health and Safety Specialists	150	3.9	35.24	73,300
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in Billings, MT, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_13740.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.