Workers in the Ogden-Clearfield Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $20.01 in May 2015, about 14 percent below the nationwide average of $23.23, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Assistant Commissioner for Regional Operations Stanley W. Suchman noted that, after testing for statistical significance, wages in the local area were significantly lower in 18 of the 22 major occupational groups, including legal; management; and arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 5 of the 22 occupational groups, including production; construction and extraction; and architecture and engineering. Conversely, 11 groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including healthcare practitioners and technical; food preparation and serving related; and computer and mathematical. (See table A and box note at end of release.)

One occupational group—production—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Ogden-Clearfield had 21,140 jobs in production, accounting for 9.0 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 6.6-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $17.23, compared to the national wage of $17.41.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the production group included team assemblers (4,800), first-line supervisors of production and operating workers (1,480), and welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers (1,400). Among the higher paying jobs were tool and die makers, as well as first-line supervisors of production and operating workers, with mean hourly wages of $28.61 and $28.29, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were laundry and dry-cleaning workers ($10.34). (Detailed occupational data for production are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/2015/may/oes_36260.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 Ogden-Clearfield Metropolitan Statistical Area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the production group. For instance, metal and plastic molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders were employed at 3.9 times the national rate in Ogden, and mixing and blending machine setters, operators, and tenders, at 3.1 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, metal and plastic cutting, punching, and press machine setters, operators, and tenders had a location quotient of 1.1 in Ogden, 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.

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. The OES program produces employment and wage estimates for over 800 occupations for all industries combined in the nation; the 50 states and the District of Columbia; 432 metropolitan areas and divisions; 167 nonmetropolitan areas; and Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. National estimates are also available by industry for NAICS sectors, 3-, 4-, and selected 5- and 6-digit industries, and by ownership across all industries and for schools and hospitals. OES data are available at www.bls.gov/oes/tables.htm.

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 2015 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2015, November 2014, May 2014, November 2013, May 2013, and November 2012. The overall national response rate for the six panels is 73.5 percent based on establishments and 69.6 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The unweighted employment of sampled establishments across all six semiannual panels represents approximately 57.9 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 Ogden-Clearfield Metropolitan Statistical Area included 2,529 establishments with a response rate of 78 percent. For more information about OES concepts and methodology, go to www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.tn.htm.

The May 2015 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.

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 Ogden-Clearfield, Utah Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Box Elder, Davis, Morgan and Weber 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/2015/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, Ogden-Clearfield Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2015

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Production Occupations	21,140	1.4	$17.23	$35,830
First-Line Supervisors of Production and Operating Workers	1,480	1.5	28.29	58,850
Aircraft Structure, Surfaces, Rigging, and Systems Assemblers	40	0.6	18.68	38,860
Electrical and Electronic Equipment Assemblers	100	0.3	14.87	30,920
Structural Metal Fabricators and Fitters	320	2.4	16.40	34,110
Team Assemblers	4,800	2.5	14.67	30,510
Assemblers and Fabricators, All Other	160	0.4	11.88	24,720
Bakers	390	1.3	12.32	25,620
Butchers and Meat Cutters	130	0.6	14.96	31,120
Meat, Poultry, and Fish Cutters and Trimmers	190	0.7	12.94	26,910
Slaughterers and Meat Packers	50	0.4	12.55	26,110
Food Batchmakers	630	2.8	15.71	32,680
Computer-Controlled Machine Tool Operators, Metal and Plastic	360	1.5	18.26	37,980
Extruding and Drawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	40	0.3	18.90	39,320
Forging Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	40	1.2	14.65	30,470
Rolling Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	50	1.0	15.50	32,230
Cutting, Punching, and Press Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	350	1.1	16.07	33,420
Grinding, Lapping, Polishing, and Buffing Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	110	0.9	14.61	30,400
Lathe and Turning Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	(5)	(5)	15.19	31,590
Milling and Planing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	60	1.7	17.77	36,960
Machinists	1,040	1.5	23.65	49,200
Molding, Coremaking, and Casting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	900	3.9	17.01	35,370
Tool and Die Makers	90	0.8	28.61	59,500
Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers	1,400	2.1	18.76	39,030
Welding, Soldering, and Brazing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders	30	0.4	21.78	45,290
Heat Treating Equipment Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	90	2.7	15.59	32,420
Layout Workers, Metal and Plastic	40	2.0	28.79	59,870
Metal Workers and Plastic Workers, All Other	(5)	(5)	12.49	25,980
Prepress Technicians and Workers	60	1.0	19.56	40,690
Printing Press Operators	200	0.7	15.97	33,220
Print Binding and Finishing Workers	110	1.2	13.15	27,350
Laundry and Dry-Cleaning Workers	410	1.2	10.34	21,500
Sewing Machine Operators	80	0.3	11.33	23,580
Cabinetmakers and Bench Carpenters	220	1.4	15.26	31,740
Woodworking Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Except Sawing	90	0.7	12.54	26,090
Stationary Engineers and Boiler Operators	50	0.9	24.42	50,790
Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant and System Operators	290	1.5	22.75	47,320
Petroleum Pump System Operators, Refinery Operators, and Gaugers	200	2.8	29.59	61,560
Plant and System Operators, All Other	(5)	(5)	27.90	58,040
Chemical Equipment Operators and Tenders	260	2.3	22.66	47,140
Crushing, Grinding, and Polishing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders	(5)	(5)	12.92	26,870
Grinding and Polishing Workers, Hand	60	1.2	14.64	30,460
Mixing and Blending Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders	670	3.1	14.83	30,840
Cutters and Trimmers, Hand	90	3.2	15.24	31,700
Cutting and Slicing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders	90	0.8	14.62	30,400
Extruding, Forming, Pressing, and Compacting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders	80	0.7	16.83	35,010
Inspectors, Testers, Sorters, Samplers, and Weighers	1,160	1.3	19.39	40,330
Dental Laboratory Technicians	70	1.0	21.21	44,110
Packaging and Filling Machine Operators and Tenders	1,290	2.0	13.56	28,210
Coating, Painting, and Spraying Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders	230	1.5	15.20	31,610
Photographic Process Workers and Processing Machine Operators	40	0.9	16.12	33,530
Cleaning, Washing, and Metal Pickling Equipment Operators and Tenders	(5)	(5)	11.69	24,320
Molders, Shapers, and Casters, Except Metal and Plastic	190	2.9	20.68	43,010
Helpers--Production Workers	470	0.6	11.34	23,590
Production Workers, All Other	260	0.6	10.89	22,650
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Ogden-Clearfield, UT Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_36260.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.