Workers in the Salt Lake City Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $22.88 in May 2015, similar to 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 10 of the 22 major occupational groups, including legal; management; and computer and mathematical. One group had significantly higher wages than their national averages: sales and related.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 9 of the 22 occupational groups, including office and administrative support; management; and business and financial operations. 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.)

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 128,700 jobs in office and administrative support, accounting for 19.6 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 15.8-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $16.68, significantly below the national wage of $17.47.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the office and administrative support group included customer service representatives (25,520), secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive (12,820), and general office clerks (11,630). Among the higher paying jobs were first-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers, and postal service mail carriers, with mean hourly wages of $25.33 and $25.18, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks ($10.11) and tellers ($12.00). (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/2015/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 3.1 times the national rate in Salt Lake City, and bill and account collectors, at 2.3 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, receptionists and information 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.

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 Salt Lake City Metropolitan Statistical Area included 4,450 establishments with a response rate of 74 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 Salt Lake City, Utah Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Salt Lake and Tooele 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, Salt Lake City Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2015

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Office and Administrative Support Occupations	128,700	1.2	$16.68	$34,690
First-Line Supervisors of Office and Administrative Support Workers	9,000	1.3	25.33	52,690
Switchboard Operators, Including Answering Service	380	0.8	12.37	25,730
Telephone Operators	(5)	(5)	17.36	36,100
Bill and Account Collectors	3,480	2.3	15.22	31,650
Billing and Posting Clerks	2,000	0.9	16.50	34,330
Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks	7,300	1.0	17.93	37,300
Payroll and Timekeeping Clerks	760	1.0	19.93	41,460
Procurement Clerks	560	1.7	19.21	39,950
Tellers	2,300	1.0	12.00	24,960
Financial Clerks, All Other	(5)	(5)	22.59	46,990
Brokerage Clerks	510	1.9	21.49	44,700
Correspondence Clerks	30	0.9	17.79	37,010
Court, Municipal, and License Clerks	450	0.7	16.52	34,370
Credit Authorizers, Checkers, and Clerks	290	1.4	16.84	35,020
Customer Service Representatives	25,520	2.1	15.99	33,260
Eligibility Interviewers, Government Programs	610	1.0	18.66	38,810
File Clerks	630	0.9	13.70	28,490
Hotel, Motel, and Resort Desk Clerks	870	0.8	10.11	21,020
Interviewers, Except Eligibility and Loan	920	1.1	15.96	33,190
Library Assistants, Clerical	580	1.2	13.20	27,450
Loan Interviewers and Clerks	1,970	1.9	16.79	34,920
New Accounts Clerks	250	1.1	17.65	36,710
Order Clerks	830	0.9	16.22	33,740
Human Resources Assistants, Except Payroll and Timekeeping	420	0.6	17.54	36,490
Receptionists and Information Clerks	4,670	1.0	12.97	26,970
Reservation and Transportation Ticket Agents and Travel Clerks	5,080	7.7	14.77	30,720
Information and Record Clerks, All Other	390	0.5	18.98	39,470
Cargo and Freight Agents	380	1.0	20.03	41,670
Couriers and Messengers	290	0.8	12.97	26,980
Dispatchers, Except Police, Fire, and Ambulance	950	1.0	18.00	37,450
Meter Readers, Utilities	130	0.8	(5)	(5)
Postal Service Clerks	180	0.5	24.55	51,070
Postal Service Mail Carriers	910	0.6	25.18	52,370
Postal Service Mail Sorters, Processors, and Processing Machine Operators	530	1.0	23.71	49,320
Production, Planning, and Expediting Clerks	1,610	1.1	21.83	45,410
Shipping, Receiving, and Traffic Clerks	4,510	1.4	14.77	30,720
Stock Clerks and Order Fillers	7,250	0.8	12.38	25,760
Weighers, Measurers, Checkers, and Samplers, Recordkeeping	360	1.1	15.55	32,350
Executive Secretaries and Executive Administrative Assistants	3,570	1.1	22.63	47,070
Legal Secretaries	940	1.0	21.21	44,120
Medical Secretaries	2,710	1.1	15.43	32,090
Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive	12,820	1.2	16.23	33,760
Computer Operators	200	0.8	19.82	41,230
Data Entry Keyers	2,950	3.1	15.81	32,890
Word Processors and Typists	410	1.3	16.05	33,380
Insurance Claims and Policy Processing Clerks	1,310	1.1	19.43	40,410
Mail Clerks and Mail Machine Operators, Except Postal Service	1,060	2.3	14.40	29,950
Office Clerks, General	11,630	0.8	14.32	29,780
Office Machine Operators, Except Computer	280	0.9	13.59	28,270
Proofreaders and Copy Markers	(5)	(5)	17.68	36,770
Statistical Assistants	90	1.4	21.51	44,740
Office and Administrative Support Workers, All Other	1,990	1.8	18.26	37,980
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Salt Lake City, UT Metropolitan Statistical Area, 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.