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News Release Information

16-1958-KAN
Thursday, September 29, 2016

Contacts Technical information: Media contact:
  • (816) 285-7000

Occupational Employment and Wages in Salt Lake City — May 2015

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.)

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 2015
Major occupational groupPercent of total employmentMean hourly wage
United StatesSalt Lake CityUnited StatesSalt Lake CityPercent difference (1)

Total, all occupations

100.0%100.0%$23.23$22.88-2

Management

5.06.0*55.3049.18*-11

Business and Financial Operations

5.16.0*35.4831.62*-11

Computer and Mathematical

2.93.7*41.4336.64*-12

Architecture and Engineering

1.81.9*39.8936.15*-9

Life, Physical, and Social Science

0.80.834.2431.73-7

Community and Social Service

1.41.1*22.1922.080

Legal

0.80.9*49.7442.67*-14

Education, Training, and Library

6.25.0*25.4828.3311

Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media

1.31.6*27.3923.13*-16

Healthcare Practitioners and Technical

5.85.1*37.4035.08-6

Healthcare Support

2.92.2*14.1913.85-2

Protective Service

2.41.8*21.4519.04*-11

Food Preparation and Serving Related

9.17.1*10.9810.79-2

Building and Grounds Cleaning and Maintenance

3.22.7*13.0211.40*-12

Personal Care and Service

3.12.3*12.3312.290

Sales and Related

10.510.9*18.9020.45*8

Office and Administrative Support

15.819.6*17.4716.68*-5

Farming, Fishing, and Forestry

0.30.1*12.6712.58-1

Construction and Extraction

4.04.7*22.8820.69*-10

Installation, Maintenance, and Repair

3.93.922.1122.421

Production

6.66.1*17.4117.08-2

Transportation and Material Moving

6.96.516.9017.333

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 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.

Notes on Occupational Employment Statistics Data

With the issuance of data for May 2015, the OES program has incorporated redefined metropolitan area definitions as designated by the Office of Management and Budget. OES data are available for 394 metropolitan areas, 38 metropolitan divisions, and 167 OES-defined nonmetropolitan areas. A listing of the areas and their definitions can be found at www.bls.gov/oes/current/msa_def.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.


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)EmploymentMean wages
Level (2)Location quotient (3)HourlyAnnual (4)

Office and Administrative Support Occupations

128,7001.2$16.68$34,690

First-Line Supervisors of Office and Administrative Support Workers

9,0001.325.3352,690

Switchboard Operators, Including Answering Service

3800.812.3725,730

Telephone Operators

(5)(5)17.3636,100

Bill and Account Collectors

3,4802.315.2231,650

Billing and Posting Clerks

2,0000.916.5034,330

Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks

7,3001.017.9337,300

Payroll and Timekeeping Clerks

7601.019.9341,460

Procurement Clerks

5601.719.2139,950

Tellers

2,3001.012.0024,960

Financial Clerks, All Other

(5)(5)22.5946,990

Brokerage Clerks

5101.921.4944,700

Correspondence Clerks

300.917.7937,010

Court, Municipal, and License Clerks

4500.716.5234,370

Credit Authorizers, Checkers, and Clerks

2901.416.8435,020

Customer Service Representatives

25,5202.115.9933,260

Eligibility Interviewers, Government Programs

6101.018.6638,810

File Clerks

6300.913.7028,490

Hotel, Motel, and Resort Desk Clerks

8700.810.1121,020

Interviewers, Except Eligibility and Loan

9201.115.9633,190

Library Assistants, Clerical

5801.213.2027,450

Loan Interviewers and Clerks

1,9701.916.7934,920

New Accounts Clerks

2501.117.6536,710

Order Clerks

8300.916.2233,740

Human Resources Assistants, Except Payroll and Timekeeping

4200.617.5436,490

Receptionists and Information Clerks

4,6701.012.9726,970

Reservation and Transportation Ticket Agents and Travel Clerks

5,0807.714.7730,720

Information and Record Clerks, All Other

3900.518.9839,470

Cargo and Freight Agents

3801.020.0341,670

Couriers and Messengers

2900.812.9726,980

Dispatchers, Except Police, Fire, and Ambulance

9501.018.0037,450

Meter Readers, Utilities

1300.8(5)(5)

Postal Service Clerks

1800.524.5551,070

Postal Service Mail Carriers

9100.625.1852,370

Postal Service Mail Sorters, Processors, and Processing Machine Operators

5301.023.7149,320

Production, Planning, and Expediting Clerks

1,6101.121.8345,410

Shipping, Receiving, and Traffic Clerks

4,5101.414.7730,720

Stock Clerks and Order Fillers

7,2500.812.3825,760

Weighers, Measurers, Checkers, and Samplers, Recordkeeping

3601.115.5532,350

Executive Secretaries and Executive Administrative Assistants

3,5701.122.6347,070

Legal Secretaries

9401.021.2144,120

Medical Secretaries

2,7101.115.4332,090

Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive

12,8201.216.2333,760

Computer Operators

2000.819.8241,230

Data Entry Keyers

2,9503.115.8132,890

Word Processors and Typists

4101.316.0533,380

Insurance Claims and Policy Processing Clerks

1,3101.119.4340,410

Mail Clerks and Mail Machine Operators, Except Postal Service

1,0602.314.4029,950

Office Clerks, General

11,6300.814.3229,780

Office Machine Operators, Except Computer

2800.913.5928,270

Proofreaders and Copy Markers

(5)(5)17.6836,770

Statistical Assistants

901.421.5144,740

Office and Administrative Support Workers, All Other

1,9901.818.2637,980

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.
 

 

Last Modified Date: Thursday, September 29, 2016