Department of Labor Logo United States Department of Labor
Dot gov

The .gov means it's official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you're on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

News Release Information

17-687-KAN
Thursday, September 28, 2017

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

Occupational Employment and Wages in Columbia, Mo. — May 2016

Workers in the Columbia Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $21.44 in May 2016, about 10 percent below the nationwide average of $23.86, 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 than their respective national averages in 17 of the 22 major occupational groups, including computer and mathematical; management; and legal.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 6 of the 22 occupational groups, including healthcare practitioners and technical; food preparation and serving related; and education, training, and library. Conversely, seven groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including production; transportation and material moving; and protective 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 Columbia, Mo. Metropolitan Statistical Area, and measures of statistical significance, May 2016
Major occupational groupPercent of total employmentMean hourly wage
United StatesColumbiaUnited StatesColumbiaPercent difference (1)

Total, all occupations

100.0100.0$23.86$21.44*-10

Management

5.14.5*56.7442.91*-24

Business and financial operations

5.24.936.0927.73*-23

Computer and mathematical

3.03.242.2528.22*-33

Architecture and engineering

1.81.1*40.5331.02*-23

Life, physical, and social science

0.81.0*35.0626.39*-25

Community and social service

1.42.1*22.6919.70*-13

Legal

0.80.5*50.9540.52*-20

Education, training, and library

6.27.6*26.2133.3727

Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media

1.41.9*28.0726.76-5

Healthcare practitioners and technical

5.99.1*38.0636.96-3

Healthcare support

2.92.714.6512.83*-12

Protective service

2.41.0*22.0317.18*-22

Food preparation and serving related

9.211.4*11.4710.21*-11

Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance

3.23.013.4712.93*-4

Personal care and service

3.23.312.7412.700

Sales and related

10.410.519.5016.13*-17

Office and administrative support

15.716.017.9115.93*-11

Farming, fishing, and forestry

0.30.1*13.3714.216

Construction and extraction

4.03.623.5121.65*-8

Installation, maintenance, and repair

3.94.022.4519.25*-14

Production

6.53.6*17.8816.60*-7

Transportation and material moving

6.94.7*17.3414.55*-16

Footnotes:
(1) A positive percent difference measures how much the mean wage in the Columbia, Mo. Metropolitan Statistical Area 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—healthcare practitioners and technical—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Columbia had 8,320 jobs in healthcare practitioners and technical occupations, accounting for 9.1 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 5.9-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $36.96, compared to the national wage of $38.06.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the healthcare practitioners and technical group included registered nurses (3,270), licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses (480), and family and general practitioners (450). Among the higher paying jobs were family and general practitioners and pharmacists, with mean hourly wages of $109.18 and $59.28, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were dispensing opticians ($11.83) and pharmacy technicians ($14.39). (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/2016/may/oes_17860.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 Columbia Metropolitan Statistical Area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in several of the occupations within the healthcare practitioners and technical group. For instance, family and general practitioners were employed at 5.6 times the national rate in Columbia, and medical and clinical laboratory technicians, at 4.0 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses had a location quotient of 1.1 in Columbia, 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 Missouri Department of Economic Development.

Note

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 data available from BLS include cross-industry occupational employment and wage estimates for the nation; over 650 areas, including states and the District of Columbia, metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs), metropolitan divisions, nonmetropolitan areas, and territories; national industry-specific estimates at the NAICS sector, 3-, 4-, and selected 5- and 6-digit industry levels, and national estimates 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. Each year, two semiannual panels of approximately 200,000 sampled establishments are contacted, one panel in May and the other in November. Responses are obtained by mail, Internet or other electronic means, email, telephone, or personal visit. The May 2016 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2016, November 2015, May 2015, November 2014, May 2014, and November 2013. The overall national response rate for the six panels, based on the 50 states and the District of Columbia, is 73 percent based on establishments and 69 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The unweighted employment of sampled establishments across all six semiannual panels represents approximately 58 percent of total national employment. The sample in the Columbia, Mo. Metropolitan Statistical Area included 1,165 establishments with a response rate of 61 percent. For more information about OES concepts and methodology, go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_tec.htm.

The May 2016 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 Columbia, Mo. Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Boone County.

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/current/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, Columbia, Mo. Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2016
Occupation (1)EmploymentMean wages
Level (2)Location quotient (3)HourlyAnnual (4)

Healthcare practitioners and technical occupations

8,3201.5$36.96$76,890

Dentists, general

(5)(5)115.77240,810

Dietitians and nutritionists

802.024.8951,780

Optometrists

401.656.62117,760

Pharmacists

2101.159.28123,300

Family and general practitioners

4505.6109.18227,090

Surgeons

(5)(5)133.85278,400

Physicians and surgeons, all other

3401.592.71192,840

Physician assistants

901.440.0383,260

Occupational therapists

801.135.2373,280

Physical therapists

1501.136.2475,390

Respiratory therapists

1401.726.1154,300

Speech-language pathologists

1101.340.6384,510

Veterinarians

701.633.2869,230

Registered nurses

3,2701.828.6059,490

Nurse anesthetists

1104.470.41146,460

Nurse practitioners

1601.744.5392,620

Medical and clinical laboratory technicians

4204.016.5934,500

Dental hygienists

1200.937.0877,130

Diagnostic medical sonographers

501.132.6367,870

Radiologic technologists

1801.424.6051,170

Magnetic resonance imaging technologists

803.530.9664,410

Emergency medical technicians and paramedics

1000.615.9833,240

Pharmacy technicians

2801.114.3929,940

Veterinary technologists and technicians

1402.215.1331,470

Licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses

4801.118.4538,380

Medical records and health information technicians

2001.520.7343,110

Opticians, dispensing

1002.111.8324,600

Health technologists and technicians, all other

500.724.8351,640

Occupational health and safety specialists

400.830.8464,140

Athletic trainers

302.0(5)46,060

Healthcare practitioners and technical workers, all other

502.226.9155,960

Footnotes:
(1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Columbia, Mo. Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_17860.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 28, 2017