Workers in the Logan Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $18.99 in May 2016, about 20 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 lower than their respective national averages in 19 of the 22 major occupational groups, including management; legal; and computer and mathematical. One group had significantly higher wages than their respective national average.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 6 of the 22 occupational groups, including production; education, training, and library; and office and administrative support. Conversely, 11 groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including business and financial operations; food preparation and serving related; and transportation and material moving. (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. Logan had 9,230 jobs in office and administrative support occupations, accounting for 17.1 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 15.7-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $14.15, significantly below the national wage of $17.91.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the office and administrative support group included secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive (1,540), customer service representatives (1,350), and general office clerks (820). Among the higher paying jobs were postal service mail carriers and executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants, with mean hourly wages of $23.38 and $22.50, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks ($9.46) and stock clerks and order fillers ($10.94). (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/2016/may/oes_30860.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 Logan Metropolitan Statistical Area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in several of the occupations within the office and administrative support group. For instance, bill and account collectors were employed at 6.3 times the national rate in Logan, and switchboard operators, including answering service, at 4.3 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, first-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers had a location quotient of 1.0 in Logan, 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 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 Logan Metropolitan Statistical Area included 1,065 establishments with a response rate of 81 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 Logan, Utah Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Cache County, UT and Franklin County, ID.

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, Logan Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2016

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Office and administrative support occupations	9,230	1.1	$14.15	$29,440
First-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers	530	1.0	21.64	45,010
Switchboard operators, including answering service	150	4.3	13.20	27,460
Bill and account collectors	720	6.3	11.94	24,840
Billing and posting clerks	330	1.8	13.00	27,040
Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks	650	1.1	17.78	36,990
Payroll and timekeeping clerks	30	0.5	17.88	37,190
Procurement clerks	40	1.4	17.40	36,190
Tellers	210	1.1	12.33	25,650
Court, municipal, and license clerks	50	0.9	15.66	32,580
Customer service representatives	1,350	1.3	12.28	25,550
Hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks	70	0.7	9.46	19,670
Interviewers, except eligibility and loan	(5)	(5)	10.53	21,910
Library assistants, clerical	100	2.6	12.51	26,010
Loan interviewers and clerks	60	0.8	14.26	29,650
Order clerks	60	0.9	12.99	27,030
Receptionists and information clerks	350	0.9	11.62	24,180
Dispatchers, except police, fire, and ambulance	30	0.4	17.25	35,870
Postal service clerks	50	1.5	22.27	46,330
Postal service mail carriers	100	0.8	23.38	48,630
Production, planning, and expediting clerks	160	1.3	17.31	36,000
Shipping, receiving, and traffic clerks	310	1.2	14.20	29,530
Stock clerks and order fillers	600	0.8	10.94	22,750
Executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants	120	0.5	22.50	46,800
Medical secretaries	110	0.5	13.36	27,790
Secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive	1,540	1.8	13.96	29,050
Data entry keyers	90	1.1	12.12	25,220
Mail clerks and mail machine operators, except postal service	40	1.2	13.60	28,300
Office clerks, general	820	0.7	13.96	29,030
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Logan Metropolitan Statistical Area see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_30860.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.