Workers in the Topeka Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $20.68 in May 2016, about 13 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 19 of the 22 major occupational groups, including legal; management; and architecture and engineering.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 9 of the 22 occupational groups, including healthcare support; office and administrative support; and construction and extraction. Conversely, seven groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including sales and related; 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. Topeka had 18,480 jobs in office and administrative support occupations, accounting for 16.8 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 15.7-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $16.46, 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 (2,860), customer service representatives (2,040), and general office clerks (2,020). Among the higher paying jobs were production, planning, and expediting clerks and first-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers, with mean hourly wages of $27.37 and $23.96, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were mail clerks and mail machine operators, except postal service ($11.47) and tellers ($12.36). (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_45820.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 Topeka Metropolitan Statistical Area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in several of the occupations within the office and administrative support group. For instance, government programs eligibility interviewers were employed at 5.6 times the national rate in Topeka, and mail clerks and mail machine operators, except postal service, at 3.6 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, customer service representatives had a location quotient of 1.0 in Topeka, 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 Kansas Department of Labor.

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 Topeka Metropolitan Statistical Area included 1,425 establishments with a response rate of 69 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 Topeka, Kans. Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Jackson, Jefferson, Osage, Shawnee, and Wabaunsee 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/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, Topeka Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2016

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Office and administrative support occupations	18,480	1.1	$16.46	$34,240
First-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers	1,260	1.1	23.96	49,840
Switchboard operators, including answering service	110	1.5	14.06	29,230
Bill and account collectors	260	1.1	12.66	26,330
Billing and posting clerks	230	0.6	16.25	33,810
Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks	1,160	1.0	16.70	34,730
Payroll and timekeeping clerks	190	1.5	20.99	43,670
Procurement clerks	80	1.5	18.15	37,760
Tellers	490	1.3	12.36	25,700
Court, municipal, and license clerks	120	1.2	15.53	32,300
Customer service representatives	2,040	1.0	15.67	32,600
Eligibility interviewers, government programs	590	5.6	18.81	39,120
File clerks	70	0.7	12.59	26,190
Interviewers, except eligibility and loan	380	2.6	15.25	31,720
Library assistants, clerical	90	1.2	12.52	26,040
Loan interviewers and clerks	180	1.0	17.79	37,000
New accounts clerks	50	1.5	17.09	35,550
Order clerks	60	0.4	17.50	36,390
Human resources assistants, except payroll and timekeeping	140	1.3	19.26	40,050
Receptionists and information clerks	640	0.8	13.06	27,160
Information and record clerks, all other	160	1.2	17.80	37,020
Couriers and messengers	30	0.5	12.46	25,910
Police, fire, and ambulance dispatchers	70	1.0	17.64	36,690
Dispatchers, except police, fire, and ambulance	60	0.4	23.76	49,430
Meter readers, utilities	50	1.8	17.57	36,550
Postal service clerks	90	1.5	20.53	42,700
Postal service mail carriers	290	1.1	23.42	48,700
Production, planning, and expediting clerks	130	0.5	27.37	56,920
Shipping, receiving, and traffic clerks	400	0.8	19.31	40,160
Stock clerks and order fillers	1,310	0.8	12.80	26,620
Executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants	950	1.9	21.07	43,830
Legal secretaries	320	2.1	14.53	30,220
Medical secretaries	260	0.6	17.54	36,480
Secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive	2,860	1.6	15.28	31,780
Computer operators	70	1.9	19.56	40,690
Data entry keyers	170	1.1	12.99	27,030
Insurance claims and policy processing clerks	220	1.0	18.15	37,750
Mail clerks and mail machine operators, except postal service	260	3.6	11.47	23,850
Office clerks, general	2,020	0.9	14.57	30,300
Office machine operators, except computer	110	2.4	13.86	28,820
Office and administrative support workers, all other	160	0.9	17.94	37,310
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Topeka Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_45820.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.