Workers in the Ogden-Clearfield Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $22.16 in May 2018, about 11 percent below the nationwide average of $24.98, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Assistant Commissioner for Regional Operations Stanley W. Suchman noted that, after testing for statistical significance, no wages in the local area were lower than their respective national averages 16 in 22 major occupational groups, including legal; management; and business and financial operations. No group had a significantly higher average wage than its respective national average.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 6 of the 22 occupational groups, including production; construction and extraction; and architecture and engineering. Conversely, 11 groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including sales and related; healthcare practitioners and technical; and food preparation and serving related. (See table A and box note at end of release.)

One occupational group—production—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Ogden-Clearfield had 23,010 jobs in production occupations, accounting for 9.0 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 6.3-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $18.71, compared to the national wage of $18.84.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the production group included assemblers and fabricators, all other, including team assemblers (3,330), inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers (1,630), and helpers--production workers (1,600). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were petroleum pump system operators, refinery operators, and gaugers and computer numerically controlled machine tool programmers, metal and plastic, with mean hourly wages of $35.34 and $29.91, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were helpers--production workers ($11.76) and slaughterers and meat packers ($12.76). (Detailed data for the production occupations are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_36260.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 Ogden-Clearfield Metropolitan Statistical Area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in some of the occupations within the production group. For instance, petroleum pump system operators, refinery operators, and gaugers were employed at 5.6 times the national rate in Ogden, and multiple machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic, at 4.4 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, butchers and meat cutters had a location quotient of 0.9 in Ogden, 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 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 580 areas, including states and the District of Columbia, metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs), nonmetropolitan areas, and territories; national industry-specific estimates at the NAICS sector, 3-digit, most 4-digit, 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.

The OES survey is a cooperative effort between BLS and the State Workforce Agencies (SWAs). BLS funds the survey and provides the procedures and technical support, while the State Workforce Agencies collect most of the data. OES estimates are constructed from a sample of about 1.2 million establishments. Each year, two semiannual panels of approximately 180,000 to 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 2018 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2018, November 2017, May 2017, November 2016, May 2016, and November 2015. The unweighted sample employment of 83 million across all six semiannual panels represents approximately 58 percent of total national employment. The overall national response rate for the six panels, based on the 50 states and the District of Columbia, is 71 percent based on establishments and 68 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The sample in the Ogden-Clearfield Metropolitan Statistical Area included 2,294 establishments with a response rate of 77 percent. For more information about OES concepts and methodology, go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_tec.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.

The May 2018 OES estimates are based on the 2010 Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) system and the 2017 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 2017 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 Ogden-Clearfield, UT Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Davis, Morgan and Weber 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, Ogden-Clearfield Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2018

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Production occupations	23,010	1.4	$18.71	$38,920
First-line supervisors of production and operating workers	1,210	1.1	29.32	60,990
Electrical, electronic, and electromechanical assemblers, except coil winders, tapers, and finishers	180	0.4	16.15	33,600
Structural metal fabricators and fitters	350	2.6	18.81	39,110
Assemblers and fabricators, all other, including team assemblers	3,330	1.4	15.84	32,950
Bakers	370	1.2	13.98	29,070
Butchers and meat cutters	240	1.0	15.90	33,070
Meat, poultry, and fish cutters and trimmers	70	0.3	15.42	32,070
Slaughterers and meat packers	40	0.3	12.76	26,530
Food batchmakers	620	2.2	15.94	33,160
Food cooking machine operators and tenders	40	0.7	14.78	30,750
Computer-controlled machine tool operators, metal and plastic	490	1.9	15.02	31,250
Computer numerically controlled machine tool programmers, metal and plastic	40	1.0	29.91	62,220
Extruding and drawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	130	1.0	17.57	36,540
Rolling machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	70	1.4	(5)	(5)
Cutting, punching, and press machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	310	1.0	18.18	37,820
Grinding, lapping, polishing, and buffing machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	30	0.2	15.38	31,990
Machinists	1,210	1.8	25.12	52,260
Molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	580	2.0	21.93	45,610
Multiple machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	1,040	4.4	16.05	33,390
Tool and die makers	100	0.8	27.70	57,620
Welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers	1,360	2.0	24.65	51,270
Welding, soldering, and brazing machine setters, operators, and tenders	40	0.6	20.20	42,020
Plating and coating machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	130	1.9	21.91	45,580
Metal workers and plastic workers, all other	(5)	(5)	14.21	29,560
Prepress technicians and workers	40	0.8	20.40	42,430
Printing press operators	320	1.1	16.46	34,240
Print binding and finishing workers	(5)	(5)	15.96	33,190
Laundry and dry-cleaning workers	430	1.2	13.01	27,060
Sewing machine operators	90	0.4	13.32	27,710
Cabinetmakers and bench carpenters	310	1.8	16.79	34,930
Woodworking machine setters, operators, and tenders, except sawing	140	1.0	15.34	31,910
Stationary engineers and boiler operators	50	0.9	26.79	55,730
Water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators	300	1.4	21.88	45,510
Petroleum pump system operators, refinery operators, and gaugers	380	5.6	35.34	73,510
Chemical equipment operators and tenders	(5)	(5)	15.61	32,460
Crushing, grinding, and polishing machine setters, operators, and tenders	90	1.5	18.91	39,330
Grinding and polishing workers, hand	80	1.5	13.24	27,550
Mixing and blending machine setters, operators, and tenders	800	3.5	20.33	42,290
Cutting and slicing machine setters, operators, and tenders	150	1.4	15.87	33,000
Extruding, forming, pressing, and compacting machine setters, operators, and tenders	280	2.2	17.43	36,260
Furnace, kiln, oven, drier, and kettle operators and tenders	40	1.4	25.91	53,890
Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers	1,630	1.7	19.27	40,090
Jewelers and precious stone and metal workers	60	1.4	(5)	(5)
Dental laboratory technicians	50	0.8	18.91	39,330
Ophthalmic laboratory technicians	(5)	(5)	15.92	33,120
Packaging and filling machine operators and tenders	830	1.2	14.85	30,880
Coating, painting, and spraying machine setters, operators, and tenders	180	1.2	18.15	37,750
Painters, transportation equipment	(5)	(5)	22.50	46,810
Photographic process workers and processing machine operators	(5)	(5)	14.99	31,180
Molders, shapers, and casters, except metal and plastic	(5)	(5)	15.69	32,640
Paper goods machine setters, operators, and tenders	170	1.0	22.26	46,310
Helpers--production workers	1,600	2.6	11.76	24,470
Production workers, all other	790	2.0	16.25	33,800
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Ogden-Clearfield, UT Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_36260.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.