Workers in the Grand Junction, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $23.61 in May 2020, about 13 percent below the nationwide average of $27.07, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Michael Hirniak noted that, after testing for statistical significance, no wages in the local area were higher than their respective national averages in 22 major occupational groups. Thirteen groups had significantly lower wages than their respective national averages, including legal, computer and mathematical, and architecture and engineering.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, Grand Junction area employment was more highly concentrated in 8 of the 22 occupational groups, including construction and extraction, healthcare practitioners and technical, and food preparation and serving related. Eleven groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including computer and mathematical, management, and production. (See table A.)

One occupational group—construction and extraction—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Grand Junction had 4,500 jobs in construction and extraction, accounting for 7.6 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 4.3-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $23.70, significantly below the national wage of $25.93.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the construction and extraction group included construction laborers (570), plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters (490), and operating engineers and other construction equipment operators (480). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were first-line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers and electricians, with mean hourly wages of $33.96 and $30.72, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were septic tank servicers and sewer pipe cleaners ($18.06) and drywall and ceiling tile installers ($18.44). (Detailed data for the construction and extraction occupations are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_24300.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 Grand Junction area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in some of the occupations within the construction and extraction group. For instance, oil and gas roustabouts were employed at 16.8 times the national rate in Grand Junction, and operating engineers and other construction equipment operators, at 2.8 times the U.S. average. Carpenters had a location quotient of 1.4 in Grand Junction, indicating that this particular occupation’s local and national employment shares were similar.

These statistics are from the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey, a federal-state cooperative program between BLS and State Workforce Agencies, in this case, the Colorado Department of Labor & Employment.

Technical Note

The Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey is a semiannual survey measuring occupational employment and wage rates for wage and salary workers in nonfarm establishments in the United States. The OEWS 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. OEWS data are available at www.bls.gov/oes/tables.htm.

The OEWS 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. OEWS estimates are constructed from a sample of about 1.1 million establishments. Each year, two semiannual panels of approximately 180,000 to 185,000 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 2020 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2020, November 2019, May 2019, November 2018, May 2018, and November 2017. The unweighted sample employment of 83 million across all six semiannual panels represents approximately 56 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 69 percent based on establishments and 66 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The sample in the Grand Junction, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area included 1,100 establishments with a response rate of 86 percent. For more information about OEWS 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.

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 Grand Junction, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Mesa County.

For more information

Answers to frequently asked questions about the OEWS data are available at www.bls.gov/oes/oes_ques.htm. Detailed information about the OEWS program is available at www.bls.gov/oes/oes_doc.htm.

Information in this release will be made available to individuals with sensory impairments upon request. Voice phone: (202) 691-5200; Federal Relay Service: (800) 877-8339.

Table 1. Employment and wage data for construction and extraction occupations, Grand Junction metropolitan area, May 2020

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Construction and extraction occupations	4,500	1.8	$23.70	$49,300
First-line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers	450	1.8	33.96	70,630
Brickmasons and blockmasons	(5)	(5)	26.54	55,210
Carpenters	400	1.4	20.58	42,810
Cement masons and concrete finishers	150	1.8	22.38	46,550
Construction laborers	570	1.4	19.97	41,530
Operating engineers and other construction equipment operators	480	2.8	21.57	44,860
Drywall and ceiling tile installers	40	0.9	18.44	38,350
Electricians	300	1.1	30.72	63,910
Painters, construction and maintenance	80	0.9	19.48	40,520
Plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters	490	2.8	22.00	45,750
Roofers	60	1.1	(5)	(5)
Sheet metal workers	(5)	(5)	26.80	55,750
Construction and building inspectors	50	1.0	27.10	56,370
Highway maintenance workers	70	1.1	22.40	46,590
Septic tank servicers and sewer pipe cleaners	(5)	(5)	18.06	37,560
Service unit operators, oil and gas	(5)	(5)	25.05	52,110
Roustabouts, oil and gas	320	16.8	21.99	45,730
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Grand Junction, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_24300.htm. (2) Estimates for detailed occupations may not sum to the totals due to rounding, and because the totals may include occupations that are 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.