Workers in the Greeley, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $25.17 in May 2020, about 7 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, wages in the local area were higher than their respective national averages in 8 of the 22 major occupational groups, including transportation and material moving; installation, maintenance, and repair; and production. Eight groups had significantly lower wages than their respective national averages, including legal; computer and mathematical; and life, physical, and social science.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, Greeley area employment was more highly concentrated in 4 of the 22 occupational groups, including construction and extraction, transportation and material moving, and production. Eleven groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including healthcare support, healthcare practitioners and technical, and office and administrative support.(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. Greeley had 11,950 jobs in construction and extraction, accounting for 11.4 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 4.3-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $24.40, significantly below the national wage of $25.93.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the construction and extraction group included construction laborers (2,180), operating engineers and other construction equipment operators (1,640), and first-line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers (1,570). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were first-line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers and construction and building inspectors, with mean hourly wages of $36.77 and $30.36, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were extraction helpers workers ($17.49) and construction laborers ($18.27). (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_24540.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 Greeley area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the construction and extraction group. For instance, oil and gas service unit operators were employed at 31.2 times the national rate in Greeley. Carpenters had a location quotient of 0.9 in Greeley, 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 Greeley, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area included 1,362 establishments with a response rate of 82 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 Greeley, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Weld 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, Greeley metropolitan area, May 2020

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Construction and extraction occupations	11,950	2.7	$24.40	$50,750
First-line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers	1,570	3.4	36.77	76,480
Brickmasons and blockmasons	(5)	(5)	28.59	59,480
Carpenters	480	0.9	22.97	47,780
Cement masons and concrete finishers	530	3.6	23.64	49,170
Construction laborers	2,180	3.0	18.27	38,010
Paving, surfacing, and tamping equipment operators	60	1.9	24.70	51,380
Operating engineers and other construction equipment operators	1,640	5.4	24.62	51,220
Electricians	890	1.8	27.27	56,710
Insulation workers, mechanical	50	2.5	23.72	49,330
Painters, construction and maintenance	230	1.4	18.46	38,400
Plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters	460	1.5	25.41	52,840
Roofers	370	3.8	22.48	46,750
Sheet metal workers	120	1.3	21.33	44,370
Structural iron and steel workers	130	2.3	26.24	54,580
Helpers--brickmasons, blockmasons, stonemasons, and tile and marble setters	(5)	(5)	19.35	40,240
Construction and building inspectors	100	1.1	30.36	63,150
Highway maintenance workers	90	0.8	22.28	46,330
Septic tank servicers and sewer pipe cleaners	(5)	(5)	19.29	40,120
Derrick operators, oil and gas	(5)	(5)	25.50	53,040
Rotary drill operators, oil and gas	110	9.2	29.49	61,340
Service unit operators, oil and gas	1,030	31.2	23.81	49,520
Excavating and loading machine and dragline operators, surface mining	70	2.2	25.83	53,720
Roustabouts, oil and gas	960	28.6	19.84	41,270
Helpers--extraction workers	100	10.7	17.49	36,370
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Greeley, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_24540.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.