Workers in the Jefferson City, MO Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $26.43 in May 2024, compared to the nationwide average of $32.66, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Assistant Commissioner for Regional Operations Michael Hirniak noted that higher paying major occupational groups included management ($46.94), legal ($43.82), and architecture and engineering ($40.31). Lower paying occupations included food preparation and serving related ($14.88), personal care and service ($16.60), and healthcare support ($16.80). (See table A.)

Occupational groups with the highest employment in the Jefferson City area included office and administrative support (14.7 percent), business and financial operations (8.1 percent), and management (7.8 percent). Major occupational groups on the lower end of local employment included legal (0.9 percent); arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media (1.2 percent); and architecture and engineering (1.3 percent).

One occupational group—office and administrative support—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Jefferson City had 11,490 jobs in office and administrative support, accounting for 14.7 percent of local area employment, compared to the 11.8-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $21.24, compared to the national wage of $24.12.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the office and administrative support group included secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive (1,920), general office clerks (1,570), and customer service representatives (1,140). Among the higher paying jobs in this group were postal service mail carriers ($29.57) and first-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers ($29.49). At the lower end of the wage scale were clerical library assistants ($13.96) and hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks ($14.96). (Detailed data for the office and administrative support occupations are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to https://data.bls.gov/oes/#/area/0027620.)

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 2.00 indicates that an occupation accounts for twice the share of employment in the area than it does nationally. In the Jefferson City area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the office and administrative support group. For instance, procurement clerks were employed at 6.04 times the national rate in Jefferson City, and government programs eligibility interviewers, at 5.98 times the U.S. average. First-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers had a location quotient of 0.94 in Jefferson City, indicating that this particular occupation’s local and national employment shares were similar.

The statistics in this release are from the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey, a cooperative effort between BLS and the State Workforce Agencies (SWAs). BLS funds the survey and provides the procedures and technical support. State Workforce Agencies collect most of the data: in this case, the Missouri Department of Economic Development.

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 530 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. Full OEWS data tables are available online.

Additional information about the OEWS estimates and methodology are available in the national Technical Notes. The overall national response rate for the six panels, based on the 50 states and the District of Columbia, is 65.7 percent based on establishments and 65.9 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The sample in the Jefferson City, MO Metropolitan Statistical Area included 1,025 establishments with a response rate of 62 percent.

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 Jefferson City, MO Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Callaway County, Cole County, Moniteau County, and Osage County.

For more information

Answers to frequently asked questions about the OEWS data, as well as general program documentation, are available on the OEWS website.

Information in this release will be made available to individuals with sensory impairments upon request. Voice phone: (202) 691-5200; Telecommunications Relay Service: 7-1-1.

Table 1. Employment and wage data for office and administrative support occupations, Jefferson City metropolitan area, May 2024

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages ($)
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Office and administrative support occupations	11,490	1.25	21.24	44,170
First-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers	710	0.94	29.49	61,340
Bill and account collectors	80	0.94	20.02	41,630
Billing and posting clerks	140	0.68	20.84	43,340
Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks	540	0.73	21.13	43,960
Payroll and timekeeping clerks	70	0.82	23.60	49,100
Procurement clerks	180	6.04	21.41	44,540
Tellers	350	2.04	17.48	36,360
Court, municipal, and license clerks	140	1.67	20.40	42,440
Customer service representatives	1,140	0.83	20.69	43,040
Eligibility interviewers, government programs	470	5.98	20.74	43,140
Hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks	90	0.70	14.96	31,110
Library assistants, clerical	50	1.27	13.96	29,030
Loan interviewers and clerks	100	1.18	23.53	48,930
New accounts clerks	30	1.74	19.42	40,390
Order clerks	130	3.09	19.34	40,230
Human resources assistants, except payroll and timekeeping	80	1.76	20.93	43,530
Receptionists and information clerks	410	0.84	16.56	34,450
Information and record clerks, all other	40	0.51	22.50	46,790
Public safety telecommunicators	80	1.48	21.19	44,080
Dispatchers, except police, fire, and ambulance	90	0.82	23.86	49,620
Postal service clerks	50	1.16	27.73	57,670
Postal service mail carriers	160	0.91	29.57	61,500
Production, planning, and expediting clerks	140	0.70	25.64	53,330
Shipping, receiving, and inventory clerks	440	1.02	19.33	40,210
Executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants	490	2.04	26.81	55,760
Legal secretaries and administrative assistants	60	0.79	21.23	44,160
Medical secretaries and administrative assistants	180	0.44	18.90	39,320
Secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive	1,920	2.18	19.69	40,950
Data entry keyers	60	0.83	18.03	37,500
Insurance claims and policy processing clerks	130	1.16	22.47	46,740
Mail clerks and mail machine operators, except postal service	50	1.65	16.53	34,380
Office clerks, general	1,570	1.24	20.50	42,640
Office machine operators, except computer	30	2.56	18.80	39,100
Office and administrative support workers, all other	1,040	10.54	20.95	43,580
(1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Jefferson City, MO Metropolitan Statistical Area, see https://data.bls.gov/oes/#/area/0027620. (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.