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News Release Information

16-1553-BOS
Tuesday, July 26, 2016

Contacts Technical information: Media contact:
  • (617) 565-4141

Occupational Employment and Wages in Providence-Warwick — May 2015

Workers in the Providence-Warwick Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $23.98 in May 2015, about 3 percent above the nationwide average of $23.23, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Regional Commissioner Deborah A. Brown noted that, after testing for statistical significance, wages in the local area were higher than their respective national averages in 11 of the 22 major occupational groups, including healthcare practitioners and technical; education, training, and library; and management. Three groups had significantly lower wages than their respective national averages: legal; computer and mathematical; and transportation and material moving.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 6 of the 22 occupational groups, including healthcare support; food preparation and serving related; and healthcare practitioners and technical. Conversely, 10 groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including transportation and material moving; installation, maintenance, and repair; and construction and extraction. (See table A and box note at end of release.)

Table A. Occupational employment and wages by major occupational group, United States and the Providence-Warwick Metropolitan Statistical Area, and measures of statistical significance, May 2015
Major occupational groupPercent of total employmentMean hourly wage
United StatesProvidenceUnited StatesProvidencePercent difference (1)

Total, all occupations

100.0%100.0%$23.23$23.98*3

Management

5.04.8*55.3057.48*4

Business and Financial Operations

5.14.7*35.4836.132

Computer and Mathematical

2.92.6*41.4339.09*-6

Architecture and Engineering

1.81.5*39.8940.311

Life, Physical, and Social Science

0.80.6*34.2435.032

Community and Social Service

1.42.2*22.1922.300

Legal

0.80.749.7444.56*-10

Education, Training, and Library

6.26.7*25.4828.75*13

Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media

1.31.327.3926.05-5

Healthcare Practitioners and Technical

5.86.7*37.4041.84*12

Healthcare Support

2.94.3*14.1915.02*6

Protective Service

2.42.6*21.4522.756

Food Preparation and Serving Related

9.110.4*10.9811.43*4

Building and Grounds Cleaning and Maintenance

3.23.213.0214.39*11

Personal Care and Service

3.12.8*12.3313.05*6

Sales and Related

10.510.418.9019.322

Office and Administrative Support

15.816.117.4718.29*5

Farming, Fishing, and Forestry

0.3(2)*12.6713.295

Construction and Extraction

4.03.5*22.8823.78*4

Installation, Maintenance, and Repair

3.93.1*22.1123.13*5

Production

6.66.517.4117.84*2

Transportation and Material Moving

6.95.2*16.9016.40*-3

Footnotes:
(1) A positive percent difference measures how much the mean wage in Providence-Warwick is above the national mean wage, while a negative difference reflects a lower wage.
(2) Indicates a value of less than 0.05 percent
* The percent share of employment or mean hourly wage for this area is significantly different from the national average of all areas at the 90-percent confidence level.
 

One occupational group—healthcare support—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Providence-Warwick had 23,880 jobs in healthcare support, accounting for 4.3 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 2.9-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $15.02, significantly above the national wage of $14.19.

Some of the largest detailed occupations within the healthcare support group included nursing assistants (10,690), home health aides (4,430), and medical assistants (3,160). Among the higher paying jobs were occupational therapy assistants and physical therapist assistants, with mean hourly wages of $27.87 and $25.72, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were home health aides ($12.80) and physical therapist aides ($13.44). (Detailed occupational data for healthcare support are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/2015/may/oes_77200.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 Providence-Warwick Metropolitan Statistical Area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the healthcare support group. For instance, psychiatric aides were employed at 2.1 times the national rate in Providence, and nursing assistants, at 1.9 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, dental assistants had a location quotient of 0.9 in Providence, 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 Rhode Island Labor Market Information.

Notes on Occupational Employment Statistics Data

With the issuance of data for May 2015, the OES program has incorporated redefined metropolitan area definitions as designated by the Office of Management and Budget. OES data are available for 394 metropolitan areas, 38 metropolitan divisions, and 167 OES-defined nonmetropolitan areas. A listing of the areas and their definitions can be found at www.bls.gov/oes/current/msa_def.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.


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 program produces employment and wage estimates for over 800 occupations for all industries combined in the nation; the 50 states and the District of Columbia; 432 metropolitan areas and divisions; 167 nonmetropolitan areas; and Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. National estimates are also available by industry for NAICS sectors, 3-, 4-, and selected 5- and 6-digit industries, and 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. Forms are mailed to approximately 200,000 sampled establishments in May and November each year. May 2015 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2015, November 2014, May 2014, November 2013, May 2013, and November 2012. The overall national response rate for the six panels is 73.5 percent based on establishments and 69.6 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The unweighted employment of sampled establishments across all six semiannual panels represents approximately 57.9 percent of total national employment. (Response rates are slightly lower for these estimates due to the federal shutdown in October 2013.) The sample in the Providence-Warwick Metropolitan Statistical Area included 5,033 establishments with a response rate of 75 percent. For more information about OES concepts and methodology, go to www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.tn.htm.

The May 2015 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 Providence-Warwick, R.I. Metropolitan Statistical Area  includes Attleboro city MA, Barrington town RI, Bellingham town MA, Blackstone town MA, Bristol town RI, Burrillville town RI, Central Falls city RI, Charlestown town RI, Coventry town RI, Cranston city RI, Cumberland town RI, East Greenwich town RI, East Providence city RI, Exeter town RI, Fall River city MA, Foster town RI, Glocester town RI, Jamestown town RI, Johnston town RI, Lincoln town RI, Little Compton town RI, Middletown town RI, Millville town MA, Narragansett town RI, Newport city RI, North Attleborough town MA, North Kingstown town RI, North Providence town RI, North Smithfield town RI, Pawtucket city RI, Plainville town MA, Portsmouth town RI, Providence city RI, Rehoboth town MA, Richmond town RI, Scituate town RI, Seekonk town MA, Smithfield town RI, Somerset town MA, South Kingstown town RI, Swansea town MA, Tiverton town RI, Warren town RI, Warwick city RI, West Greenwich town RI, West Warwick town RI, Westport town MA, Woonsocket city RI.

Additional information

OES data are available on our regional web page at www.bls.gov/regions/northeast. 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/2015/may/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, Providence-Warwick Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2015
Occupation (1)EmploymentMean wages
Level (2)Location quotient (3)HourlyAnnual (4)

Healthcare Support Occupations

23,8801.5$15.02$31,240

Home Health Aides

4,4301.312.8026,630

Psychiatric Aides

6002.1(5)(5)

Nursing Assistants

10,6901.913.9128,930

Orderlies

2401.115.2831,790

Occupational Therapy Assistants

2701.927.8757,970

Physical Therapist Assistants

4801.425.7253,500

Physical Therapist Aides

4102.013.4427,950

Massage Therapists

2100.617.7736,970

Dental Assistants

1,1200.919.0039,520

Medical Assistants

3,1601.316.1633,610

Medical Equipment Preparers

2401.218.8639,220

Medical Transcriptionists

1700.719.0439,600

Pharmacy Aides

(5)(5)13.4427,960

Veterinary Assistants and Laboratory Animal Caretakers

3101.014.2529,640

Phlebotomists

8601.817.9437,310

Healthcare Support Workers, All Other

6401.717.0435,430

Footnotes:
(1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Providence-Warwick, RI-MA, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_77200.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.
 

 

Last Modified Date: Tuesday, July 26, 2016