When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 4 of the 22 occupational groups, including office and administrative support, education, training, and library, and personal care and service. Conversely, eight groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including transportation and material moving, management, and architecture and engineering. (See table A and box note at end of release.)

One occupational group—education, training, and library—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Buffalo-Niagara Falls had 41,420 jobs in education, training, and library, accounting for 7.8 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 6.4-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $22.83, measurably below the national wage of $24.62.

With employment of 7,870, teacher assistants was the largest occupation within the education, training, and library group, followed by elementary school teachers, except special education (4,770) and substitute teachers (4,190). Among the higher paying jobs were postsecondary economics and computer science teachers, with mean annual wages of $99,710 and $81,850 respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were teacher assistants ($23,680) and graduate teaching assistants ($19,330). (Detailed occupational data for education, training, and library are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_15380.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 Buffalo-Niagara Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area, above average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the education, training, and library group. For instance, education teachers, postsecondary were employed at 2.6 times the national rate in Buffalo, and self-enrichment education teachers, at 2.2 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, instructional coordinators had a location quotient of 1.0 in Buffalo, 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 New York State Department of Labor.

With the release of the May 2012 estimates, OES data are based on the 2010 Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) system for the first time. The OES survey provides estimates of employment and hourly and annual wages for wage and salary workers in 22 major occupational groups and more than 800 detailed occupations for the nation, states, metropolitan statistical areas, metropolitan divisions, and nonmetropolitan areas. In addition, employment and wage estimates for 94 minor groups and 458 broad occupations are available in the national data for the first time. Information about the 2010 SOC is available on the BLS website at www.bls.gov/soc.

The May 2012 OES estimates are the first to be produced using the 2012 North American Industry Classification System (NAICS). Information about the 2012 NAICS is available on the BLS website at www.bls.gov/bls/naics.htm.

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. Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands are also surveyed, but their data are not included in the national estimates. 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 for a 3-year period. May 2012 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected in May 2012, November 2011, May 2011, November 2010, May 2010, and November 2009. The overall national response rate for the six panels is 76.6 percent based on establishments and 72.9 percent based on employment. The sample in the Buffalo-Niagara Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area included 3,891 establishments with a response rate of 77 percent. For more information about OES concepts and methodology, go to www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.tn.htm.

Area definition

The substate area data published in this release reflect the standards and definitions established by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget.

The Buffalo-Niagara Falls, N.Y.Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Erie and Niagara Counties.

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/2012/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, Buffalo-Niagara Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2012

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual(4)
Education, Training, and Library Occupations	41,420	1.2	$22.83	$47,480
Business Teachers, Postsecondary	560	1.7	(5)	73,900
Computer Science Teachers, Postsecondary	150	1.1	(5)	81,850
Mathematical Science Teachers, Postsecondary	270	1.2	(5)	58,950
Biological Science Teachers, Postsecondary	200	1.0	(5)	62,010
Chemistry Teachers, Postsecondary	110	1.4	(5)	80,410
Physics Teachers, Postsecondary	70	1.2	(5)	73,790
Anthropology and Archeology Teachers, Postsecondary	50	2.0	(5)	71,140
Economics Teachers, Postsecondary	40	0.8	(5)	99,710
Political Science Teachers, Postsecondary	140	2.1	(5)	62,180
Psychology Teachers, Postsecondary	180	1.2	(5)	63,860
Sociology Teachers, Postsecondary	100	1.4	(5)	66,310
Health Specialties Teachers, Postsecondary	320	0.5	(5)	68,490
Nursing Instructors and Teachers, Postsecondary	370	1.6	(5)	67,710
Education Teachers, Postsecondary	670	2.6	(5)	54,060
Criminal Justice and Law Enforcement Teachers, Postsecondary	130	2.3	(5)	42,670
Social Work Teachers, Postsecondary	70	1.8	(5)	68,040
Art, Drama, and Music Teachers, Postsecondary	400	1.1	(5)	74,930
Communications Teachers, Postsecondary	120	1.0	(5)	61,560
English Language and Literature Teachers, Postsecondary	400	1.4	(5)	57,850
Foreign Language and Literature Teachers, Postsecondary	100	0.8	(5)	60,620
History Teachers, Postsecondary	110	1.2	(5)	70,650
Philosophy and Religion Teachers, Postsecondary	140	1.5	(5)	66,980
Graduate Teaching Assistants	330	0.7	(5)	19,330
Recreation and Fitness Studies Teachers, Postsecondary	70	0.9	(5)	56,080
Vocational Education Teachers, Postsecondary	440	0.9	21.38	44,460
Postsecondary Teachers, All Other	2,300	2.8	(5)	64,250
Preschool Teachers, Except Special Education	1,340	1.0	16.51	34,340
Kindergarten Teachers, Except Special Education	620	1.0	(5)	60,470
Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education	4,770	0.9	(5)	59,730
Middle School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education	2,110	0.8	(5)	59,180
Career/Technical Education Teachers, Middle School	210	2.8	(5)	59,020
Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education	4,120	1.1	(5)	61,290
Career/Technical Education Teachers, Secondary School	630	1.8	(5)	59,200
Special Education Teachers, Preschool	280	3.1	(5)	40,480
Special Education Teachers, Kindergarten and Elementary School	1,190	1.5	(5)	61,610
Special Education Teachers, Middle School	500	1.3	(5)	60,010
Special Education Teachers, Secondary School	920	1.7	(5)	62,550
Adult Basic and Secondary Education and Literacy Teachers and Instructors	500	1.9	25.34	52,720
Self-Enrichment Education Teachers	1,610	2.2	14.05	29,220
Substitute Teachers	4,190	1.7	14.70	30,570
Teachers and Instructors, All Other, Except Substitute Teachers	770	0.7	(5)	39,640
Curators	(5)	(5)	20.86	43,390
Librarians	510	0.9	25.46	52,950
Library Technicians	330	0.8	11.56	24,040
Audio-Visual and Multimedia Collections Specialists	40	1.1	26.02	54,110
Instructional Coordinators	550	1.0	24.40	50,760
Teacher Assistants	7,870	1.6	(5)	23,680
Education, Training, and Library Workers, All Other	120	0.3	11.83	24,610
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in Buffalo-Niagara Falls, NY, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_15380.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.