Workers in the Nassau-Suffolk Metropolitan Division had an average (mean) hourly wage of $25.91 in May 2014, about 14 percent above the nationwide average of $22.71, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Chief Regional Economist Martin Kohli noted that, after testing for statistical significance, wages in the local area were higher than their respective national averages in 16 of the 22 major occupational groups, including management, construction and extraction, and healthcare practitioners and technical. No group had an hourly wage significantly lower than its respective national average.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 9 of the 22 occupational groups, including office and administrative support; education, training, and library; and personal care and service. Conversely, 12 groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including production, transportation and material moving, and computer and mathematical. (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. Nassau-Suffolk had 101,420 jobs in education, training, and library, accounting for 8.0 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 6.2-percent share nationally. The average annual wage for this occupational group locally was $66,780, significantly above the national wage of $52,210.

Some of the largest detailed occupations within the education, training, and library group included teacher assistants (21,020); secondary school teachers, except special and career/technical education (12,560); and elementary school teachers, except special education (11,700). Among the higher paying jobs were physics teachers, postsecondary ($104,350); secondary school teachers, except special and career/technical education ($98,950); and engineering teachers, postsecondary ($98,510). At the lower end of the wage scale were teachers assistants ($29,350), library technicians ($31,690); and preschool teachers, except special education ($32,440). (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/2014/may/oes_35004.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 Nassau-Suffolk Metropolitan Division, above-average concentrations of employment were found in some of the occupations within the education, training, and library group. For instance, special education teachers, preschool were employed at 4.2 times the national rate in Nassau-Suffolk, and special education teachers, secondary school, at 2.6 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, health specialties teachers, postsecondary had a location quotient of 1.0 in Nassau-Suffolk, 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.

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. May 2014 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2014, November 2013, May 2013, November 2012, May 2012, and November 2011. The overall national response rate for the six panels is 74.3 percent based on establishments and 70.5 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The unweighted employment of sampled establishments across all six semiannual panels represents approximately 57.1 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 Nassau-Suffolk Metropolitan Division included 6,376 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 OES survey provides estimates of employment and hourly and annual wages for wage and salary workers in 22 major occupational groups and 821 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. OES data by state and metropolitan/nonmetropolitan area are available from www.bls.gov/oes/current/oessrcst.htm and www.bls.gov/oes/current/oessrcma.htm, respectively.

The May 2014 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.

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 Nassau-Suffolk, N.Y. Metropolitan Division includes Nassau and Suffolk 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/2014/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, Nassau-Suffolk Metropolitan Division, May 2014

Occupation(1)	Employment		Mean annual wage
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)
Education, Training, and Library Occupations	101,420	1.3	$66,780
Business Teachers, Postsecondary	1,120	1.4	78,580
Computer Science Teachers, Postsecondary	310	0.9	78,100
Mathematical Science Teachers, Postsecondary	510	1.0	84,490
Architecture Teachers, Postsecondary	(5)	(5)	77,140
Engineering Teachers, Postsecondary	770	2.3	98,510
Biological Science Teachers, Postsecondary	420	0.8	91,980
Atmospheric, Earth, Marine, and Space Sciences Teachers, Postsecondary	140	1.4	88,200
Chemistry Teachers, Postsecondary	280	1.4	84,660
Environmental Science Teachers, Postsecondary	60	1.2	87,520
Physics Teachers, Postsecondary	250	1.9	104,350
Anthropology and Archeology Teachers, Postsecondary	80	1.4	77,090
Area, Ethnic, and Cultural Studies Teachers, Postsecondary	90	1.0	68,660
Economics Teachers, Postsecondary	110	0.8	95,280
Political Science Teachers, Postsecondary	110	0.7	71,450
Psychology Teachers, Postsecondary	310	0.9	78,970
Sociology Teachers, Postsecondary	130	0.8	75,490
Social Sciences Teachers, Postsecondary, All Other	180	1.7	72,420
Health Specialties Teachers, Postsecondary	1,590	1.0	81,620
Nursing Instructors and Teachers, Postsecondary	400	0.8	79,860
Education Teachers, Postsecondary	590	1.1	68,350
Library Science Teachers, Postsecondary	50	1.2	75,300
Art, Drama, and Music Teachers, Postsecondary	(5)	(5)	75,000
Communications Teachers, Postsecondary	330	1.2	75,760
English Language and Literature Teachers, Postsecondary	750	1.1	71,140
Foreign Language and Literature Teachers, Postsecondary	270	0.9	66,650
History Teachers, Postsecondary	220	1.0	77,250
Philosophy and Religion Teachers, Postsecondary	200	0.9	70,220
Recreation and Fitness Studies Teachers, Postsecondary	260	1.5	66,370
Vocational Education Teachers, Postsecondary	690	0.6	56,360
Postsecondary Teachers, All Other	510	0.3	63,420
Preschool Teachers, Except Special Education	4,320	1.3	32,440
Kindergarten Teachers, Except Special Education	1,370	0.9	96,050
Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education	11,700	0.9	96,910
Middle School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education	6,270	1.1	98,410
Career/Technical Education Teachers, Middle School	340	2.6	94,050
Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education	12,560	1.4	98,950
Career/Technical Education Teachers, Secondary School	660	0.9	93,370
Special Education Teachers, Preschool	930	4.2	69,630
Special Education Teachers, Kindergarten and Elementary School	2,970	1.6	86,370
Special Education Teachers, Middle School	1,520	1.7	96,860
Special Education Teachers, Secondary School	3,230	2.6	99,350
Special Education Teachers, All Other	80	0.2	74,760
Adult Basic and Secondary Education and Literacy Teachers and Instructors	660	1.1	72,740
Self-Enrichment Education Teachers	4,710	2.5	41,850
Teachers and Instructors, All Other, Except Substitute Teachers	1,420	0.6	57,920
Substitute Teachers	9,510	1.6	36,490
Archivists	30	0.7	67,380
Curators	70	0.7	44,510
Librarians	2,530	2.0	75,740
Library Technicians	1,420	1.6	31,690
Audio-Visual and Multimedia Collections Specialists	(5)	(5)	53,460
Instructional Coordinators	1,270	1.0	80,140
Teacher Assistants	21,020	1.9	29,350
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in Nassau-Suffolk, NY Metropolitan Division, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_35004.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.