Workers in the New York-White Plains-Wayne Metropolitan Division had an average (mean) hourly wage of $29.63 in May 2014, about 30 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 20 of the 22 major occupational groups, including management; legal; and arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media. 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 12 of the 22 occupational groups, including arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media; business and financial operations; and healthcare support. Conversely, nine groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including production, food preparation and serving related, and transportation and material moving. (See table A and box note at end of release.)

One occupational group—arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. New York-White Plains-Wayne had 156,160 jobs in arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media, accounting for 2.9 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 1.3-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $38.76, significantly above the national wage of $26.82.

Some of the largest detailed occupations within the arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media group included public relations specialists (19,470), editors (17,640), and producers and directors (17,540). Among the higher paying jobs were art directors and producers and directors, with mean hourly wages of $61.68 and $55.85, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were floral designers ($14.77) and merchandise displayers and window trimmers ($18.92). (Detailed occupational data for arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/special.requests/oesm14ma.zip .)

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 New York-White Plains-Wayne Metropolitan Division, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media group. For instance, fashion designers were employed at 9.9 times the national rate in New York, and art directors, at 4.8 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, merchandise displayers and window trimmers had a location quotient of 0.9 in New York, 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 New York-White Plains-Wayne Metropolitan Division included 17,609 establishments with a response rate of 72 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 New York-White Plains-Wayne, N.Y. Metropolitan Division  includes Bronx, Kings, New York, Putnam, Queens, Richmond, Rockland, and Westchester Counties of New York, and Bergen, Hudson, and Passaic Counties of New Jersey.

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, New York-White Plains-Wayne Metropolitan Division, May 2014

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media Occupations	156,160	2.2	$38.76	$80,620
Art Directors	6,360	4.8	61.68	128,290
Craft Artists	(5)	(5)	21.45	44,620
Fine Artists, Including Painters, Sculptors, and Illustrators	740	1.5	37.36	77,710
Multimedia Artists and Animators	2,170	1.9	35.17	73,140
Artists and Related Workers, All Other	(5)	(5)	39.18	81,500
Commercial and Industrial Designers	1,920	1.6	36.17	75,240
Fashion Designers	7,030	9.9	38.93	80,970
Floral Designers	1,630	0.9	14.77	30,730
Graphic Designers	14,620	1.9	31.46	65,430
Interior Designers	3,020	1.7	32.11	66,790
Merchandise Displayers and Window Trimmers	3,480	0.9	18.92	39,350
Set and Exhibit Designers	1,660	4.0	(5)	(5)
Designers, All Other	400	1.5	31.01	64,510
Actors	(5)	(5)	50.23	(6)
Producers and Directors	17,540	4.5	55.85	116,160
Athletes and Sports Competitors	190	0.4	(5)	78,970
Coaches and Scouts	5,460	0.7	(5)	46,780
Umpires, Referees, and Other Sports Officials	990	1.4	(5)	(5)
Dancers	750	1.7	26.93	(6)
Choreographers	130	0.5	37.41	77,810
Music Directors and Composers	1,770	2.0	(5)	(5)
Musicians and Singers	4,300	2.8	43.10	(6)
Entertainers and Performers, Sports and Related Workers, All Other	370	0.6	48.03	(6)
Radio and Television Announcers	1,140	1.0	28.31	58,890
Public Address System and Other Announcers	420	1.4	19.12	39,770
Broadcast News Analysts	230	1.3	(5)	(5)
Reporters and Correspondents	2,770	1.6	34.41	71,580
Public Relations Specialists	19,470	2.4	34.40	71,550
Editors	17,640	4.5	40.41	84,050
Technical Writers	1,230	0.6	39.62	82,400
Writers and Authors	5,800	3.3	40.40	84,030
Interpreters and Translators	2,350	1.2	27.41	57,020
Media and Communication Workers, All Other	1,010	1.0	26.29	54,690
Audio and Video Equipment Technicians	4,920	2.1	30.05	62,510
Broadcast Technicians	1,850	1.7	29.96	62,320
Sound Engineering Technicians	1,930	3.5	35.33	73,480
Photographers	3,350	1.6	28.46	59,190
Camera Operators, Television, Video, and Motion Picture	1,490	2.0	(5)	(5)
Film and Video Editors	3,680	3.8	36.11	75,100
Media and Communication Equipment Workers, All Other	760	1.1	34.03	70,780
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in New York-White Plains-Wayne, NY-NJ Metropolitan Division, see https://www.bls.gov/oes/special.requests/oesm14ma.zip. (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. (6) Wages for some occupations that do not generally work year-round, full time, are reported either as hourly wages or annual salaries depending on how they are typically paid.