Workers in the Ithaca Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $27.90 in May 2017, compared to the nationwide average of $24.34, 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 5 of the 22 major occupational groups, including education, training, and library; community and social service; and production. Four groups had significantly lower wages than their respective national averages, including life, physical, and social science; architecture and engineering; and healthcare practitioners and technical.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 5 of the 22 occupational groups, including education, training, and library; life, physical, and social science; and building and grounds cleaning and maintenance. Conversely, nine groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including transportation and material moving; production; and sales and related. (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. Ithaca had 8,220 jobs in education, training, and library, accounting for 16.4 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 6.1-percent share nationally. The average annual wage for this occupational group locally was $93,370, significantly above the national wage of $55,470.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the education, training, and library group included teacher assistants (720), instructional coordinators (660), and elementary school teachers, except special education (420). Among the higher paying jobs were postsecondary business and computer science teachers, with mean annual wages of $178,250 and $148,940, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were substitute teachers ($26,220) and teacher assistants ($29,550). (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_27060.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 Ithaca Metropolitan Statistical Area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the education, training, and library group. For instance, instructional coordinators were employed at 11.9 times the national rate in Ithaca, and biological science teachers, postsecondary, at 11.0 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, secondary school teachers, except special and career/technical education had a location quotient of 1.0 in Ithaca, 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. The OES data available from BLS include cross-industry occupational employment and wage estimates for the nation; over 650 areas, including states and the District of Columbia, metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs), metropolitan divisions, nonmetropolitan areas, and territories; national industry-specific estimates at the NAICS sector, 3-, 4-, and selected 5- and 6-digit industry levels, and national estimates 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. Each year, two semiannual panels of approximately 200,000 sampled establishments are contacted, one panel in May and the other in November. Responses are obtained by mail, Internet or other electronic means, email, telephone, or personal visit. The May 2017 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2017, November 2016, May 2016, November 2015, May 2015, and November 2014. The overall national response rate for the six panels, based on the 50 states and the District of Columbia, is 72 percent based on establishments and 68 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The unweighted sample employment of 82 million across all six semiannual panels represents approximately 58 percent of total national employment. The sample in the Ithaca Metropolitan Statistical Area included 788 establishments with a response rate of 77 percent. For more information about OES concepts and methodology, go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_tec.htm.

The May 2017 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 Ithaca, N.Y. Metropolitan Statistical Area is comprised of Tompkins County.

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/current/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, Ithaca Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2017

Occupation (1)	Employment		Annual mean wages (4)
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)
Education, training, and library occupations	8,220	2.7	$93,370
Business teachers, postsecondary	230	7.8	178,250
Computer science teachers, postsecondary	130	11.1	146,940
Mathematical science teachers, postsecondary	110	6.1	113,350
Biological science teachers, postsecondary	190	11.0	126,200
Psychology teachers, postsecondary	100	7.7	121,670
Health specialties teachers, postsecondary	(5)	(5)	132,830
Law teachers, postsecondary	(5)	(5)	230,150
English language and literature teachers, postsecondary	190	7.7	94,120
Foreign language and literature teachers, postsecondary	90	9.8	98,680
Preschool teachers, except special education	80	0.5	37,970
Kindergarten teachers, except special education	40	0.8	51,600
Elementary school teachers, except special education	420	0.9	57,790
Middle school teachers, except special and career/technical education	(5)	(5)	57,190
Secondary school teachers, except special and career/technical education	350	1.0	56,280
Career/technical education teachers, secondary school	30	1.3	57,870
Special education teachers, kindergarten and elementary school	100	1.5	56,700
Special education teachers, secondary school	100	2.1	57,340
Adult basic and secondary education and literacy teachers and instructors	(5)	(5)	63,110
Self-enrichment education teachers	250	2.9	45,560
Teachers and instructors, all other, except substitute teachers	90	0.9	52,300
Substitute teachers	320	1.5	26,220
Librarians	230	5.2	71,980
Library technicians	170	5.4	45,650
Instructional coordinators	660	11.9	74,550
Teacher assistants	720	1.6	29,550
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in Ithaca, NY, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_27060.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. (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.