Workers in the Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall Metropolitan Division had an average (mean) hourly wage of $20.72 in May 2013, 7 percent below the nationwide average of $22.33, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Regional Commissioner Janet S. Rankin noted that, after testing for statistical significance, wages in the local area were significantly lower than their respective national averages in 13 of the 22 major occupational groups, including production, building and grounds cleaning and maintenance, and construction and extraction. One group, management, had significantly higher wages than their 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, sales and related, and protective service. Conversely, 11 groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including production, management, and education,training, and library. (See table A and box note at end of release.)

One occupational group—office and administrative support—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall had 202,270 jobs in office and administrative support, accounting for 19.8 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 16.2-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $15.64, significantly below the national wage of $16.78.

With employment of 25,650, customer service representatives was the largest occupation within the office and administrative support group, followed by secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive (22,580) and general office clerks (21,320). Among the higher paying jobs were first-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers, and executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants, with mean hourly wages of $25.64 and $22.27, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were stock clerks and order fillers ($10.93) and hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks ($11.21). (Detailed occupational data for office and administrative support are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_33124.htm.)

 

Table A. Occupational employment and wages by major occupational group, United States and the Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall Metropolitan Division, and measures of statistical significance, May 2013

Major occupational group	Percent of total employment		Mean hourly wage
	United States	Miami	United States	Miami	Percent difference 1
Total, all occupations	100.0%	100.0%	$22.33	$20.72*	-7
Management	4.9	3.4*	53.15	58.13*	9
Business and financial operations	5.0	5.5*	34.14	32.23*	-6
Computer and mathematical	2.8	1.6*	39.43	35.13*	-11
Architecture and engineering	1.8	1.0*	38.51	34.65*	-10
Life, physical, and social science	0.9	0.4*	33.37	33.35	0
Community and social services	1.4	1.1*	21.50	19.88*	-8
Legal	0.8	1.4*	47.89	53.36	11
Education, training, and library	6.3	4.9*	24.76	23.44	-5
Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media	1.3	1.3	26.72	24.03*	-10
Healthcare practitioner and technical	5.8	6.2*	35.93	33.82*	-6
Healthcare support	3.0	2.5*	13.61	12.53*	-8
Protective service	2.5	4.1*	20.92	21.86	4
Food preparation and serving related	9.0	9.6*	10.38	10.43	0
Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance	3.2	3.4*	12.51	10.64*	-15
Personal care and service	3.0	3.0	11.88	11.60	-2
Sales and related	10.6	13.9*	18.37	18.21	-1
Office and administrative support	16.2	19.8*	16.78	15.64*	-7
Farming, fishing, and forestry	0.3	0.3*	11.70	9.70*	-17
Construction and extraction	3.8	2.2*	21.94	19.08*	-13
Installation, maintenance, and repair	3.9	3.6*	21.35	19.03*	-11
Production	6.6	3.7*	16.79	14.00*	-17
Transportation and material moving	6.8	7.1*	16.28	16.99	4
* 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. 1 A positive percent difference measures how much the mean wage in Miami is above the national mean wage, while a negative difference reflects a lower wage.

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 Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall Metropolitan Division, above average concentrations of employment were found in some of the occupations within the office and administrative support group. For instance, cargo and freight agents were employed at 6.1 times the national rate in Miami, and legal secretaries, at 2.1 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, general office clerks had a location quotient of 1.0 in Miami, 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 Florida Department of Economic Opportunity.

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 2013 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected in May 2013, November 2012, May 2012, November 2011, May 2011, and November 2010. The overall national response rate for the six panels is 75.3 percent based on establishments and 71.6 percent based on employment. The sample in the Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall Metropolitan Division included 5,235 establishments with a response rate of 74 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 2013 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 Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall, Fla. Metropolitan Division includes Miami-Dade County.

Additional information

OES data are available on our regional web page at www.bls.gov/regions/southeast. 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/2013/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, Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall Metropolitan Division, May 2013

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Office and Administrative Support Occupations	202,270	1.2	$15.64	$32,530
First-Line Supervisors of Office and Administrative Support Workers	11,350	1.1	25.64	53,340
Switchboard Operators, Including Answering Service	1,070	1.2	12.32	25,610
Telephone Operators	40	0.6	12.85	26,740
Bill and Account Collectors	2,530	0.9	16.86	35,060
Billing and Posting Clerks	4,060	1.1	15.92	33,110
Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks	13,180	1.1	16.90	35,150
Gaming Cage Workers	40	0.3	14.09	29,310
Payroll and Timekeeping Clerks	970	0.7	19.26	40,060
Procurement Clerks	410	0.8	18.12	37,690
Tellers	5,850	1.4	14.10	29,330
Financial Clerks, All Other	260	0.8	19.21	39,960
Brokerage Clerks	940	2.0	19.35	40,250
Correspondence Clerks	40	0.6	15.41	32,060
Court, Municipal, and License Clerks	570	0.6	17.04	35,450
Credit Authorizers, Checkers, and Clerks	(5)	(5)	16.61	34,540
Customer Service Representatives	25,650	1.4	14.32	29,800
Eligibility Interviewers, Government Programs	240	0.3	18.12	37,690
File Clerks	2,660	2.3	14.52	30,200
Hotel, Motel, and Resort Desk Clerks	2,610	1.4	11.21	23,310
Interviewers, Except Eligibility and Loan	1,640	1.1	14.40	29,960
Library Assistants, Clerical	510	0.7	12.57	26,150
Loan Interviewers and Clerks	1,500	0.9	18.10	37,650
New Accounts Clerks	250	0.6	17.60	36,610
Order Clerks	1,810	1.2	13.63	28,360
Human Resources Assistants, Except Payroll and Timekeeping	1,080	1.0	17.41	36,220
Receptionists and Information Clerks	10,080	1.3	12.06	25,090
Reservation and Transportation Ticket Agents and Travel Clerks	5,690	5.2	15.73	32,720
Information and Record Clerks, All Other	4,180	3.0	17.73	36,880
Cargo and Freight Agents	3,450	6.1	19.39	40,330
Couriers and Messengers	680	1.2	15.47	32,170
Police, Fire, and Ambulance Dispatchers	610	0.8	24.37	50,690
Dispatchers, Except Police, Fire, and Ambulance	1,480	1.0	15.53	32,300
Meter Readers, Utilities	130	0.4	17.07	35,500
Postal Service Clerks	460	0.8	24.50	50,950
Postal Service Mail Carriers	2,210	0.9	25.08	52,160
Postal Service Mail Sorters, Processors, and Processing Machine Operators	1,390	1.5	23.87	49,650
Production, Planning, and Expediting Clerks	1,380	0.6	19.63	40,830
Shipping, Receiving, and Traffic Clerks	7,590	1.5	13.24	27,540
Stock Clerks and Order Fillers	18,110	1.3	10.93	22,740
Weighers, Measurers, Checkers, and Samplers, Recordkeeping	420	0.8	11.98	24,920
Executive Secretaries and Executive Administrative Assistants	8,110	1.4	22.27	46,320
Legal Secretaries	3,630	2.1	21.38	44,460
Medical Secretaries	2,440	0.6	14.56	30,280
Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive	22,580	1.4	14.60	30,370
Computer Operators	280	0.5	18.14	37,730
Data Entry Keyers	2,200	1.4	12.82	26,660
Word Processors and Typists	500	0.7	16.00	33,270
Desktop Publishers	40	0.3	17.27	35,930
Insurance Claims and Policy Processing Clerks	2,240	1.2	15.84	32,950
Mail Clerks and Mail Machine Operators, Except Postal Service	630	0.8	12.21	25,400
Office Clerks, General	21,320	1.0	13.15	27,350
Office Machine Operators, Except Computer	590	1.2	13.51	28,100
Statistical Assistants	40	0.4	19.04	39,590
Office and Administrative Support Workers, All Other	370	0.2	18.11	37,670
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall, FL Metropolitan Division, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_33124.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.