Workers in the Bowling Green Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $17.62 in May 2014, about 22 percent below the nationwide average of $22.71, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Regional Commissioner Janet S. Rankin noted that, after testing for statistical significance, no wages in the local area were higher than their respective national averages in 22 major occupational groups. Twenty groups had significantly lower wages than their respective national averages, including computer and mathematical, and legal.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 4 of the 22 occupational groups, including production, and food preparation and serving related. Conversely, nine groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including computer and mathematical, and business and financial operations. (See table A and box note at end of release.)

One occupational group—food preparation and serving related—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Bowling Green had 6,460 jobs in food preparation and serving related, accounting for 10.7 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 9.1-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $9.18, significantly below the national wage of $10.57.

Some of the largest detailed occupations within the food preparation and serving related group included combined food preparation and serving workers, including fast food (2,200), waiters and waitresses (1,190), and restaurant cooks (640). Among the higher paying jobs were first-line supervisors of food preparation and serving workers; and institution and cafeteria cooks, with mean hourly wages of $13.28 and $10.40, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were combined food preparation and serving workers, including fast food ($8.39) and restaurant, lounge and coffee shop hosts and hostesses ($8.72). (Detailed occupational data for food preparation and serving related are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/2014/may/oes_14540.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 Bowling Green Metropolitan Statistical Area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in some of the occupations within the food preparation and serving related group. For instance, restaurant, lounge, and coffee shop hosts and hostesses were employed at 2.2 times the national rate in Bowling Green, and combined food preparation and serving workers, including fast food, at 1.6 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, waiters and waitresses had a location quotient of 1.1 in Bowling Green, 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 Kentucky Department for Workforce Investment.

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 Bowling Green Metropolitan Statistical Area included 974 establishments with a response rate of 76 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 Bowling Green, Ky. Metropolitan Statistical Area  includes Edmonson and Warren Counties.

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/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, Bowling Green Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2014

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Food Preparation and Serving Related Occupations	6,460	1.2	$9.18	$19,090
First-Line Supervisors of Food Preparation and Serving Workers	540	1.4	13.28	27,620
Cooks, Fast Food	(5)	(5)	8.74	18,180
Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria	360	2.0	10.40	21,620
Cooks, Restaurant	640	1.3	9.53	19,820
Food Preparation Workers	200	0.5	9.78	20,330
Bartenders	110	0.4	9.05	18,820
Combined Food Preparation and Serving Workers, Including Fast Food	2,200	1.6	8.39	17,450
Counter Attendants, Cafeteria, Food Concession, and Coffee Shop	340	1.6	8.19	17,040
Waiters and Waitresses	1,190	1.1	8.57	17,820
Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender Helpers	150	0.8	8.96	18,640
Dishwashers	230	1.0	8.79	18,280
Hosts and Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, and Coffee Shop	370	2.2	8.72	18,130
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in Bowling Green, KY, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_14540.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.