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News Release Information

16-1164-ATL
Wednesday, June 08, 2016

Contacts Technical information: Media contact:
  • (404) 893-4220

Occupational Employment and Wages in Birmingham-Hoover — May 2015

Workers in the Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $21.92 in May 2015, about 6 percent below the nationwide average of $23.23, 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 lower than their respective national averages in 15 of the 22 major occupational groups, including personal care and service; computer and mathematical; and construction and extraction. Management was one of two groups that had an average wage that was measurably higher than its respective national average.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 5 of the 22 occupational groups, including healthcare practitioners and technical; sales and related; and office and administrative support. Conversely, 12 groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including food preparation and serving related; education, training, and library; and management. (See table A and box note at end of release.)

Table A. Occupational employment and wages by major occupational group, United States and the Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Statistical Area, and measures of statistical significance, May 2015
Major occupational groupPercent of total employmentMean hourly wage
United StatesBirminghamUnited StatesBirminghamPercent difference (1)

Total, all occupations

100.0%100.0%$23.23$21.92*-6

Management

5.04.2*55.3057.51*4

Business and financial operations

5.14.4*35.4833.00*-7

Computer and mathematical

2.92.6*41.4336.21*-13

Architecture and engineering

1.81.4*39.8937.21*-7

Life, physical, and social science

0.80.5*34.2428.21*-18

Community and social services

1.40.8*22.1921.03*-5

Legal

0.80.849.7443.69*-12

Education, training, and library

6.25.2*25.4824.81-3

Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media

1.31.1*27.3920.17*-26

Healthcare practitioner and technical

5.87.9*37.4036.05-4

Healthcare support

2.92.714.1912.56*-11

Protective service

2.42.7*21.4516.97*-21

Food preparation and serving related

9.18.1*10.9810.08*-8

Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance

3.22.6*13.0211.51*-12

Personal care and service

3.12.6*12.3310.72*-13

Sales and related

10.512.5*18.9018.48-2

Office and administrative support

15.816.9*17.4716.96*-3

Farming, fishing, and forestry

0.30.1*12.6714.34*13

Construction and extraction

4.04.122.8820.02*-13

Installation, maintenance, and repair

3.94.7*22.1122.351

Production

6.66.617.4116.68*-4

Transportation and material moving

6.97.316.9015.98-5

Footnotes:
(1) A positive percent difference measures how much the mean wage in Birmingham-Hoover is above the national mean wage, while a negative difference reflects a lower wage.
* 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.
 

One occupational group—healthcare practitioners and technical—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Birmingham-Hoover had 39,390 jobs in healthcare practitioners and technical, accounting for 7.9 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 5.8-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $36.05, compared to the national wage of $37.40.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the healthcare practitioners and technical group included registered nurses (14,770), licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses (3,950), and pharmacy technicians (1,940). Among the higher paying jobs were general internists and surgeons, with mean hourly wages of $120.46 and $98.93, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were pharmacy technicians ($13.00) and emergency medical technicians and paramedics ($13.44). (Detailed occupational data for healthcare practitioners and technical are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_13820.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 Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Statistical Area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in some of the occupations within the healthcare practitioners and technical group. For instance, nurse anesthetists were employed at 4.2 times the national rate in Birmingham, and dietitians and nutritionists, at 2.3 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, physical therapists had a location quotient of 1.0 in Birmingham, 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 Alabama Department of Labor.

Notes on Occupational Employment Statistics Data

With the issuance of data for May 2015, the OES program has incorporated redefined metropolitan area definitions as designated by the Office of Management and Budget. OES data are available for 394 metropolitan areas, 38 metropolitan divisions, and 167 OES-defined nonmetropolitan areas. A listing of the areas and their definitions can be found at www.bls.gov/oes/current/msa_def.htm.

A value that is statistically different from another does not necessarily mean that the difference has economic or practical significance. Statistical significance is concerned with the ability to make confident statements about a universe based on a sample. It is entirely possible that a large difference between two values is not significantly different statistically, while a small difference is, since both the size and heterogeneity of the sample affect the relative error of the data being tested.


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 program produces employment and wage estimates for over 800 occupations for all industries combined in the nation; the 50 states and the District of Columbia; 432 metropolitan areas and divisions; 167 nonmetropolitan areas; and Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. National estimates are also available by industry for NAICS sectors, 3-, 4-, and selected 5- and 6-digit industries, and 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. Forms are mailed to approximately 200,000 sampled establishments in May and November each year. May 2015 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2015, November 2014, May 2014, November 2013, May 2013, and November 2012. The overall national response rate for the six panels is 73.5 percent based on establishments and 69.6 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The unweighted employment of sampled establishments across all six semiannual panels represents approximately 57.9 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 Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Statistical Area included 3,495 establishments with a response rate of 73 percent. For more information about OES concepts and methodology, go to www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.tn.htm.

The May 2015 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 Birmingham-Hoover, Ala. Metropolitan Statistical Area  includes Bibb, Blount, Chilton, Jefferson, Shelby, St. Clair, and Walker 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/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, Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2015
Occupation (1)EmploymentMean wages
Level (2)Location quotient (3)HourlyAnnual (4)

Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations

39,3901.4$36.05$74,990

Dentists, General

2800.868.83143,170

Orthodontists

1005.284.69176,160

Dietitians and Nutritionists

4902.322.5446,880

Optometrists

1301.044.4592,470

Pharmacists

1,6601.653.88112,080

Anesthesiologists

(5)(5)(6)(6)

Family and General Practitioners

1700.480.68167,800

Internists, General

2201.2120.46250,560

Pediatricians, General

1501.598.00203,840

Psychiatrists

(5)(5)83.32173,310

Surgeons

(5)(5)98.93205,760

Physicians and Surgeons, All Other

2,3602.0129.44269,240

Physician Assistants

1400.444.5392,630

Occupational Therapists

4501.139.6782,510

Physical Therapists

7301.040.9685,200

Radiation Therapists

801.237.7378,470

Recreational Therapists

600.920.6042,850

Respiratory Therapists

6901.622.9347,690

Speech-Language Pathologists

4400.932.3667,310

Veterinarians

2701.136.2875,460

Registered Nurses

14,7701.528.3859,030

Nurse Anesthetists

6004.279.86166,110

Nurse Practitioners

5601.148.95101,810

Audiologists

501.230.9764,420

Medical and Clinical Laboratory Technologists

8801.527.6457,480

Medical and Clinical Laboratory Technicians

7501.318.6438,780

Dental Hygienists

6700.921.3244,350

Cardiovascular Technologists and Technicians

2401.324.6651,300

Diagnostic Medical Sonographers

3101.428.6559,580

Nuclear Medicine Technologists

1001.331.2665,030

Radiologic Technologists

9701.424.5351,020

Magnetic Resonance Imaging Technologists

1901.629.8462,070

Emergency Medical Technicians and Paramedics

6400.713.4427,950

Pharmacy Technicians

1,9401.413.0027,050

Psychiatric Technicians

3701.813.9529,010

Surgical Technologists

5501.517.2535,890

Veterinary Technologists and Technicians

2900.814.5230,210

Ophthalmic Medical Technicians

1401.015.8132,880

Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses

3,9501.618.4138,290

Medical Records and Health Information Technicians

8801.317.1135,580

Opticians, Dispensing

2801.015.9133,090

Orthotists and Prosthetists

(5)(5)40.8885,040

Health Technologists and Technicians, All Other

3100.821.7445,220

Occupational Health and Safety Specialists

2400.936.9476,830

Athletic Trainers

1301.5(7)39,560

Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Workers, All Other

3602.514.9931,180

Footnotes:
(1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in Birmingham-Hoover, AL, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_13820.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) This wage is equal to or greater than $90.00 per hour or $187,200 per year.
(7) 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.
 

 

Last Modified Date: Wednesday, June 08, 2016