Workers in the Huntsville Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $25.30 in May 2015, about 9 percent above 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 higher than their respective national averages in 4 of the 22 major occupational groups, including architecture and engineering, and business and financial operations. Twelve groups had significantly lower wages than their respective national averages, including construction and extraction; sales and related; and transportation and material moving.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 3 of the 22 occupational groups: architecture and engineering; computer and mathematical; and business and financial operations. Conversely, 14 groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including office and administrative support; education, training, and library; and food preparation and serving related. (See table A and box note at end of release.)

One occupational group—architecture and engineering—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Huntsville had 18,040 jobs in architecture and engineering, accounting for 8.5 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 1.8-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $47.52, significantly above the national wage of $39.89.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the architecture and engineering group included aerospace engineers (3,700), electrical engineers (1,800), and electronics engineers, except computer (1,420). Among the higher paying jobs were aerospace engineers and computer hardware engineers, with mean hourly wages of $54.04 and $53.47, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were civil engineering technicians ($18.68) and surveying and mapping technicians ($19.62). (Detailed occupational data for architecture and engineering are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_26620.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 Huntsville Metropolitan Statistical Area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the architecture and engineering group. For instance, aerospace engineers were employed at 35.7 times the national rate in Huntsville, and computer hardware engineers, at 9.9 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, civil engineers had a location quotient of 0.9 in Huntsville, 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.

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 Huntsville Metropolitan Statistical Area included 1,920 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 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 Huntsville, Ala. Metropolitan Statistical Area  includes Limestone and Madison 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/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, Huntsville Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2015

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Architecture and Engineering Occupations	18,040	4.7	$47.52	$98,830
Architects, Except Landscape and Naval	100	0.7	37.28	77,540
Surveyors	60	0.9	25.48	53,010
Aerospace Engineers	3,700	35.7	54.04	112,410
Chemical Engineers	150	3.0	47.25	98,280
Civil Engineers	370	0.9	38.47	80,010
Computer Hardware Engineers	1,160	9.9	53.47	111,210
Electrical Engineers	1,800	6.5	47.71	99,240
Electronics Engineers, Except Computer	1,420	6.8	51.89	107,920
Environmental Engineers	120	1.5	44.78	93,150
Health and Safety Engineers, Except Mining Safety Engineers and Inspectors	180	4.7	51.69	107,510
Industrial Engineers	1,270	3.3	46.30	96,310
Materials Engineers	280	6.8	51.06	106,210
Mechanical Engineers	1,180	2.7	45.03	93,650
Nuclear Engineers	30	1.3	(5)	(5)
Engineers, All Other	3,150	16.3	56.12	116,740
Architectural and Civil Drafters	70	0.5	25.56	53,160
Electrical and Electronics Drafters	190	4.3	35.90	74,680
Mechanical Drafters	160	1.5	35.34	73,510
Aerospace Engineering and Operations Technicians	170	8.4	32.03	66,630
Civil Engineering Technicians	120	1.1	18.68	38,860
Electrical and Electronics Engineering Technicians	1,280	5.9	27.25	56,670
Electro-Mechanical Technicians	30	1.5	24.33	50,620
Industrial Engineering Technicians	200	2.1	27.04	56,240
Mechanical Engineering Technicians	230	3.0	25.57	53,180
Engineering Technicians, Except Drafters, All Other	430	4.0	34.60	71,960
Surveying and Mapping Technicians	80	1.0	19.62	40,820
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in Huntsville, AL, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_26620.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.