Workers in the Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall Metropolitan Division had an average (mean) hourly wage of $21.70 in May 2015, about 7 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 10 of the 22 major occupational groups including, production; construction and extraction; and computer and mathematical. Two groups had significantly higher wages than their respective national averages: management; and food preparation and serving related.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 7 of the 22 occupational groups, including sales and related; office and administrative support; and transportation and material moving. 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 206,930 jobs in office and administrative support, accounting for 18.9 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 15.8-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $16.44, significantly below the national wage of $17.47.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the office and administrative support group included customer service representatives (26,290), general office clerks (25,210), and secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive (23,860). Among the higher paying jobs were first-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers and brokerage clerks, with mean hourly wages of $26.60 and $26.47, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were stock clerks and order fillers ($11.55) and hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks ($11.64). (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.)

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, reservation and transportation ticket agents and travel clerks were employed at 4.9 times the national rate in Miami, and cargo and freight agents, at 4.5 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing 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. 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 Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall Metropolitan Statistical Area included 5,341 establishments with a response rate of 69 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 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/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, Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall Metropolitan Division, May 2015

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Office and Administrative Support Occupations	206,930	1.2	$16.44	$34,190
First-Line Supervisors of Office and Administrative Support Workers	12,950	1.2	26.60	55,320
Switchboard Operators, Including Answering Service	960	1.2	13.04	27,130
Telephone Operators	(5)	(5)	11.64	24,220
Bill and Account Collectors	2,040	0.8	17.55	36,510
Billing and Posting Clerks	4,270	1.1	16.09	33,470
Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks	12,880	1.0	17.80	37,030
Gaming Cage Workers	130	0.9	10.69	22,220
Payroll and Timekeeping Clerks	910	0.7	22.23	46,240
Procurement Clerks	420	0.8	20.13	41,880
Tellers	5,010	1.3	14.03	29,180
Financial Clerks, All Other	250	0.9	18.57	38,620
Brokerage Clerks	570	1.3	26.47	55,050
Court, Municipal, and License Clerks	700	0.7	17.82	37,060
Credit Authorizers, Checkers, and Clerks	(5)	(5)	15.21	31,640
Customer Service Representatives	26,290	1.3	14.79	30,760
Eligibility Interviewers, Government Programs	380	0.4	16.41	34,130
File Clerks	2,790	2.5	15.01	31,220
Hotel, Motel, and Resort Desk Clerks	2,590	1.4	11.64	24,220
Interviewers, Except Eligibility and Loan	1,260	0.9	15.51	32,260
Library Assistants, Clerical	480	0.6	12.77	26,570
Loan Interviewers and Clerks	1,690	1.0	18.40	38,280
New Accounts Clerks	120	0.3	19.63	40,820
Order Clerks	1,610	1.1	13.42	27,920
Human Resources Assistants, Except Payroll and Timekeeping	1,020	0.9	17.73	36,870
Receptionists and Information Clerks	10,620	1.4	13.08	27,210
Reservation and Transportation Ticket Agents and Travel Clerks	5,350	4.9	16.35	34,000
Information and Record Clerks, All Other	4,510	3.2	18.71	38,930
Cargo and Freight Agents	2,900	4.5	20.06	41,720
Couriers and Messengers	630	1.1	15.67	32,590
Police, Fire, and Ambulance Dispatchers	610	0.8	23.65	49,180
Dispatchers, Except Police, Fire, and Ambulance	1,880	1.2	15.97	33,210
Meter Readers, Utilities	130	0.5	16.35	34,000
Postal Service Clerks	450	0.7	25.42	52,880
Postal Service Mail Carriers	2,310	0.9	25.01	52,020
Postal Service Mail Sorters, Processors, and Processing Machine Operators	1,420	1.6	24.33	50,600
Production, Planning, and Expediting Clerks	1,410	0.6	20.77	43,190
Shipping, Receiving, and Traffic Clerks	6,790	1.3	13.96	29,040
Stock Clerks and Order Fillers	17,970	1.2	11.55	24,020
Weighers, Measurers, Checkers, and Samplers, Recordkeeping	340	0.6	12.94	26,920
Executive Secretaries and Executive Administrative Assistants	6,530	1.2	25.43	52,880
Legal Secretaries	3,800	2.4	21.64	45,010
Medical Secretaries	3,050	0.7	15.57	32,380
Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive	23,860	1.3	15.88	33,020
Computer Operators	320	0.8	19.40	40,360
Data Entry Keyers	2,080	1.3	13.28	27,620
Word Processors and Typists	310	0.6	17.09	35,550
Desktop Publishers	60	0.6	15.93	33,140
Insurance Claims and Policy Processing Clerks	2,550	1.2	17.77	36,970
Mail Clerks and Mail Machine Operators, Except Postal Service	670	0.9	13.30	27,660
Office Clerks, General	25,210	1.1	13.86	28,830
Office Machine Operators, Except Computer	630	1.3	13.83	28,770
Proofreaders and Copy Markers	40	0.4	14.46	30,080
Office and Administrative Support Workers, All Other	690	0.4	18.07	37,580
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.