Workers in the Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall Metropolitan Division had an average (mean) hourly wage of $22.17 in May 2016, about 7 percent below the nationwide average of $23.86, 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 12 of the 22 major occupational groups including, production; computer and mathematical; and building and grounds cleaning and maintenance. Two groups—management, and food preparation and serving related—had significantly higher wages than their respective national averages.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 8 of the 22 occupational groups, including office and administrative support; sales and related; 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—sales and related—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall had 148,800 jobs in sales and related, accounting for 13.2 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 10.4-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $19.62, compared to the national wage of $19.50.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the sales and related group included retail salespersons (49,600), cashiers (28,140), and sales representatives, wholesale and manufacturing, except technical and scientific products (19,380). Among the higher paying jobs were first-line supervisors of non-retail sales workers, and securities, commodities, and financial services sales agents, with mean hourly wages of $49.78 and $47.64, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were cashiers ($9.92) and retail salespersons ($11.80). (Detailed occupational data for sales and related 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 many of the occupations within the sales and related group. For instance, travel agents were employed at 3.2 times the national rate in Miami, and real estate sales agents, at 1.8 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, cashiers 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 data available from BLS include cross-industry occupational employment and wage estimates for the nation; over 650 areas, including states and the District of Columbia, metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs), metropolitan divisions, nonmetropolitan areas, and territories; national industry-specific estimates at the NAICS sector, 3-, 4-, and selected 5- and 6-digit industry levels, and national estimates 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. Each year, two semiannual panels of approximately 200,000 sampled establishments are contacted, one panel in May and the other in November. Responses are obtained by mail, Internet or other electronic means, email, telephone, or personal visit. The May 2016 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2016, November 2015, May 2015, November 2014, May 2014, and November 2013. The overall national response rate for the six panels, based on the 50 states and the District of Columbia, is 73 percent based on establishments and 69 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The unweighted employment of sampled establishments across all six semiannual panels represents approximately 58 percent of total national employment. The sample in the Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall Metropolitan Division included 5,393 establishments with a response rate of 68 percent. For more information about OES concepts and methodology, go to www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.tn.htm.

The May 2016 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 2016

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Sales and related occupations	148,800	1.3	$19.62	$40,810
First-line supervisors of retail sales workers	10,710	1.1	22.60	47,000
First-line supervisors of non-retail sales workers	3,730	1.8	49.78	103,540
Cashiers	28,140	1.0	9.92	20,620
Gaming change persons and booth cashiers	120	0.7	(5)	(5)
Counter and rental clerks	3,590	1.0	13.03	27,090
Parts salespersons	1,710	0.9	14.30	29,740
Retail salespersons	49,600	1.4	11.80	24,540
Advertising sales agents	1,720	1.5	32.15	66,880
Insurance sales agents	3,770	1.2	39.20	81,530
Securities, commodities, and financial services sales agents	4,330	1.5	47.64	99,100
Travel agents	1,770	3.2	21.30	44,310
Sales representatives, services, all other	10,190	1.3	26.26	54,620
Sales representatives, wholesale and manufacturing, technical and scientific products	3,760	1.4	41.11	85,500
Sales representatives, wholesale and manufacturing, except technical and scientific products	19,380	1.7	27.67	57,540
Demonstrators and product promoters	940	1.4	15.66	32,570
Real estate brokers	530	1.6	35.88	74,640
Real estate sales agents	2,220	1.8	30.40	63,240
Sales engineers	260	0.4	64.55	134,260
Telemarketers	(5)	(5)	12.50	26,010
Sales and related workers, all other	650	1.0	16.50	34,330
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the 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.