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News Release Information

17-839-ATL
Tuesday, June 20, 2017

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

Occupational Employment and Wages in Pensacola-Ferry Pass-Brent – May 2016

Workers in the Pensacola-Ferry Pass-Brent Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $19.34 in May 2016, about 19 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, 17 of the 22 major occupational groups had significantly lower wages than their respective national averages, including construction and extraction; computer and mathematical; and sales and related.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 9 of the 22 occupational groups, including office and administrative support; food preparation and serving related; and sales and related. Conversely, 10 groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including production; transportation and material moving; 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 Pensacola-Ferry Pass-Brent Metropolitan Statistical Area, and measures of statistical significance, May 2016
Major occupational groupPercent of total employmentMean hourly wage
United StatesPensacolaUnited StatesPensacolaPercent difference (1)

Total, all occupations

100.0100.0$23.86$19.34*-19

Management

5.12.8*56.7450.12*-12

Business and financial operations

5.24.3*36.0929.26*-19

Computer and mathematical

3.01.7*42.2531.35*-26

Architecture and engineering

1.81.2*40.5335.25*-13

Life, physical, and social science

0.80.5*35.0627.61*-21

Community and social service

1.41.322.6920.60*-9

Legal

0.80.9*50.9536.54*-28

Education, training, and library

6.26.226.2124.19-8

Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media

1.40.8*28.0721.65*-23

Healthcare practitioners and technical

5.97.5*38.0631.59*-17

Healthcare support

2.93.2*14.6513.31*-9

Protective service

2.43.0*22.0317.36*-21

Food preparation and serving related

9.212.2*11.4711.26-2

Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance

3.23.513.4711.75*-13

Personal care and service

3.22.5*12.7412.49-2

Sales and related

10.412.0*19.5015.88*-19

Office and administrative support

15.718.7*17.9115.20*-15

Farming, fishing, and forestry

0.30.1*13.3716.3022

Construction and extraction

4.04.7*23.5117.29*-26

Installation, maintenance, and repair

3.94.7*22.4520.50*-9

Production

6.53.8*17.8817.77-1

Transportation and material moving

6.94.5*17.3415.79*-9

Footnotes:
(1) A positive percent difference measures how much the mean wage in the Pensacola-Ferry Pass-Brent Metropolitan Statistical Area 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—office and administrative support—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Pensacola-Ferry Pass-Brent had 30,900 jobs in office and administrative support, accounting for 18.7 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 15.7-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $15.20, significantly below the national wage of $17.91.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the office and administrative support group included secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive (3,560), general office clerks (2,910), and stock clerks and order fillers (2,660). Among the higher paying jobs were first-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers, and executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants, with mean hourly wages of $23.59 and $19.78, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks ($10.03) and couriers and messengers ($11.84). (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_37860.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 Pensacola-Ferry Pass-Brent Metropolitan Statistical Area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in some of the occupations within the office and administrative support group. For instance, tellers were employed at 2.3 times the national rate in Pensacola, and file clerks, at 1.6 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, billing and posting clerks had a location quotient of 1.0 in Pensacola, 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.

Note on Occupational Employment Statistics Data

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 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 Pensacola-Ferry Pass-Brent Metropolitan Statistical Area included 1,841 establishments with a response rate of 77 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 Pensacola-Ferry Pass-Brent, Fla. Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Escambia and Santa Rosa 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, Pensacola-Ferry Pass-Brent Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2016
Occupation (1)EmploymentMean wages
Level (2)Location quotient (3)HourlyAnnual (4)

Office and administrative support occupations

30,9001.2$15.20$31,620

First-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers

2,0301.223.5949,070

Switchboard operators, including answering service

1201.112.3525,690

Bill and account collectors

(5)(5)15.9833,230

Billing and posting clerks

5401.017.0535,460

Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks

1,9901.116.1233,530

Payroll and timekeeping clerks

1901.015.7432,740

Procurement clerks

801.020.0641,730

Tellers

1,3702.313.9629,030

Brokerage clerks

400.518.8839,270

Court, municipal, and license clerks

2001.315.4632,150

Customer service representatives

(5)(5)13.2427,540

File clerks

2401.614.0429,200

Hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks

4001.410.0320,860

Interviewers, except eligibility and loan

3601.613.9128,930

Library assistants, clerical

500.510.0220,840

Loan interviewers and clerks

5101.918.5338,530

Order clerks

700.315.3331,880

Human resources assistants, except payroll and timekeeping

1601.017.5336,460

Receptionists and information clerks

1,5901.413.3327,730

Reservation and transportation ticket agents and travel clerks

800.519.6840,930

Information and record clerks, all other

3902.018.7138,920

Couriers and messengers

1201.411.8424,630

Police, fire, and ambulance dispatchers

1901.715.0231,230

Dispatchers, except police, fire, and ambulance

2000.917.5536,490

Meter readers, utilities

902.314.0729,270

Postal service clerks

901.023.0647,960

Postal service mail carriers

4801.224.5251,000

Postal service mail sorters, processors, and processing machine operators

1701.323.2148,270

Production, planning, and expediting clerks

1700.520.7243,090

Shipping, receiving, and traffic clerks

3100.415.3932,020

Stock clerks and order fillers

2,6601.112.2025,370

Executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants

5700.819.7841,150

Legal secretaries

2701.217.1935,760

Medical secretaries

6901.113.8728,860

Secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive

3,5601.314.8430,870

Data entry keyers

2801.214.1929,520

Word processors and typists

1702.114.4129,980

Insurance claims and policy processing clerks

700.217.2735,910

Mail clerks and mail machine operators, except postal service

700.614.7130,590

Office clerks, general

2,9100.814.0429,210

Office and administrative support workers, all other

2501.012.6626,330

Footnotes:
(1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Pensacola-Ferry Pass-Brent, FL Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_37860.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.
 

 

Last Modified Date: Tuesday, June 20, 2017