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News Release Information

18-882-ATL
Tuesday, May 29, 2018

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

Occupational Employment and Wages in Pensacola-Ferry Pass-Brent – May 2017

Workers in the Pensacola-Ferry Pass-Brent Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $19.81 in May 2017, about 19 percent below the nationwide average of $24.34, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Regional Commissioner Janet S. Rankin noted that, after testing for statistical significance, 19 groups had significantly lower wages than their respective national averages, including arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media; legal; and computer and mathematical.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 8 of the 22 occupational groups, including office and administrative support; food preparation and serving related; and sales and related. Conversely, 12 groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including transportation and material moving, production, 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 2017
Major occupational groupPercent of total employmentMean hourly wage
United StatesPensacolaUnited StatesPensacolaPercent difference (1)

Total, all occupations

100.0100.0$24.34$19.81*-19

Management

5.13.5*57.6546.26*-20

Business and financial operations

5.24.0*36.7029.09*-21

Computer and mathematical

3.01.7*43.1831.77*-26

Architecture and engineering

1.81.2*41.4436.49*-12

Life, physical, and social science

0.80.5*35.7626.17*-27

Community and social service

1.51.3*23.1020.34*-12

Legal

0.80.851.6237.83*-27

Education, training, and library

6.15.6*26.6725.59-4

Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media

1.40.8*28.3420.44*-28

Healthcare practitioners and technical

6.07.2*38.8334.98*-10

Healthcare support

2.93.5*15.0513.70*-9

Protective service

2.43.2*22.6917.54*-23

Food preparation and serving related

9.312.4*11.8811.48*-3

Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance

3.13.413.9112.05*-13

Personal care and service

3.62.3*13.1112.43*-5

Sales and related

10.211.8*19.5615.89*-19

Office and administrative support

15.419.0*18.2415.54*-15

Farming, fishing, and forestry

0.30.1*13.8714.071

Construction and extraction

4.04.7*24.0117.91*-25

Installation, maintenance, and repair

3.94.7*23.0220.80*-10

Production

6.33.8*18.3018.531

Transportation and material moving

7.04.4*17.8215.87*-11

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 32,250 jobs in office and administrative support occupations, accounting for 19.0 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 15.4-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $15.54, significantly below the national wage of $18.24.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the office and administrative support group included general office clerks (3,500), secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive (3,290), and stock clerks and order fillers (2,860). Among the higher paying jobs in this group were first-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers, and executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants, with mean hourly wages of $23.68 and $19.92, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks ($10.34) and couriers and messengers ($11.66). (Detailed data for office and administrative support occupations 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 legal secretaries, at 2.0 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, general office 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.

Notes on Occupational Employment Statistics Data

With the release of the May 2017 estimates, the OES program has replaced 21 detailed occupations found in the 2010 Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) with 10 new aggregations of those occupations. In addition, selected 4- and 5-digit North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) industries previously published by OES will no longer be published separately. Some of the 4-digit NAICS industries that are no longer being published separately will instead be published as OES-specific industry aggregations. More information about the new occupational and industry aggregations is available at www.bls.gov/oes/changes_2017.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 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 2017 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2017, November 2016, May 2016, November 2015, May 2015, and November 2014. The overall national response rate for the six panels, based on the 50 states and the District of Columbia, is 72 percent based on establishments and 68 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The unweighted sample employment of 82 million 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 1,863 establishments with a response rate of 79 percent. For more information about OES concepts and methodology, go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_tec.htm.

The May 2017 OES estimates are based on the 2010 Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) system and the 2017 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 2017 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 Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Escambia and Santa Rosa Counties in Florida.

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 2017
Occupation (1)EmploymentMean wages
Level (2)Location quotient (3)HourlyAnnual (4)

Office and administrative support occupations

32,2501.2$15.54$32,320

First-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers

2,4601.423.6849,250

Switchboard operators, including answering service

800.912.9526,940

Bill and account collectors

(5)(5)16.6034,530

Billing and posting clerks

4400.817.3136,010

Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks

1,7200.916.7834,900

Payroll and timekeeping clerks

1700.916.0133,300

Procurement clerks

801.019.0539,630

Tellers

1,3302.314.2829,700

Court, municipal, and license clerks

2301.516.0533,370

Credit authorizers, checkers, and clerks

401.013.7328,560

Customer service representatives

(5)(5)14.0929,300

File clerks

1701.214.5230,210

Hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks

4701.610.3421,510

Interviewers, except eligibility and loan

2501.114.4229,990

Library assistants, clerical

600.510.7322,320

Loan interviewers and clerks

2901.117.8137,050

Order clerks

500.315.9433,150

Human resources assistants, except payroll and timekeeping

1601.018.0137,460

Receptionists and information clerks

1,5701.313.1827,410

Reservation and transportation ticket agents and travel clerks

1000.622.4746,740

Information and record clerks, all other

3401.818.5738,620

Cargo and freight agents

700.6(5)(5)

Couriers and messengers

1301.511.6624,250

Police, fire, and ambulance dispatchers

2001.715.0831,360

Dispatchers, except police, fire, and ambulance

1200.518.8239,140

Meter readers, utilities

501.118.0337,510

Postal service clerks

900.923.3248,510

Postal service mail carriers

4901.224.3950,730

Postal service mail sorters, processors, and processing machine operators

1601.224.0550,020

Production, planning, and expediting clerks

1400.421.2644,220

Shipping, receiving, and traffic clerks

3500.416.2133,710

Stock clerks and order fillers

2,8601.212.5426,090

Executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants

5100.719.9241,440

Legal secretaries

4302.017.6236,650

Medical secretaries

1,0101.514.6130,380

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

3,2901.214.6430,460

Data entry keyers

2501.214.8330,840

Word processors and typists

1501.914.7830,740

Insurance claims and policy processing clerks

(5)(5)17.2535,890

Mail clerks and mail machine operators, except postal service

500.514.9231,030

Office clerks, general

3,5001.014.3429,820

Office machine operators, except computer

300.514.4230,000

Office and administrative support workers, all other

3101.313.6828,450

Footnotes:
(1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Pensacola-Ferry Pass-Brent 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, May 29, 2018