Workers in the Louisville/Jefferson County Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $21.99 in May 2018, about 12 percent below the nationwide average of $24.98, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Regional Commissioner Janet S. Rankin noted that, after testing for statistical significance, average wages in the local area were lower than their respective national averages in 16 of the 22 occupational groups, including legal; computer and mathematical; and management. One group—farming, fishing, and forestry—had a significantly higher wage than its respective national average.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 4 of the 22 occupational groups, including transportation and material moving, and production. Conversely, 16 groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including education, training, and library; sales and related; and business and financial operations. (See table A and box note at end of release.)

One occupational group—transportation and material moving—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Louisville/Jefferson County had 68,900 jobs in transportation and material moving, accounting for 10.6 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 7.1-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $19.29, not significantly different from the national wage of $18.41.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the transportation and material moving group included laborers and hand freight, stock, and material movers (23,680); heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers (8,890); and light truck or delivery services drivers (5,700). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were transportation inspectors, and heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers, with mean hourly wages of $44.43 and $23.60, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were parking lot attendants ($9.65) and taxi drivers and chauffeurs ($11.63). (Detailed data for transportation and material moving occupations are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_31140.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 Louisville/Jefferson County Metropolitan Statistical Area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in some of the occupations within the transportation and material moving group. For instance, machine feeders and offbearers were employed at 3.0 times the national rate in Louisville/Jefferson County, and industrial truck and tractor operators, at 1.9 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, transit and intercity bus drivers had a location quotient of 1.1 in Louisville/Jefferson County, 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 Kentucky Department for Workforce Investment.

Technical Note

The Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) survey is a semiannual 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 580 areas, including states and the District of Columbia, metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs), nonmetropolitan areas, and territories; national industry-specific estimates at the NAICS sector, 3-digit, most 4-digit, 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.

The OES survey is a cooperative effort between BLS and the State Workforce Agencies (SWAs). BLS funds the survey and provides the procedures and technical support, while the State Workforce Agencies collect most of the data. OES estimates are constructed from a sample of about 1.2 million establishments. Each year, two semiannual panels of approximately 180,000 to 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 2018 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2018, November 2017, May 2017, November 2016, May 2016, and November 2015. The unweighted sample employment of 83 million across all six semiannual panels represents approximately 58 percent of total national employment. The overall national response rate for the six panels, based on the 50 states and the District of Columbia, is 71 percent based on establishments and 68 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The sample in the Louisville/Jefferson County Metropolitan Statistical Area included 4,870 establishments with a response rate of 72 percent. For more information about OES concepts and methodology, go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_tec.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.

The May 2018 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 Louisville/Jefferson County, KY-IN Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Bullitt, Henry, Jefferson, Oldham, Shelby, Spencer, and Trimble Counties in Kentucky; Clark, Floyd, Harrison, Scott, and Washington Counties in Indiana.

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, Louisville/Jefferson County Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2018

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Transportation and material moving occupations	68,900	1.5	$19.29	$40,130
Aircraft cargo handling supervisors	660	16.4	19.34	40,220
First-line supervisors of transportation and material moving workers, except aircraft cargo handling supervisors	3,020	1.6	24.68	51,340
Commercial pilots	120	0.7	(6)	93,980
Bus drivers, transit and intercity	820	1.1	18.06	37,570
Bus drivers, school or special client	2,500	1.1	18.91	39,330
Driver/sales workers	2,190	1.2	11.92	24,790
Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers	8,890	1.1	23.60	49,080
Light truck or delivery services drivers	5,700	1.4	18.81	39,120
Taxi drivers and chauffeurs	700	0.7	11.63	24,200
Motor vehicle operators, all other	170	0.7	23.13	48,120
Parking lot attendants	260	0.4	9.65	20,070
Automotive and watercraft service attendants	340	0.7	12.16	25,300
Transportation inspectors	120	0.9	44.43	92,410
Conveyor operators and tenders	310	2.9	17.34	36,070
Crane and tower operators	180	0.9	17.55	36,490
Excavating and loading machine and dragline operators	80	0.4	20.28	42,180
Hoist and winch operators	(5)	(5)	16.04	33,360
Industrial truck and tractor operators	5,050	1.9	16.11	33,510
Cleaners of vehicles and equipment	1,400	0.8	11.79	24,520
Laborers and freight, stock, and material movers, hand	23,680	1.8	14.94	31,070
Machine feeders and offbearers	910	3.0	14.68	30,530
Packers and packagers, hand	(5)	(5)	12.38	25,740
Refuse and recyclable material collectors	490	0.9	14.78	30,740
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Louisville/Jefferson County, KY-IN Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_31140.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. (6) Wages for some occupations that do not generally work year-round, full time, are reported either as hourly wages or annual salaries depending on how they are typically paid.