Workers in the Louisville/Jefferson County, KY-IN Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $23.66 in May 2020, about 13 percent below the nationwide average of $27.07, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Janet S. Rankin noted that, after testing for statistical significance, 18 of the 22 major occupational groups had average wages in the local area that were significantly lower than their respective national averages, including arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media; computer and mathematical; and healthcare practitioners and technical. Four groups had wages that were not significantly different from their respective national averages.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, Louisville area employment was more highly concentrated in 4 of the 22 occupational groups, including transportation and material moving and production. Sixteen groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including educational instruction and library, healthcare support, and management. (See table A.)

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 had 83,910 jobs in transportation and material moving occupations, accounting for 13.7 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 8.7-percent national share. The local average hourly wage for this occupational group was $20.49, compared to the national average of $19.08.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the transportation and material moving group included hand laborers and freight, stock, and material movers (30,800); stockers and order fillers (12,690); and heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers (10,510). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were captains, mates, and pilots of water vessels and transportation inspectors, with mean hourly wages of $53.43 and $44.55, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were parking attendants ($11.08) and driver/sales workers ($12.62). (Detailed data for the transportation and material moving occupations are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations, 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 area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in some of the occupations within the transportation and material moving group. For instance, hand laborers and freight, stock, and material movers were employed at 2.5 times the national rate in Louisville, and light truck drivers, at 1.5 times the U.S. average. Industrial truck and tractor operators had a location quotient of 1.0 in Louisville, indicating that this particular occupation’s local and national employment shares were similar.

These statistics are from the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey, a federal-state cooperative program between BLS and State Workforce Agencies, in this case, the Kentucky Center for Statistics and the Indiana Department of Workforce Development.

Technical Note

The Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey is a semiannual survey measuring occupational employment and wage rates for wage and salary workers in nonfarm establishments in the United States. The OEWS 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. OEWS data are available at www.bls.gov/oes/tables.htm.

The OEWS 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. OEWS estimates are constructed from a sample of about 1.1 million establishments. Each year, two semiannual panels of approximately 180,000 to 185,000 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 2020 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2020, November 2019, May 2019, November 2018, May 2018, and November 2017. The unweighted sample employment of 83 million across all six semiannual panels represents approximately 56 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 69 percent based on establishments and 66 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The sample in the Louisville/Jefferson County, KY-IN Metropolitan Statistical Area included 4,702 establishments with a response rate of 67 percent. For more information about OEWS 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.

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 and Clark, Floyd, Harrison, Scott, and Washington Counties in Indiana.

For more information

Answers to frequently asked questions about the OEWS data are available at www.bls.gov/oes/oes_ques.htm. Detailed information about the OEWS program is available at www.bls.gov/oes/oes_doc.htm.

Information in this release will be made available to individuals with sensory impairments. Voice phone: (202) 691-5200; Federal Relay Service: (800) 877-8339.

Table 1. Employment and wage data for transportation and material moving occupations, Louisville metropolitan area, May 2020

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Transportation and material moving occupations	83,910	1.6	$20.49	$42,630
Aircraft cargo handling supervisors	760	17.2	26.00	54,070
First-line supervisors of transportation and material moving workers, except aircraft cargo handling supervisors	2,990	1.4	25.37	52,770
Commercial pilots	130	0.8	(6)	79,740
Driver/sales workers	1,980	1.1	12.62	26,240
Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers	10,510	1.3	25.60	53,250
Light truck drivers	6,120	1.5	20.42	42,470
Bus drivers, transit and intercity	720	1.0	20.13	41,870
Passenger vehicle drivers, except bus drivers, transit and intercity	2,700	1.0	17.93	37,290
Motor vehicle operators, all other	170	0.7	22.97	47,780
Sailors and marine oilers	300	2.7	19.93	41,450
Captains, mates, and pilots of water vessels	260	2.2	53.43	111,140
Ship engineers	80	2.5	36.74	76,420
Parking attendants	350	0.6	11.08	23,040
Automotive and watercraft service attendants	390	0.8	13.49	28,050
Transportation inspectors	140	1.1	44.55	92,660
Aircraft service attendants and transportation workers, all other	90	0.6	23.39	48,640
Conveyor operators and tenders	(5)	(5)	23.71	49,320
Crane and tower operators	100	0.5	24.31	50,560
Industrial truck and tractor operators	2,890	1.0	18.92	39,350
Cleaners of vehicles and equipment	1,380	0.9	14.20	29,530
Laborers and freight, stock, and material movers, hand	30,800	2.5	15.84	32,940
Machine feeders and offbearers	310	1.1	16.54	34,400
Packers and packagers, hand	4,190	1.6	13.30	27,670
Stockers and order fillers	12,690	1.3	14.73	30,640
Refuse and recyclable material collectors	510	1.0	17.76	36,950
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 may not sum to the totals due to rounding, and because the totals may include occupations that are 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.