Workers in the Durham-Chapel Hill, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $33.03 in May 2021, about 18 percent above the nationwide average of $28.01, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Janet S. Rankin noted that, after testing for statistical significance, wages in the local area were higher than their respective national averages in 11 of the 22 major occupational groups, including educational instruction and library, sales and related, and management. Six groups had significantly lower wages than their respective national averages, including construction and extraction, healthcare practitioners and technical, and transportation and material moving.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, Durham area employment was more highly concentrated in 6 of the 22 occupational groups, including healthcare practitioners and technical, computer and mathematical, and educational instruction and library. Fourteen groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including transportation and material moving, production, and office and administrative support. (See table A.)

One occupational group—healthcare practitioners and technical—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Durham had 36,440 jobs in healthcare practitioners and technical, accounting for 11.7 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 6.2-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $38.90, significantly below the national wage of $43.80.

In addition to registered nurses (15,230), some of the larger detailed occupations within the healthcare practitioners and technical group also included clinical laboratory technologists and technicians (1,990) and pharmacy technicians (1,400). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were psychiatrists, general dentists, and general pediatricians, with mean hourly wages of $104.01, $98.85, and $97.83, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were psychiatric technicians ($17.26), pharmacy technicians ($18.30), and veterinary technologists and technicians ($18.95). (Detailed data for the healthcare practitioners and technical occupations are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available, go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_20500.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 Durham area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the healthcare practitioners and technical group. For instance, clinical laboratory technologists and technicians were employed at 2.8 times the national rate in Durham, and ophthalmic medical technicians, at 2.5 times the U.S. average. Medical records specialists had a location quotient of 1.0 in Durham, 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 North Carolina Department of Commerce.

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 179,000 to 187,000 sampled establishments are contacted, one panel in May and the other in November. Responses are obtained by Internet or other electronic means, mail, email, telephone, or personal visit. The May 2021 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2021, November 2020, May 2020, November 2019, May 2019, and November 2018. The unweighted sampled employment of 82 million across all six semiannual panels represents approximately 62 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 67.2 percent based on establishments and 64.5 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The sample in the Durham-Chapel Hill, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area included 2,238 establishments with a response rate of 74 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 Durham-Chapel Hill, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Chatham County, Durham County, Orange County, and Person County.

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 upon request. Voice phone: (202) 691-5200; Telecommunications Relay Service: 7-1-1.

Table 1. Employment and wage data for healthcare practitioners and technical occupations, Durham metropolitan area, May 2021

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Healthcare practitioners and technical occupations	36,440	1.9	$38.90	$80,900
Dentists, general	250	1.0	98.85	205,620
Dietitians and nutritionists	310	2.1	29.77	61,930
Optometrists	40	0.4	64.68	134,530
Pharmacists	1,180	1.7	61.83	128,600
Physician assistants	710	2.4	53.51	111,300
Occupational therapists	340	1.2	36.73	76,400
Physical therapists	740	1.5	38.24	79,540
Recreational therapists	60	1.7	(5)	(5)
Speech-language pathologists	370	1.1	34.89	72,570
Veterinarians	190	1.1	61.62	128,160
Registered nurses	15,230	2.3	35.10	73,000
Nurse midwives	40	2.1	48.42	100,710
Nurse practitioners	1,230	2.4	55.90	116,270
Audiologists	70	2.2	36.99	76,940
General internal medicine physicians	50	0.4	(7)	(7)
Pediatricians, general	70	0.9	97.83	203,490
Psychiatrists	60	1.1	104.01	216,340
Physicians, all other	(5)	(5)	55.15	114,710
Dental hygienists	550	1.2	33.73	70,170
Clinical laboratory technologists and technicians	1,990	2.8	26.35	54,800
Radiologic technologists and technicians	830	1.7	32.47	67,550
Emergency medical technicians	270	0.8	30.53	63,500
Pharmacy technicians	1,400	1.4	18.30	38,060
Psychiatric technicians	280	1.4	17.26	35,900
Surgical technologists	(5)	(5)	23.98	49,870
Veterinary technologists and technicians	240	0.9	18.95	39,410
Ophthalmic medical technicians	360	2.5	22.69	47,190
Licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses	990	0.7	24.90	51,800
Medical records specialists	410	1.0	23.82	49,540
Opticians, dispensing	90	0.6	24.86	51,710
Health technologists and technicians, all other	850	2.7	22.15	46,070
Health information technologists and medical registrars	100	1.2	34.95	72,690
Athletic trainers	170	3.0	(6)	51,990
Healthcare practitioners and technical workers, all other	60	0.6	29.26	60,870
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Durham-Chapel Hill, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_20500.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. (7) This wage is equal to or greater than $100.00 per hour or $208,000 per year.