Workers in the Lexington-Fayette, KY Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $24.05 in May 2021, about 14 percent below 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 lower than their respective national averages in 19 of the 22 major occupational groups, including computer and mathematical, legal, and management. Only one group, production, had a significantly higher wage than its respective national average.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, Lexington area employment was more highly concentrated in 9 of the 22 occupational groups, including production, healthcare practitioners and technical, and personal care and service. Ten groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including business and financial operations, computer and mathematical, and educational instruction and library. (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. Lexington had 21,370 jobs in healthcare practitioners and technical, accounting for 8.3 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 6.2-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $38.42, significantly below the national wage of $43.80.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the healthcare practitioners and technical group included registered nurses (7,700), pharmacy technicians (1,330), and licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses (1,070). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were pathologists physicians and oral and maxillofacial surgeons, with mean hourly wages of $168.97 and $157.35, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were emergency medical technicians ($15.15) and psychiatric technicians ($15.47). (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_30460.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 Lexington area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in some of the occupations within the healthcare practitioners and technical group. For instance, veterinary technologists and technicians were employed at 2.7 times the national rate in Lexington, and medical record specialists, at 2.1 times the U.S. average. Physical therapists had a location quotient of 0.9 in Lexington, 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 (KYSTATS).

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 Lexington-Fayette, KY Metropolitan Statistical Area included 2,260 establishments with a response rate of 65 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 Lexington-Fayette, KY Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Bourbon County, Clark County, Fayette County, Jessamine County, Scott County, and Woodford 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, Lexington metropolitan area, May 2021

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Healthcare practitioners and technical occupations	21,370	1.3	$38.42	$79,910
Chiropractors	70	1.1	38.52	80,120
Dentists, general	100	0.5	75.63	157,310
Oral and maxillofacial surgeons	(5)	(5)	157.35	327,280
Dietitians and nutritionists	170	1.4	29.40	61,160
Optometrists	40	0.6	59.26	123,260
Pharmacists	880	1.5	56.06	116,610
Physician assistants	120	0.5	52.80	109,820
Occupational therapists	250	1.1	38.04	79,120
Physical therapists	390	0.9	41.74	86,810
Respiratory therapists	490	2.0	26.93	56,010
Speech-language pathologists	300	1.1	37.04	77,040
Therapists, all other	(5)	(5)	43.44	90,340
Veterinarians	310	2.2	53.26	110,790
Registered nurses	7,700	1.4	32.19	66,950
Nurse practitioners	860	2.0	51.42	106,960
Audiologists	30	1.3	29.02	60,350
Emergency medicine physicians	50	0.8	132.69	275,990
Family medicine physicians	230	1.2	116.99	243,350
General internal medicine physicians	50	0.5	143.49	298,460
Pediatricians, general	(5)	(5)	106.72	221,970
Physicians, pathologists	(5)	(5)	168.97	351,450
Radiologists	(5)	(5)	(7)	(7)
Physicians, all other	420	0.9	133.06	276,760
Surgeons, all other	70	1.3	155.58	323,600
Dental hygienists	450	1.2	30.21	62,830
Clinical laboratory technologists and technicians	860	1.5	26.60	55,330
Cardiovascular technologists and technicians	140	1.4	23.89	49,700
Diagnostic medical sonographers	130	0.9	34.70	72,170
Radiologic technologists and technicians	620	1.6	27.49	57,180
Magnetic resonance imaging technologists	50	0.8	34.07	70,860
Emergency medical technicians	210	0.7	15.15	31,520
Paramedics	180	1.0	21.84	45,430
Dietetic technicians	40	1.1	17.29	35,970
Pharmacy technicians	1,330	1.7	16.72	34,780
Psychiatric technicians	60	0.3	15.47	32,180
Surgical technologists	370	1.9	22.41	46,610
Veterinary technologists and technicians	590	2.7	16.19	33,680
Ophthalmic medical technicians	150	1.2	16.33	33,960
Licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses	1,070	0.9	22.91	47,660
Medical records specialists	680	2.1	21.50	44,730
Opticians, dispensing	110	0.8	20.48	42,590
Health technologists and technicians, all other	420	1.6	23.84	49,580
Health information technologists and medical registrars	150	2.2	27.54	57,290
Athletic trainers	80	1.7	(6)	47,400
Surgical assistants	90	2.8	23.25	48,350
Healthcare practitioners and technical workers, all other	80	0.9	21.18	44,050
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Lexington-Fayette, KY Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_30460.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.