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News Release Information

23-1465-ATL
Friday, June 30, 2023

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

Occupational Employment and Wages in Durham-Chapel Hill — May 2022

Workers in the Durham-Chapel Hill, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $34.48 in May 2022, 16 percent above the nationwide average of $29.76, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Victoria G. Lee noted that, after testing for statistical significance, wages in the local area were higher than their respective national averages in 8 of the 22 major occupational groups, including educational instruction and library, sales and related, and management. Eight groups had significantly lower wages than their respective national averages, including construction and extraction, transportation and material moving, and healthcare practitioners and technical.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, Durham area employment was more highly concentrated in 7 of the 22 occupational groups, including healthcare practitioners and technical, computer and mathematical, and educational instruction and library. Fifteen groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including transportation and material moving, production, and office and administrative support. (See table A.)

Table A. Occupational employment and wages by major occupational group, United States and the Durham metropolitan area, and measures of statistical significance, May 2022
Major occupational groupPercent of total employmentMean hourly wage ($)
United StatesDurhamUnited StatesDurhamPercent difference (1)

Total, all occupations

100.0100.029.7634.48*16

Management

6.78.2*63.0869.30*10

Business and financial operations

6.57.8*41.3943.88*6

Computer and mathematical

3.47.1*51.9955.16*6

Architecture and engineering

1.71.9*45.5245.570

Life, physical, and social science

0.93.3*40.2137.87*-6

Community and social service

1.61.4*26.8127.201

Legal

0.80.6*59.8758.09-3

Educational instruction and library

5.78.4*30.4138.32*26

Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media

1.41.3*36.7837.462

Healthcare practitioners and technical

6.111.2*46.5241.51*-11

Healthcare support

4.63.8*17.1017.55*3

Protective service

2.31.7*25.9720.97*-19

Food preparation and serving related

8.56.5*15.4514.59*-6

Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance

2.92.7*17.2616.84*-2

Personal care and service

1.91.3*17.4118.31*5

Sales and related

8.97.4*24.2227.97*15

Office and administrative support

12.610.5*21.9021.880

Farming, fishing, and forestry

0.30.1*18.2121.71*19

Construction and extraction

4.12.3*28.0824.31*-13

Installation, maintenance, and repair

3.92.6*26.7726.07*-3

Production

5.93.7*21.8121.45-2

Transportation and material moving

9.26.2*21.1218.75*-11

Footnotes:
(1) A positive percent difference measures how much the mean wage in the Durham-Chapel Hill, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area is above the national mean wage, while a negative difference reflects a lower wage.
* The mean hourly wage or percent share of employment is significantly different from the national average of all areas at the 90-percent confidence level.

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 36,560 jobs in healthcare practitioners and technical, accounting for 11.2 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 6.1-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $41.51, significantly below the national wage of $46.52.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the healthcare practitioners and technical group included clinical laboratory technologists and technicians (2,010) and pharmacy technicians (1,410). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were pharmacists and nurse practitioners, with mean hourly wages of $63.30 and $58.54, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were dietetic technicians ($15.86) and psychiatric technicians ($18.21). (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, physician assistants were employed at 2.7 times the national rate in Durham, and nurse practitioners, at 2.2 times the U.S. average. Speech-language pathologists had a location quotient of 1.1 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.

Changes to the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) Data

The May 2022 OEWS estimates use the model-based (MB3) estimation method implemented with the May 2021 estimates release. Additional updates were made to the MB3 wage processing methodology for May 2022. For more information, see the May 2022 Survey Methods and Reliability Statement.

The May 2022 estimates are the first OEWS estimates to be produced using the 2022 NAICS, which replaces the 2017 NAICS used for the May 2017-May 2021 estimates. See North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) at BLS for details.


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 2022 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2022, November 2021, May 2021, November 2020, May 2020, and November 2019. The unweighted sampled employment of 80 million across all six semiannual panels represents approximately 57 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 65.4 percent based on establishments and 62.5 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The sample in the Durham-Chapel Hill, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area included 2,280 establishments with a response rate of 71 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 2022
Occupation (1)EmploymentMean wages ($)
Level (2)Location quotient (3)HourlyAnnual (4)

Healthcare practitioners and technical occupations

36,5601.841.5186,340

Dentists, general

1800.7106.19220,880

Dietitians and nutritionists

3001.931.1164,720

Optometrists

400.465.77136,810

Pharmacists

1,2001.763.30131,660

Physician assistants

8602.756.66117,850

Occupational therapists

3401.138.6980,470

Physical therapists

7101.440.7184,690

Speech-language pathologists

3801.137.2877,540

Therapists, all other

501.436.7576,430

Veterinarians

1801.062.63130,280

Nurse practitioners

1,2602.258.54121,760

Family medicine physicians

1600.7(5)(5)

Pediatricians, general

701.097.14202,060

Psychiatrists

300.6(6)(6)

Orthopedic surgeons, except pediatric

701.6172.85359,540

Dental hygienists

4400.935.2873,380

Healthcare diagnosing or treating practitioners, all other

3905.851.38106,880

Clinical laboratory technologists and technicians

2,0102.726.2054,500

Radiologic technologists and technicians

8501.834.4071,550

Emergency medical technicians

2100.619.1939,920

Paramedics

2501.222.5646,920

Dietetic technicians

601.415.8632,990

Pharmacy technicians

1,4101.419.3840,310

Psychiatric technicians

3901.818.2137,870

Veterinary technologists and technicians

2400.920.8843,440

Ophthalmic medical technicians

3302.224.5651,090

Licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses

9800.726.5255,160

Medical records specialists

4901.224.4350,820

Opticians, dispensing

900.626.2754,650

Orthotists and prosthetists

301.535.3773,570

Health technologists and technicians, all other

8202.323.5348,930

Health information technologists and medical registrars

700.933.5669,790

Athletic trainers

1602.5(7)52,620

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) This wage is equal to or greater than $115.00 per hour or $239,200 per year.
(6) Estimate not released.
(7) 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.

 

Last Modified Date: Friday, June 30, 2023