Workers in the Albuquerque Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $20.60 in May 2013, about 8 percent below the nationwide average of $22.33, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Regional Commissioner Stanley W. Suchman noted that, after testing for statistical significance, wages in the local area were significantly lower than their respective national averages in 18 of the 22 major occupational groups, including legal; protective service; and sales and related workers. Wage levels in the four remaining groups were not statistically different from their respective national averages.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 7 of the 22 occupational groups, including architecture and engineering; personal care and service; and construction and extraction. Conversely, employment shares were significantly below their national representation in seven groups, including production; transportation and material moving; and sales and related. (See table A and box note at end of release.)

Table A. Occupational employment and wages by major occupational group, United States and the Albuquerque Metropolitan Statistical Area, and measures of statistical significance, May 2013

Major occupational group	Percent of total employment			Mean hourly wage
	United States	Albuquerque		United States	Albuquerque		Percent difference(1)
Total, all occupations	100.0%	100.0%		$22.33	$20.60	*	-8
Management	4.9	5.1		53.15	45.90	*	-14
Business and financial operations	5.0	4.8		34.14	30.11	*	-12
Computer and mathematical	2.8	2.4	*	39.43	35.26	*	-11
Architecture and engineering	1.8	3.6	*	38.51	39.00		1
Life, physical, and social science	0.9	1.1	*	33.37	33.51		0
Community and social service	1.4	1.7	*	21.50	19.39	*	-10
Legal	0.8	1.0		47.89	35.45	*	-26
Education, training, and library	6.3	6.0	*	24.76	21.19	*	-14
Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media	1.3	1.3		26.72	23.60	*	-12
Healthcare practitioners and technical	5.8	6.3		35.93	33.26	*	-7
Healthcare support	3.0	3.0		13.61	13.84		2
Protective service	2.5	2.8	*	20.92	17.09	*	-18
Food preparation and serving related	9.0	9.6	*	10.38	9.98	*	-4
Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance	3.2	3.2		12.51	10.90	*	-13
Personal care and service	3.0	4.3	*	11.88	10.51	*	-12
Sales and related	10.6	9.9	*	18.37	15.63	*	-15
Office and administrative support	16.2	16.7		16.78	15.61	*	-7
Farming, fishing, and forestry	0.3	0.1	*	11.70	11.60		-1
Construction and extraction	3.8	5.0	*	21.94	18.78	*	-14
Installation, maintenance, and repair	3.9	3.4	*	21.35	20.03	*	-6
Production	6.6	3.5	*	16.79	15.96	*	-5
Transportation and material moving	6.8	5.2	*	16.28	15.60	*	-4
(1) A positive percent difference measures how much the mean wage in Albuquerque is above the national mean wage, while a negative difference reflects a lower wage. * The percent share of employment or mean hourly wage for this area is significantly different from the national average of all areas at the 90-percent confidence level.

One occupational group–architecture and engineering–was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Albuquerque had 13,190 jobs in architecture and engineering, accounting for 3.6 percent of local area employment, double the 1.8-percent national share. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $39.00 compared to the national average of $38.51.

With employment of 960, electrical and electronics engineering technicians was among the largest occupations within the architecture and engineering group, as were industrial engineers (910) and electrical engineers (900). Among the higher paying jobs were nuclear engineers and aerospace engineers, with mean hourly wages of $61.42 and $51.43, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were surveying and mapping technicians ($18.44) and architectural and civil drafters ($22.10). (Detailed occupational data for architecture and engineering are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_10740.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 Albuquerque metropolitan area, above average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the architecture and engineering group. For instance, cartographers and photogrammetrists were employed at 3.9 times the national rate in Albuquerque, and electro-mechanical technicians at 5.2 times the U.S. average. Albuquerque’s cartographers and photogrammetrists’ location quotient ranked ninth in the country among all metropolitan areas and the electro-mechanical technicians’ employment concentration ranked seventh. On the other hand, civil engineers had a location quotient of 1.1 in Albuquerque, 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 New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions.

Technical Note

The Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) survey is a semiannual mail survey measuring occupational employment and wage rates for wage and salary workers in nonfarm establishments in the United States. Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands are also surveyed, but their data are not included in the national estimates. OES estimates are constructed from a sample of about 1.2 million establishments. Forms are mailed to approximately 200,000 sampled establishments in May and November each year for a 3-year period. May 2013 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected in May 2013, November 2012, May 2012, November 2011, May 2011, and November 2010. The overall national response rate for the six panels is 75.3 percent based on establishments and 71.6 percent based on employment. The sample in the Albuquerque Metropolitan Statistical Area included 3,047 establishments with a response rate of 80 percent. For more information about OES concepts and methodology, go to www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.tn.htm.

The OES survey provides estimates of employment and hourly and annual wages for wage and salary workers in 22 major occupational groups and 821 detailed occupations for the nation, states, metropolitan statistical areas, metropolitan divisions, and nonmetropolitan areas. In addition, employment and wage estimates for 94 minor groups and 458 broad occupations are available in the national data. OES data by state and metropolitan/nonmetropolitan area are available from www.bls.gov/oes/current/oessrcst.htm and www.bls.gov/oes/current/oessrcma.htm, respectively.

The May 2013 OES estimates are based on the 2010 Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) system and the 2012 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 2012 NAICS is available at www.bls.gov/bls/naics.htm.

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 Albuquerque Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) includes Bernalillo, Sandoval, Torrance, and Valencia Counties in New Mexico.

Additional information
OES data are available on our regional web page at www.bls.gov/regions/southwest/home.htm. 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/2013/may/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: 1-800-877-8339.

Table 1. Employment and wage data from the Occupational Employment Statistics survey, by occupation, Albuquerque Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2013

Occupation(1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level(2)	Location quotient(3)	Hourly	Annual(4)
Architecture and engineering occupations	13,190	2.0	$39.00	$81,130
Architects, except landscape and naval	240	1.0	33.77	70,250
Cartographers and photogrammetrists	120	3.92	24.95	51,890
Surveyors	110	1.0	26.63	55,380
Aerospace engineers	420	2.1	51.43	106,980
Biomedical engineers	70	1.3	49.14	102,210
Chemical engineers	70	0.7	51.72	107,580
Civil engineers	820	1.1	37.73	78,480
Computer hardware engineers	290	1.3	48.16	100,180
Electrical engineers	900	1.9	49.12	102,160
Electronics engineers, except computer	690	1.8	50.95	105,970
Environmental engineers	190	1.3	43.80	91,110
Health and safety engineers, except mining safety engineers and inspectors	110	1.6	38.70	80,490
Industrial engineers	910	1.4	43.65	90,800
Materials engineers	240	3.5	54.30	112,950
Mechanical engineers	840	1.2	48.81	101,530
Nuclear engineers	140	3.2	61.42	127,750
Architectural and civil drafters	430	1.8	22.10	45,970
Electrical and electronics drafters	210	2.5	26.36	54,830
Mechanical drafters	180	1.0	29.24	60,820
Drafters, all other	40	1.0	18.53	38,550
Civil engineering technicians	210	1.1	22.87	47,570
Electrical and electronics engineering technicians	960	2.5	29.69	61,760
Electro-mechanical technicians	220	5.2	34.78	72,350
Environmental engineering technicians	190	3.8	19.55	40,650
Mechanical engineering technicians	90	0.73	32.05	66,660
Surveying and mapping technicians	160	1.17	18.44	38,350
(1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Albuquerque MSA, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_10740.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.