Workers in the Corpus Christi Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $18.51 in May 2013, 17 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 higher than their respective national averages in 2 of the 22 major occupational groups, including production, while sixteen groups had significantly lower wages  including legal; computer and mathematical; and sales and related occupations.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 5 of the 22 occupational groups, including healthcare support; construction and extraction; and installation, maintenance, and repair. Conversely, twelve groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including business and financial operations; computer and mathematical; and production. (See table A and box note at end of release.)

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

Major occupational group	Percent of total employment			Mean hourly wage
	United States	Corpus Christi		United States	Corpus Christi		Percent difference(1)
Total, all occupations	100.00%	100.00%		$22.33	$18.51	*	-17
Management	4.9	3.7	*	53.15	44.00	*	-17
Business and financial operations	5.0	3.0	*	34.14	29.99	*	-12
Computer and mathematical	2.8	0.9	*	39.43	31.22	*	-21
Architecture and engineering	1.8	1.4	*	38.51	37.61		-2
Life, physical, and social science	0.9	0.6	*	33.37	30.50	*	-9
Community and social service	1.4	1.0	*	21.50	20.29		-6
Legal	0.8	0.5	*	47.89	38.71	*	-19
Education, training, and library	6.3	5.8	*	24.76	23.08	*	-7
Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media	1.3	0.6	*	26.72	17.47	*	-35
Healthcare practitioners and technical	5.8	5.4		35.93	32.76	*	-9
Healthcare support	3.0	4.2	*	13.61	10.75	*	-21
Protective service	2.5	2.3		20.92	20.39		-3
Food preparation and serving related	9.0	10.9	*	10.38	9.50	*	-8
Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance	3.2	3.4		12.51	10.22	*	-18
Personal care and service	3.0	4.0	*	11.88	9.03	*	-24
Sales and related	10.6	10.2		18.37	15.18	*	-17
Office and administrative support	16.2	15.0	*	16.78	14.33	*	-15
Farming, fishing, and forestry	0.3	0.2	*	11.70	15.05	*	29
Construction and extraction	3.8	8.5	*	21.94	18.37	*	-16
Installation, maintenance, and repair	3.9	6.5	*	21.35	20.62		-3
Production	6.6	5.3	*	16.79	20.22	*	20
Transportation and material moving	6.8	6.6		16.28	15.37	*	-6
(1) A positive percent difference measures how much the mean wage in Corpus Christi 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–construction and extraction–was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Corpus Christi had 15,780 jobs in construction and extraction, accounting for 8.5 percent of local area employment, more than double the national share of 3.8 percent. However, the local wage for this occupational group was significantly below the U.S. average. At $18.37 an hour, the mean wage for Corpus Christi construction and extraction workers was 16 percent below the $21.94 national average.

With employment of 2,800, construction laborers was among the largest occupations within the construction and extraction group, as were first-line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers (1,550), and oil and gas roustabouts (1,470). Among the higher paying jobs were oil and gas rotary drill operators, as well as sheet metal workers, with mean hourly wages of $26.54 and $24.70, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were construction laborers ($13.03) and carpenters ($16.34). (Detailed occupational data for construction and extraction are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of all detailed occupations, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_18580.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 Corpus Christi metropolitan area, above average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the construction and extraction group. For instance, oil and gas roustabouts were employed at 15.4 times the national rate in Corpus Christi, and oil, gas, and mining service unit operators, at 12.8 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, carpenters had a location quotient of 1.0 in Corpus Christi, indicating the local employment share in this particular occupation matched the national average.

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 Texas Workforce Commission.

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 Corpus Christi Metropolitan Statistical Area included 1,954 establishments with a response rate of 69 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 Corpus Christi Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) includes Aransas, Nueces and San Patricio Counties in Texas.

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, Corpus Christi Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2013

Occupation(1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level(2)	Location quotient(3)	Hourly	Annual(4)
Construction and extraction occupations	15,780	2.2	$18.37	$38,210
First-line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers	1,550	2.4	26.04	54,160
Boilermakers	130	5.6	24.92	51,840
Carpenters	770	1.0	16.34	33,990
Cement masons and concrete finishers	270	1.3	15.11	31,430
Construction laborers	2,800	2.4	13.03	27,100
Operating engineers and other construction equipment operators	970	2.0	17.37	36,120
Electricians	1,140	1.5	20.85	43,370
Insulation workers, floor, ceiling, and wall	100	3.1	14.08	29,280
Painters, construction and maintenance	630	2.3	18.50	38,490
Pipelayers	40	0.7	14.89	30,970
Plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters	630	1.3	20.70	43,050
Reinforcing iron and rebar workers	(5)	(5)	18.85	39,200
Roofers	70	0.5	12.87	26,780
Sheet metal workers	710	3.8	24.70	51,370
Structural iron and steel workers	(5)	(5)	20.61	42,860
Helpers-carpenters	110	2.2	13.23	27,510
Helpers-electricians	250	2.8	13.45	27,980
Helpers-painters, paperhangers, plasterers, and stucco masons	140	8.4	12.29	25,560
Helpers-pipelayers, plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters	120	1.8	12.98	27,000
Helpers, construction trades, all other	170	6.6	14.23	29,600
Construction and building inspectors	190	1.6	26.44	55,000
Hazardous materials removal workers	50	0.9	19.48	40,510
Highway maintenance workers	170	0.9	15.53	32,310
Septic tank servicers and sewer pipe cleaners	40	1.1	12.31	25,600
Derrick operators, oil and gas	210	6.7	22.79	47,410
Rotary drill operators, oil and gas	370	9.7	26.54	55,210
Service unit operators, oil, gas, and mining	1,060	12.8	17.92	37,270
Roustabouts, oil and gas	1,470	15.4	16.77	34,880
Helpers-extraction workers	320	10.0	17.77	36,960
(1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Corpus Christi MSA, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_18580.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. (5) Estimates not released.