Department of Labor Logo United States Department of Labor
Dot gov

The .gov means it's official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you're on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

News Release Information

14-1336-DAL
Thursday, July 17, 2014

Contacts Technical information: Media contact:
  • (972) 850-4800

Occupational Employment and Wages in Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux, May 2013

Workers in the Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $19.86 in May 2013, about 11 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 15 of the 22 major occupational groups, including computer and mathematical; protective service; and sales and related. Only two groups had significantly higher wages than their respective national averages, transportation and material moving, as well as production.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 4 of the 22 occupational groups, including transportation and material moving; construction and extraction; and production. Conversely, 16 groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including office and administrative support; business and financial operations; and computer and mathematical. (See table A and box note at end of release.)

Table A. Occupational employment and wages by major occupational group, United States and the Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux Metropolitan Statistical Area, and measures of statistical significance, May 2013
Major occupational groupPercent of total employmentMean hourly wage
United
States
Houma-
Bayou Cane-
Thibodaux
 United
States
Houma-
Bayou Cane-
Thibodaux
 Percent
difference(1)

Total, all occupations

100.0%100.0% $22.33$19.86*-11

Management

4.93.6*53.1543.77*-18

Business and financial operations

5.02.5*34.1429.12*-15

Computer and mathematical

2.80.4*39.4327.39*-31

Architecture and engineering

1.81.3*38.5130.93*-20

Life, physical, and social science

0.90.4*33.3735.36 6

Community and social service

1.41.4 21.5017.22*-20

Legal

0.80.2*47.8936.44 -24

Education, training, and library

6.34.1*24.7619.55*-21

Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media

1.30.5*26.72(2) (2)

Healthcare practitioners and technical

5.84.9*35.9329.66*-17

Healthcare support

3.01.8*13.6110.61*-22

Protective service

2.52.2 20.9215.86*-24

Food preparation and serving related

9.07.9*10.3810.08 -3

Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance

3.22.6*12.519.93*-21

Personal care and service

3.01.7*11.889.48*-20

Sales and related

10.69.7*18.3714.13*-23

Office and administrative support

16.213.4*16.7814.46*-14

Farming, fishing, and forestry

0.30.1*11.7013.94 19

Construction and extraction

3.88.1*21.9420.84*-5

Installation, maintenance, and repair

3.97.2*21.3519.98*-6

Production

6.610.7*16.7919.49*16

Transportation and material moving

6.815.3*16.2824.68*52

(1) A positive percent difference measures how much the mean wage in Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux is above the national mean wage, while a negative difference reflects a lower wage.
(2) Estimates not released.
* 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–transportation and material moving–was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Houma had 14,840 jobs in transportation and material moving, accounting for 15.3 percent of local area employment, more than double the 6.8-percent national share. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $24.68, 52 percent above the national wage of $16.28.

With employment of 3,660, captains, mates, and pilots of water vessels was one of the largest occupations within the transportation and material moving group, followed by hand laborers and freight, stock, and material movers (2,500) and sailors and marine oilers (2,350). Interestingly, the Houma area had the largest number of captains, mates, and pilots of water vessels in the entire country, followed by New Orleans. Among the higher paying jobs were ship engineers, and captains, mates, and pilots of water vessels, with mean hourly wages of $45.12 and $38.26, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were hand packers and packagers ($11.29) and hand laborers and freight, stock, and material movers ($12.44). (Detailed occupational data for transportation and material moving are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_26380.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 Houma metropolitan area, above average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the transportation and material moving group. For instance, both sailors and marine oilers, and ship engineers were employed at more than 110 times the national rate, and captains, mates, and pilots of water vessels, at more than 160 times the U.S. average. The location quotients for these three occupations were ranked the highest among all metropolitan areas in the country. On the other hand, cleaners of vehicles and equipment had a location quotient of 1.1 in Houma, 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 Louisiana Workforce Commission.

Note

OES wage and employment data for the 22 major occupational groups in the Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux Metropolitan Statistical Area were compared to their respective national averages based on statistical significance testing. Only those occupations with wages or employment shares above or below the national wage or share after testing for significance at the 90-percent confidence level meet the criteria.

Note: 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.


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 Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux Metropolitan Statistical Area included 1,368 establishments with a response rate of 75 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 Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) includes Lafourche and Terrebonne Parishes in Louisiana.

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, Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2013
Occupation(1)EmploymentMean wages
Level(2)Location
quotient(3)
HourlyAnnual(4)

Transportation and material moving occupations

14,8402.3$24.68$51,340

First-line supervisors of helpers, laborers, and material movers, hand

1701.424.0750,060

First-line supervisors of transportation and material-moving machine and vehicle operators

4903.432.6367,870

Commercial pilots

2509.1(5)81,520

Bus drivers, school or special client

1500.48.5417,760

Driver/sales workers

700.217.0935,540

Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers

1,3401.217.6636,730

Light truck or delivery services drivers

7301.315.8733,010

Taxi drivers and chauffeurs

1200.910.3621,550

Sailors and marine oilers

2,350111.620.4642,550

Captains, mates, and pilots of water vessels

3,660165.338.2679,590

Ship engineers

820113.345.1293,840

Automotive and watercraft service attendants

500.79.5219,790

Crane and tower operators

54017.721.6545,020

Excavating and loading machine and dragline operators

601.824.7051,380

Industrial truck and tractor operators

2700.717.1035,570

Cleaners of vehicles and equipment

2501.113.1427,330

Laborers and freight, stock, and material movers, hand

2,5001.512.4425,880

Packers and packagers, hand

1700.311.2923,470

Pump operators, except wellhead pumpers

707.123.8049,510

Refuse and recyclable material collectors

400.519.1339,790

Tank car, truck, and ship loaders

22024.320.2542,120

(1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux MSA, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_26380.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.

 

Last Modified Date: Thursday, July 17, 2014