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News Release Information

15-645-DAL
Tuesday, April 14, 2015

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

Occupational Employment and Wages in Beaumont-Port Arthur, May 2014

Workers in the Beaumont-Port Arthur Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $20.79 in May 2014, about 8 percent below the nationwide average of $22.71, 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 higher than their respective national averages in 4 of the 22 major occupational groups, including production; architecture and engineering; and installation, maintenance, and repair. Twelve groups had wages that were measurably lower than their respective national averages; included in this grouping were legal and personal care and service.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, Beaumont employment was more highly concentrated in 5 of the 22 occupational groups, including construction and extraction; production; and installation, maintenance, and repair. Conversely, 11 groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including business and financial operations; office and administrative support; 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 Beaumont-Port Arthur Metropolitan Statistical Area, and measures of statistical significance, May 2014
Major occupational groupPercent of total employmentMean hourly wage
United StatesBeaumont-
Port Arthur
United StatesBeaumont-
Port Arthur
Percent difference(1)

Total, all occupations

100.0%100.0% $22.71$20.79*-8

Management

5.03.8*54.0848.08*-11

Business and financial operations

5.12.7*34.8133.70 -3

Computer and mathematical

2.80.9*40.3734.41*-15

Architecture and engineering

1.82.5*39.1945.43*16

Life, physical, and social science

0.80.8 33.6931.92 -5

Community and social service

1.40.9*21.7919.51*-10

Legal

0.80.5*48.6136.28*-25

Education, training, and library

6.25.6 25.1019.77*-21

Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media

1.30.6*26.8220.46*-24

Healthcare practitioners and technical

5.84.8*36.5432.78*-10

Healthcare support

2.92.0*13.8613.17 -5

Protective service

2.43.1*21.1420.51 -3

Food preparation and serving related

9.18.8 10.579.14*-14

Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance

3.22.5*12.6810.83*-15

Personal care and service

3.1NA 12.019.13*-24

Sales and related

10.510.9 18.5917.12*-8

Office and administrative support

16.014.0*17.0815.61*-9

Farming, fishing, and forestry

0.30.1*12.0918.16*50

Construction and extraction

3.98.8*22.4021.98 -2

Installation, maintenance, and repair

3.95.0*21.7423.40*8

Production

6.610.6*17.0623.78*39

Transportation and material moving

6.86.7 16.5716.39 -1

(1) A positive percent difference measures how much the mean wage in Beaumont-Port Arthur is above the national mean wage, while a negative difference reflects a lower wage.

Note: * 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.
NA: estimate is not available.

One occupational group – production – was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Beaumont had 16,710 jobs in production, accounting for 10.6 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the national share of 6.6 percent. The local average hourly wage for this occupational group was $23.78, nearly 40 percent above the national average of $17.06.

With employment of 1,990, the occupation of petroleum pump system operators, refinery operators, and gaugers was among the largest within the production group, as were welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers (1,870) and first-line supervisors of production and operating workers (1,760). Among the higher paying jobs were first-line supervisors of production and operating workers, as well as chemical plant and system operators, with mean hourly wages of $40.93 and $32.55, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were bakers ($9.98) and team assemblers ($13.85). (Detailed occupational data for production workers are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of all occupations see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_13140.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 Beaumont metropolitan area, above average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the production group. For instance, local petroleum pump system operators, refinery operators, and gaugers were employed at 40.9 times the U.S. average, while chemical plant and system operators were employed at 23.2 times the national rate. Both location quotients were among the highest in all metropolitan areas for these particular occupations. On the other hand, laundry and dry-cleaning workers had a location quotient of 0.9 in Beaumont, indicating that this 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 Texas Workforce Commission.

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. May 2014 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2014, November 2013, May 2013, November 2012, May 2012, and November 2011. The overall national response rate for the six panels is 74.3 percent based on establishments and 70.5 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The unweighted employment of sampled establishments across all six semiannual panels represents approximately 57.1 percent of total national employment. (Response rates are slightly lower for these estimates due to the federal shutdown in October 2013.) The sample in the Beaumont-Port Arthur Metropolitan Statistical Area included 1,851 establishments with a response rate of 70 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 2014 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 Beaumont-Port Arthur Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Hardin, Jefferson, and Orange Counties in Texas.

Additional information

OES data are available on our regional web page at www.bls.gov/regions/southwest. 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/current/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, Beaumont-Port Arthur Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2014
Occupation(1)EmploymentMean wages
Level(2)Location
quotient(3)
HourlyAnnual(4)

 

Production occupations
16,7101.6$23.78$49,470

First-line supervisors of production and operating workers

1,7602.640.9385,140

Electrical and electronic equipment assemblers

(5)(5)15.0931,390

Structural metal fabricators and fitters

2602.920.0541,710

Fiberglass laminators and fabricators

(5)(5)13.2727,610

Team assemblers

6700.513.8528,820

Assemblers and fabricators, all other

1200.413.0227,080

Bakers

2701.39.9820,760

Butchers and meat cutters

1000.714.4330,010

Food batchmakers

600.513.1627,360

Food processing workers, all other

500.911.1723,240

Computer-controlled machine tool operators, metal & plastic

(5)(5)20.6542,950

Computer numerically controlled machine tool programmers, metal & plastic

301.121.2044,100

Forging machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal & plastic

401.722.1346,040

Cutting, punching, & press machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal & plastic

1300.616.0333,350

Grinding, lapping, polishing, and buffing machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal & plastic

400.518.6138,700

Lathe and turning machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal & plastic

(5)(5)14.7330,650

Machinists

5301.222.8847,600

Multiple machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal & plastic

1401.218.9039,310

Welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers

1,8704.421.4944,700

Welding, soldering, and brazing machine setters, operators, and tenders

2604.021.2844,260

Heat treating equipment setters, operators, and tenders, metal & plastic

702.922.7347,280

Layout workers, metal & plastic

29019.322.3246,430

Plating and coating machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal & plastic

(5)(5)16.6534,630

Printing press operators

600.313.6828,460

Laundry and dry-cleaning workers

2000.912.0024,960

Pressers, textile, garment, and related materials

1202.18.8718,460

Sewing machine operators

600.310.1121,020

Cabinetmakers and bench carpenters

900.914.8730,940

Sawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, wood

901.711.2523,400

Woodworking machine setters, operators, and tenders, except sawing

2302.811.4023,720

Power distributors and dispatchers

403.242.8289,070

Water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators

2001.518.3138,080

Chemical plant and system operators

1,01023.232.5567,700

Petroleum pump system operators, refinery operators, and gaugers

1,99040.932.3667,310

Chemical equipment operators and tenders

7209.628.8860,080

Separating, filtering, clarifying, precipitating, and still machine setters, operators, and tenders

1302.727.5757,350

Crushing, grinding, and polishing machine setters, operators, and tenders

501.413.3227,700

Mixing and blending machine setters, operators, and tenders

2501.820.3242,270

Extruding, forming, pressing, & compacting machine setters, operators, & tenders

300.423.0047,830

Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers

8301.524.2650,450

Coating, painting, and spraying machine setters, operators, and tenders

6806.517.0035,370

Painters, transportation equipment

801.422.2246,210

Photographic process workers and processing machine operators

(5)(5)8.6417,970

Helpers-production workers

9602.015.3131,840

Production workers, all other

(5)(5)10.5822,000

(1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Beaumont-Port Arthur MSA, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_13140.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: Tuesday, April 14, 2015