Workers in the Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $20.39 in May 2014, about 10 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 lower than their respective national averages in 16 of the 22 major groups, including construction and extraction; architecture and engineering; and life, physical, and social science.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 6 of the 22 occupational groups, including transportation and material moving; production; and business and financial operations. Conversely, 13 groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including healthcare practitioners and technical; protective service; and healthcare support. (See table A and box note at end of release.)

Table A. Occupational employment and wages by major occupational group, United States and the Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers Metropolitan Statistical Area, and measures of statistical significance, May 2014

Major occupational group	Percent of total employment			Mean hourly wage
	United States	Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers		United States	Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers		Percent difference(1)
Total, all occupations	100.0%	100.0%		$22.71	$20.39	*	-10
Management	5.0	6.0	*	54.08	53.96		0
Business and financial operations	5.1	6.4	*	34.81	32.41	*	-7
Computer and mathematical	2.8	3.3	*	40.37	34.83	*	-14
Architecture and engineering	1.8	0.9	*	39.19	30.09	*	-23
Life, physical, and social science	0.8	0.7	*	33.69	24.09	*	-28
Community and social service	1.4	0.7	*	21.79	21.44		-2
Legal	0.8	0.5	*	48.61	43.08		-11
Education, training, and library	6.2	5.8	*	25.10	23.48		-6
Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media	1.3	0.9	*	26.82	21.30	*	-21
Healthcare practitioners and technical	5.8	4.6	*	36.54	34.49		-6
Healthcare support	2.9	1.9	*	13.86	12.26	*	-12
Protective service	2.4	1.2	*	21.14	17.25	*	-18
Food preparation and serving related	9.1	8.6	*	10.57	9.23	*	-13
Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance	3.2	2.9	*	12.68	11.25	*	-11
Personal care and service	3.1	3.0		12.01	9.97	*	-17
Sales and related	10.5	11.3		18.59	16.62	*	-11
Office and administrative support	16.0	15.2	*	17.08	14.90	*	-13
Farming, fishing, and forestry	0.3	0.5	*	12.09	13.53	*	12
Construction and extraction	3.9	3.2	*	22.40	16.48	*	-26
Installation, maintenance, and repair	3.9	3.7		21.74	18.40	*	-15
Production	6.6	8.7	*	17.06	13.86	*	-19
Transportation and material moving	6.8	10.0	*	16.57	15.22	*	-8
(1) A positive percent difference measures how much the mean wage in Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers 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.

One occupational group–transportation and material moving–was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Fayetteville had 21,570 jobs in transportation and material moving, accounting for 10.0 percent of area employment, significantly higher than the 6.8-percent national share. However, at $15.22 per hour, the local average hourly wage for this occupational group was about 8 percent below the national average of $16.57.

With employment of 9,560, heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers was one of the largest occupations within the transportation and material moving group, as were laborers and freight, stock, and hand material movers (4,270) and industrial truck and tractor operators (1,100). Among the higher paying jobs were first-line supervisors of transportation and material-moving machine and vehicle operators ($25.49) and first-line supervisors of helpers, laborers, and hand material movers ($22.08). Among non-supervisory workers, higher paid positions included heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers, as well as conveyor operators and tenders, with average hourly wages of $18.36 and $15.90, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were school or special client bus drivers ($9.24) and taxi drivers and chauffeurs ($9.95). (Detailed occupational data for the transportation and material moving group are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_22220.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 Fayetteville metropolitan area, above average concentrations of employment were found in some of the occupations within the transportation and material moving group. For instance, machine feeders and offbearers were employed at 3.9 times the national rate in Fayetteville, and heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers, at 3.7 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, hand packers and packagers had a location quotient of 0.9 in Fayetteville, 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 Arkansas Department of Workforce Services.

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 Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers Metropolitan Statistical Area included 2,226 establishments with a response rate of 84 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 Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) includes Benton, Madison, and Washington Counties in Arkansas and McDonald County in Missouri.

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: (800) 877-8339.

Table 1. Employment and wage data from the Occupational Employment Statistics survey, by occupation, Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2014

Occupation(1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level(2)	Location quotient(3)	Hourly	Annual(4)
Transportation and material moving occupations	21,570	1.5	$15.22	$31,650
First-line supervisors of helpers, laborers, and material movers, hand	240	0.9	22.08	45,930
First-line supervisors of transportation and material-moving machine and vehicle operators	360	1.1	25.49	53,010
Bus drivers, school or special client	710	0.9	9.24	19,220
Driver/sales workers	510	0.8	14.27	29,680
Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers	9,560	3.7	18.36	38,200
Light truck or delivery services drivers	1,040	0.8	14.30	29,740
Taxi drivers and chauffeurs	400	1.4	9.95	20,690
Automotive and watercraft service attendants	150	0.9	11.03	22,930
Conveyor operators and tenders	250	4.0	15.90	33,080
Excavating and loading machine and dragline operators	60	0.8	18.53	38,540
Industrial truck and tractor operators	1,100	1.3	13.28	27,620
Cleaners of vehicles and equipment	920	1.8	10.32	21,460
Laborers and freight, stock, and material movers, hand	4,270	1.1	11.43	23,780
Machine feeders and offbearers	650	3.9	13.81	28,730
Packers and packagers, hand	1,020	0.9	11.51	23,930
Refuse and recyclable material collectors	150	0.8	14.49	30,150
(1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers MSA, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_22220.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.