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News Release Information

16-1329-DAL
Tuesday, July 05, 2016

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

Occupational Employment and Wages in Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers, May 2015

Workers in the Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $20.95 in May 2015, about 10 percent below the nationwide average of $23.23, 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 15 of the 22 major groups, including life, physical, and social science; construction and extraction; and architecture and engineering.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 5 of the 22 occupational groups, including production; business and financial operations; and sales and related. Conversely, 14 groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including healthcare practitioners and technical; protective service; and office and administrative 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 2015
Major occupational groupPercent of total employmentMean hourly wage
United
States
Fayetteville-
Springdale-
Rogers
United
States
Fayetteville-
Springdale-
Rogers
Percent
difference(1)

Total, all occupations

100.0%100.0% $23.23$20.95*-10

Management

5.06.0*55.3054.15 -2

Business and financial operations

5.16.7*35.4833.05*-7

Computer and mathematical

2.93.2*41.4334.89*-16

Architecture and engineering

1.80.9*39.8930.38*-24

Life, physical, and social science

0.80.7*34.2423.88*-30

Community and social service

1.40.7*22.1921.67 -2

Legal

0.80.5*49.7445.21 -9

Education, training, and library

6.25.6*25.4823.70 -7

Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media

1.30.9*27.3921.72*-21

Healthcare practitioners and technical

5.84.6*37.4034.51*-8

Healthcare support

2.92.0*14.1912.66*-11

Protective service

2.41.3*21.4518.49*-14

Food preparation and serving related

9.18.8*10.989.68*-12

Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance

3.22.9*13.0211.72*-10

Personal care and service

3.12.9 12.3310.26*-17

Sales and related

10.511.7*18.9017.77 -6

Office and administrative support

15.814.7*17.4715.17*-13

Farming, fishing, and forestry

0.30.5 12.6713.82*9

Construction and extraction

4.03.3*22.8816.50*-28

Installation, maintenance, and repair

3.93.5*22.1119.06*-14

Production

6.69.0*17.4114.08*-19

Transportation and material moving

6.99.5 16.9016.70 -1

(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 – production – was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Fayetteville had 20,060 jobs in production, accounting for 9.0 percent of area employment, significantly higher than the 6.6-percent national share. However, the local average hourly wage for this occupational group, $14.08 per hour, was nearly 20 percent below the national average of $17.41.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the production group included meat, poultry, and fish cutters and trimmers (3,220), team assemblers (1,600), and inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers (1,050). Among the higher paying jobs were first-line supervisors of production and operating workers, as well as metal and plastic multiple machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, with mean hourly wages of $24.22 and $20.49, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were bakers ($10.49) and slaughterers and meat packers ($10.91). (Detailed occupational data for the production group are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of all 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 many of the occupations within the production group. For instance, meat, poultry, and fish cutters and trimmers were employed at 12.8 times the national rate in Fayetteville, and slaughterers and meat packers, at 6.1 times the U.S. average. Both location quotients were among the highest in all metropolitan areas for these particular occupations. On the other hand, welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers had a location quotient of 1.0 in Fayetteville, 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 Arkansas Department of Workforce Services.

Notes on Occupational Employment Statistics Data

With the issuance of data for May 2015, the OES program has incorporated redefined metropolitan area definitions as designated by the Office of Management and Budget. OES data are available for 394 metropolitan areas, 38 metropolitan divisions, and 167 OES-defined nonmetropolitan areas. A listing of the areas and their definitions can be found at www.bls.gov/oes/current/msa_def.htm.

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. The OES program produces employment and wage estimates for over 800 occupations for all industries combined in the nation; the 50 states and the District of Columbia; 432 metropolitan areas and divisions; 167 nonmetropolitan areas; and Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. National estimates are also available by industry for NAICS sectors, 3-, 4-, and selected 5- and 6-digit industries, and by ownership across all industries and for schools and hospitals. OES data are available at www.bls.gov/oes/tables.htm.

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 2015 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2015, November 2014, May 2014, November 2013, May 2013, and November 2012. The overall national response rate for the six panels is 73.5 percent based on establishments and 69.6 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The unweighted employment of sampled establishments across all six semiannual panels represents approximately 57.9 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 2,215 establishments with a response rate of 81 percent. For more information about OES concepts and methodology, go to www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.tn.htm.

The May 2015 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.

Metropolitan 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 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 2015
Occupation(1)EmploymentMean wages
Level(2)Location
quotient(3)
HourlyAnnual(4)

Production occupations

20,0601.4$14.08$29,290

First-line supervisors of production and operating workers

1,2401.324.2250,380

Electrical and electronic equipment assemblers

2400.715.9233,110

Structural metal fabricators and fitters

1801.417.5936,600

Team assemblers

1,6000.912.3225,620

Assemblers and fabricators, all other

2500.711.6424,200

Bakers

3101.110.4921,820

Butchers and meat cutters

1200.511.2023,290

Meat, poultry, and fish cutters and trimmers

3,22012.811.3523,610

Slaughterers and meat packers

7906.110.9122,700

Food batchmakers

3101.410.9322,730

Food cooking machine operators and tenders

1302.411.0522,980

Food processing workers, all other

1,15015.710.9022,680

Computer-controlled machine tool operators, metal and plastic

1200.514.1229,360

Extruding and drawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic

1801.617.2735,910

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

5401.718.8439,190

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

800.712.6926,390

Machinists

6000.916.3433,980

Molding, coremaking, & casting machine setters, operators, & tenders, metal & plastic

(5)(5)14.9731,130

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

2301.320.4942,620

Tool and die makers

800.622.6747,150

Welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers

5901.016.4134,120

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

700.820.0241,630

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

701.214.7230,610

Prepress technicians and workers

(5)(5)14.4430,040

Printing press operators

2200.813.3627,790

Laundry and dry-cleaning workers

2800.99.2919,310

Pressers, textile, garment, and related materials

1001.39.2319,190

Sewing machine operators

1300.612.0325,020

Tailors, dressmakers, and custom sewers

301.011.4723,860

Cabinetmakers and bench carpenters

2501.714.7530,690

Sawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, wood

600.812.8426,700

Woodworking machine setters, operators, and tenders, except sawing

600.512.3025,590

Water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators

2301.218.6738,830

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

(5)(5)11.8524,660

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

400.712.6926,400

Mixing and blending machine setters, operators, and tenders

700.313.4027,870

Cutting and slicing machine setters, operators, and tenders

4604.516.1533,590

Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers

1,0501.314.2929,730

Jewelers and precious stone and metal workers

501.3(5)(5)

Ophthalmic laboratory technicians

1503.414.6530,470

Packaging and filling machine operators and tenders

1,0301.713.4027,880

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

1601.114.8530,890

Painters, transportation equipment

(5)(5)19.2239,980

Cleaning, washing, and metal pickling equipment operators and tenders

1003.412.6326,270

Cooling and freezing equipment operators and tenders

20015.213.2927,630

Molders, shapers, and casters, except metal and plastic

(5)(5)13.3027,670

Paper goods machine setters, operators, and tenders

2301.516.3333,960

Helpers-production workers

8501.211.2123,310

Production workers, all other

8202.112.3125,600

(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.
(5) Estimates not released.

 

Last Modified Date: Tuesday, July 05, 2016