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17-992-DAL
Thursday, July 13, 2017
Workers in the Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $20.70 in May 2016, about 13 percent below the nationwide average of $23.86, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Assistant Commissioner for Regional Operations Stanley W. Suchman noted that, after testing for statistical significance, wages in the local area were lower than their respective national averages in 19 of the 22 major groups, including legal; management; and construction and extraction. Wages in three occupational groups were not measurably different from their respective national averages.
When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 5 of the 22 occupational groups, including healthcare practitioners and technical; management; and sales and related. Conversely, eight groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including production; education, training, and library; and architecture and engineering. (See table A and box note at end of release.)
Major occupational group | Percent of total employment | Mean hourly wage | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
United States | Little Rock- North Little Rock- Conway, AR | United States | Little Rock- North Little Rock- Conway, AR | Percent difference(1) | |||
Total, all occupations | 100.0 | 100.0 | $23.86 | $20.70 | * | -13 | |
Management | 5.1 | 5.8 | * | 56.74 | 41.85 | * | -26 |
Business and financial operations | 5.2 | 5.1 | 36.09 | 28.64 | * | -21 | |
Computer and mathematical | 3.0 | 3.2 | 42.25 | 32.66 | * | -23 | |
Architecture and engineering | 1.8 | 1.2 | * | 40.53 | 32.21 | * | -21 |
Life, physical, and social science | 0.8 | 0.7 | * | 35.06 | 27.42 | * | -22 |
Community and social service | 1.4 | 1.3 | * | 22.69 | 19.90 | * | -12 |
Legal | 0.8 | 0.9 | * | 50.95 | 36.23 | * | -29 |
Education, training, and library | 6.2 | 5.0 | * | 26.21 | 26.27 | 0 | |
Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media | 1.4 | 0.9 | * | 28.07 | 20.80 | * | -26 |
Healthcare practitioners and technical | 5.9 | 8.2 | * | 38.06 | 32.71 | * | -14 |
Healthcare support | 2.9 | 3.1 | 14.65 | 13.40 | * | -9 | |
Protective service | 2.4 | 2.4 | 22.03 | 17.64 | * | -20 | |
Food preparation and serving related | 9.2 | 8.8 | * | 11.47 | 10.27 | * | -10 |
Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance | 3.2 | 3.1 | 13.47 | 11.20 | * | -17 | |
Personal care and service | 3.2 | 3.2 | 12.74 | 10.86 | * | -15 | |
Sales and related | 10.4 | 11.0 | * | 19.50 | 17.09 | * | -12 |
Office and administrative support | 15.7 | 16.0 | 17.91 | 16.17 | * | -10 | |
Farming, fishing, and forestry | 0.3 | 0.2 | * | 13.37 | 13.95 | 4 | |
Construction and extraction | 4.0 | 3.9 | 23.51 | 18.11 | * | -23 | |
Installation, maintenance, and repair | 3.9 | 4.2 | * | 22.45 | 19.42 | * | -13 |
Production | 6.5 | 5.2 | * | 17.88 | 17.22 | -4 | |
Transportation and material moving | 6.9 | 6.6 | 17.34 | 15.93 | * | -8 | |
Footnotes: | |||||||
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–healthcare practitioners and technical–was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Little Rock had 28,110 jobs in healthcare practitioners and technical, accounting for 8.2 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 5.9-percent national share. However, the local average hourly wage for this occupational group, $32.71 per hour, was about 14 percent below the national average of $38.06.
Some of the larger detailed occupations within the healthcare practitioners and technical group included registered nurses (9,320), licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses (3,500), and pharmacists (1,460). One of the higher-paying jobs was family and general practitioners, with mean hourly wages of $116.54. At the lower end of the wage scale were emergency medical technicians and paramedics ($12.14) and psychiatric technicians ($13.79). (Detailed occupational data for the healthcare practitioners and technical group are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_30780.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 Little Rock metropolitan area, above average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the healthcare practitioners and technical group. For instance, in the Little Rock area, both pharmacists and speech language pathologists were employed at 2.0 times the national rate. These location quotients were among the highest in all metropolitan areas for these two particular occupations. On the other hand, dental hygienists had a location quotient of 1.0 in Little Rock, 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.
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.
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 data available from BLS include cross-industry occupational employment and wage estimates for the nation; over 650 areas, including states and the District of Columbia, metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs), metropolitan divisions, nonmetropolitan areas, and territories; national industry-specific estimates at the NAICS sector, 3-, 4-, and selected 5- and 6-digit industry levels, and national estimates 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. Each year, two semiannual panels of approximately 200,000 sampled establishments are contacted, one panel in May and the other in November. Responses are obtained by mail, Internet or other electronic means, email, telephone, or personal visit. The May 2016 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2016, November 2015, May 2015, November 2014, May 2014, and November 2013. The overall national response rate for the six panels, based on the 50 states and the District of Columbia, is 73 percent based on establishments and 69 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The unweighted employment of sampled establishments across all six semiannual panels represents approximately 58 percent of total national employment. The sample in the Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway Metropolitan Statistical Area included 2,757 establishments with a response rate of 74 percent. For more information about OES concepts and methodology, go to www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.tn.htm.
The May 2016 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 Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Faulkner, Grant, Lonoke, Perry, Pulaski, and Saline Counties in Arkansas.
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.
Occupation(1) | Employment | Mean wages | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Level(2) | Location quotient(3) | Hourly | Annual(4) | |
Healthcare practitioners and technical occupations | 28,110 | 1.4 | $32.71 | $68,030 |
Chiropractors | 100 | 1.2 | (5) | (5) |
Dentists, general | 150 | 0.6 | 66.39 | 138,100 |
Dietitians and nutritionists | 190 | 1.3 | 27.60 | 57,410 |
Optometrists | 50 | 0.5 | 45.29 | 94,200 |
Pharmacists | 1,460 | 2.0 | 52.00 | 108,150 |
Family and general practitioners | 300 | 1.0 | 116.54 | 242,400 |
Internists, general | 140 | 1.3 | 122.39 | 254,580 |
Obstetricians and gynecologists | (5) | (5) | 129.35 | 269,050 |
Surgeons | 190 | 1.9 | 108.46 | 225,590 |
Physicians and surgeons, all other | 1,480 | 1.8 | 70.66 | 146,980 |
Physician assistants | 220 | 0.9 | 38.52 | 80,110 |
Occupational therapists | 480 | 1.7 | 38.12 | 79,280 |
Physical therapists | 690 | 1.3 | 39.97 | 83,140 |
Radiation therapists | 120 | 2.8 | 33.99 | 70,690 |
Respiratory therapists | 330 | 1.1 | 25.40 | 52,820 |
Speech-language pathologists | 670 | 2.0 | 34.24 | 71,210 |
Veterinarians | 200 | 1.2 | 30.70 | 63,850 |
Registered nurses | 9,320 | 1.3 | 29.79 | 61,970 |
Nurse anesthetists | 150 | 1.6 | 65.88 | 137,030 |
Nurse practitioners | 540 | 1.5 | 42.59 | 88,590 |
Health diagnosing and treating practitioners, all other | 90 | 1.1 | 33.16 | 68,980 |
Medical and clinical laboratory technologists | 440 | 1.1 | 24.26 | 50,460 |
Medical and clinical laboratory technicians | 490 | 1.3 | 15.94 | 33,160 |
Dental hygienists | 470 | 1.0 | 31.24 | 64,980 |
Cardiovascular technologists and technicians | 230 | 1.8 | 23.05 | 47,940 |
Diagnostic medical sonographers | 230 | 1.4 | 29.88 | 62,150 |
Nuclear medicine technologists | 90 | 1.9 | 33.57 | 69,820 |
Radiologic technologists | 740 | 1.5 | 23.77 | 49,440 |
Magnetic resonance imaging technologists | 170 | 1.9 | 26.56 | 55,240 |
Emergency medical technicians and paramedics | 340 | 0.6 | 12.14 | 25,260 |
Dietetic technicians | 80 | 1.0 | 12.48 | 25,960 |
Pharmacy technicians | 1,390 | 1.4 | 15.14 | 31,490 |
Psychiatric technicians | 360 | 2.4 | 13.79 | 28,680 |
Respiratory therapy technicians | (5) | (5) | 21.78 | 45,310 |
Surgical technologists | 350 | 1.4 | 20.14 | 41,890 |
Veterinary technologists and technicians | (5) | (5) | 14.03 | 29,180 |
Licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses | 3,500 | 2.1 | 18.79 | 39,080 |
Medical records and health information technicians | 630 | 1.3 | 18.62 | 38,730 |
Opticians, dispensing | 110 | 0.6 | 20.54 | 42,720 |
Health technologists and technicians, all other | 470 | 1.6 | 21.36 | 44,430 |
Occupational health and safety specialists | 210 | 1.1 | 28.07 | 58,390 |
Occupational health and safety technicians | (5) | (5) | 29.02 | 60,350 |
Athletic trainers | 60 | 1.1 | (6) | 31,190 |
Healthcare practitioners and technical workers, all other | 390 | 4.5 | 21.67 | 45,060 |
Footnotes: |
Last Modified Date: Thursday, July 13, 2017