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News Release Information

17-997-DAL
Tuesday, July 18, 2017

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

Occupational Employment and Wages in Santa Fe, May 2016

Workers in the Santa Fe Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $21.20 in May 2016, about 11 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 13 of the 22 major occupational groups, including legal; architecture and engineering; and management. Only one group, food preparation and serving related workers, had wages that were measurably higher than the national average. Wage levels in the eight remaining occupational groups were not measurably different from their respective national averages.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 10 of the 22 occupational groups, including food preparation and serving related; sales and related; and management. Conversely, nine groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including production; transportation and material moving; and healthcare practitioners and technical. (See table A and box note at end of release.)

Table A. Occupational employment and wages by major occupational group, United States and the Santa Fe, NM Metropolitan Statistical Area, and measures of statistical significance, May 2016
Major occupational groupPercent of total employmentMean hourly wage
United
States
Santa Fe,
NM
United
States
Santa Fe,
NM
Percent
difference(1)

Total, all occupations

100.0100.0 $23.86$21.20*-11

Management

5.16.3*56.7441.98*-26

Business and financial operations

5.26.4*36.0928.29*-22

Computer and mathematical

3.02.1*42.2533.65*-20

Architecture and engineering

1.81.2*40.5329.61*-27

Life, physical, and social science

0.81.2*35.0629.13*-17

Community and social service

1.42.0*22.6922.42 -1

Legal

0.81.3*50.9536.45*-28

Education, training, and library

6.25.5*26.2126.90 3

Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media

1.41.8*28.0726.89 -4

Healthcare practitioners and technical

5.94.9*38.0639.73 4

Healthcare support

2.92.5*14.6515.07 3

Protective service

2.43.6*22.0317.79*-19

Food preparation and serving related

9.212.3*11.4712.38*8

Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance

3.23.7*13.4713.25 -2

Personal care and service

3.25.2 12.7411.33*-11

Sales and related

10.411.7*19.5016.56*-15

Office and administrative support

15.715.3 17.9117.70 -1

Farming, fishing, and forestry

0.30.1*13.3712.01 -10

Construction and extraction

4.04.1 23.5117.76*-24

Installation, maintenance, and repair

3.93.0*22.4519.39*-14

Production

6.52.1*17.8816.38*-8

Transportation and material moving

6.93.7*17.3414.86*-14

Footnotes:
(1) A positive percent difference measures how much the mean wage in the Santa Fe, NM Metropolitan Statistical Area 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–food preparation and serving related–was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Santa Fe had 7,560 jobs in food preparation and serving related, accounting for 12.3 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 9.2-percent national share. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $12.38, significantly above the national average of $11.47.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the food preparation and serving related group included waiters and waitresses (1,820), combined food preparation and serving related workers, including fast food (1,020), and restaurant cooks (860). Among the higher-paying jobs were chefs and head cooks, as well as first-line supervisors of food preparation and serving workers, with mean hourly wages of $27.32 and $16.50, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were combined food preparation and serving related workers, including fast food ($9.71) and dishwashers ($10.64). (Detailed occupational data for food preparation and serving related workers are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of all occupations go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_42140.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 Santa Fe metropolitan area, above average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the food preparation and serving related group. For instance, short order cooks were employed at 3.0 times the national rate in Santa Fe, and dining room and cafeteria attendants and bartender helpers, at 2.4 times the U.S. average.

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 New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions.

Notes

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 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 Santa Fe Metropolitan Statistical Area included 1,132 establishments with a response rate of 78 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 Santa Fe Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Santa Fe County in New Mexico.

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 the 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, Santa Fe, NM Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2016
Occupation(1)EmploymentMean wages
Level(2)Location
quotient(3)
HourlyAnnual(4)

Food preparation and serving related occupations

7,5601.3$12.38$25,740

Chefs and head cooks

1101.927.3256,820

First-line supervisors of food preparation and serving workers

6801.716.5034,320

Cooks, fast food

1500.710.7122,280

Cooks, institution and cafeteria

2101.213.5528,170

Cooks, restaurant

8601.612.8426,710

Cooks, short order

2403.0(5)(5)

Food preparation workers

5401.411.5323,990

Bartenders

3501.314.3929,920

Combined food preparation and serving workers, including fast food

1,0200.79.7120,210

Counter attendants, cafeteria, food concession, and coffee shop

1800.89.8820,550

Waiters and waitresses

1,8201.611.7624,450

Food servers, nonrestaurant

1601.49.4719,700

Dining room and cafeteria attendants and bartender helpers

4402.411.0222,930

Dishwashers

4502.010.6422,130

Hosts and hostesses, restaurant, lounge, and coffee shop

3301.912.0024,950

Footnotes:
(1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Santa Fe, NM Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_42140.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 18, 2017