Workers in the Houma-Thibodaux Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $20.92 in May 2017, about 14 percent below the nationwide average of $24.34, 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 occupational groups including legal; computer and mathematical; and arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media. Local wages were higher than their respective national averages in 3 of the 22 groups including transportation and material moving, as well as production.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 4 of the 22 occupational groups, including transportation and material moving; installation, maintenance, and repair; and construction and extraction. Conversely, 14 groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including computer and mathematical; office and administrative support; and personal care and service. (See table A and box note at end of release.)

One occupational group—transportation and material moving—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Houma-Thibodaux had 11,380 jobs in transportation and material moving, accounting for 13.5 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 7.0-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $24.35, significantly above the national wage of $17.82.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the transportation and material moving group included hand laborers and freight, stock, and material movers (2,570), captains, mates, and pilots of water vessels (2,040), and sailors and marine oilers (1,780). Among the higher-paying jobs were captains, mates, and pilots of water vessels and first-line supervisors of transportation and material moving workers, except aircraft cargo handling supervisors, with mean hourly wages of $46.23 and $41.02, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were taxi drivers and chauffeurs ($10.89) and bus drivers, school or special client ($10.91). (Detailed occupational data for transportation and material moving are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_26380.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 Houma-Thibodaux Metropolitan Statistical Area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the transportation and material moving group. For instance, sailors and marine oilers were employed at 97.5 times the national rate in Houma, and captains, mates, and pilots of water vessels, at 96.5 times the U.S. average. Both Houma location quotients were among the highest in all metropolitan areas for these particular occupations. On the other hand, industrial truck and tractor operators had a location quotient of 1.0 in Houma, 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 Louisiana Workforce Commission.

Technical Note

The Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) survey is a semiannual 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 Houma-Thibodaux Metropolitan Statistical Area included 1,389 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 Houma-Thibodaux Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Lafourche and Terrebonne Parishes in Louisiana.

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, Houma-Thibodaux Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2017

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Transportation and material moving occupations	11,380	1.9	$24.35	$50,660
First-line supervisors of transportation and material moving workers, except aircraft cargo handling supervisors	480	2.0	41.02	85,320
Commercial pilots	240	10.5	(6)	82,490
Bus drivers, school or special client	400	1.3	10.91	22,690
Driver/sales workers	160	0.7	14.69	30,550
Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers	1,350	1.3	19.85	41,290
Light truck or delivery services drivers	620	1.2	14.66	30,490
Taxi drivers and chauffeurs	50	0.4	10.89	22,640
Sailors and marine oilers	1,780	97.5	24.49	50,940
Captains, mates, and pilots of water vessels	2,040	96.5	46.23	96,170
Ship engineers	190	40.8	39.84	82,870
Bridge and lock tenders	120	61.0	12.68	26,370
Automotive and watercraft service attendants	90	1.3	11.77	24,490
Transportation workers, all other	70	3.2	13.74	28,590
Crane and tower operators	330	12.7	22.77	47,360
Industrial truck and tractor operators	350	1.0	18.61	38,710
Cleaners of vehicles and equipment	230	1.0	11.76	24,450
Laborers and freight, stock, and material movers, hand	2,570	1.6	13.24	27,550
Packers and packagers, hand	(5)	(5)	9.70	20,170
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in Houma-Thibodaux, LA, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_26380.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) Estimate not released. (6) Wages for some occupations that do not generally work year-round, full time, are reported either as hourly wages or annual salaries depending on how they are typically paid.