Workers in the Las Cruces Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $19.80 in May 2017, about 19 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, no wages in the local area were higher than their respective national averages in 22 major occupational groups. Nineteen groups had significantly lower wages than their respective national averages, including management; sales and related; and legal.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 10 of the 22 occupational groups, including education, training, and library; personal care and service; and protective service. Conversely, 10 groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including production; transportation and material moving; and sales and related. (See table A and box note at end of release.)

One occupational group—protective service—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Las Cruces had 3,170 jobs in protective service, accounting for 4.5 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 2.4-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $22.79, compared to the national wage of $22.69.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the protective service group included detectives and criminal investigators (610), security guards (570), and police and sheriff's patrol officers (480). Among the higher paying jobs were detectives and criminal investigators, as well as first-line supervisors of police and detectives, with mean hourly wages of $38.74 and $38.59, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were transportation security screeners ($11.03) and security guards ($13.38). (Detailed occupational data for protective service are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_29740.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 Las Cruces Metropolitan Statistical Area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the protective service group. For instance, detectives and criminal investigators were employed at 11.6 times the national rate in Las Cruces, and police and sheriff's patrol officers, at 1.5 times the U.S. average. The Las Cruces location quotient for detectives and criminal investigators was among the highest in all metropolitan areas for this occupation. On the other hand, security guards had a location quotient of 1.1 in Las Cruces, 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 New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions.

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 2017 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2017, November 2016, May 2016, November 2015, May 2015, and November 2014. The overall national response rate for the six panels, based on the 50 states and the District of Columbia, is 72 percent based on establishments and 68 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The unweighted sample employment of 82 million across all six semiannual panels represents approximately 58 percent of total national employment. The sample in the Las Cruces Metropolitan Statistical Area included 1,087 establishments with a response rate of 74 percent. For more information about OES concepts and methodology, go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_tec.htm.

The May 2017 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 Las Cruces Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Dona Ana 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 our Survey Methods and Reliability Statement on the BLS website at www.bls.gov/oes/current/methods_statement.pdf.https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/methods_statement.pdf">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, Las Cruces Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2017

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Protective service occupations	3,170	1.9	$22.79	$47,410
First-line supervisors of police and detectives	100	1.9	38.59	80,270
First-line supervisors of fire fighting and prevention workers	70	2.5	27.24	56,650
First-line supervisors of protective service workers, all other	80	2.1	22.57	46,940
Firefighters	150	1.0	17.87	37,160
Detectives and criminal investigators	610	11.6	38.74	80,570
Police and sheriff's patrol officers	480	1.5	24.37	50,680
Private detectives and investigators	60	3.8	24.72	51,410
Security guards	570	1.0	13.38	27,840
Transportation security screeners	40	1.7	11.03	22,930
Protective service workers, all other	(5)	(5)	16.64	34,600
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Las Cruces Metropolitan Statistical Area see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_29740.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.