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Wednesday, April 29, 2020
Workers in the San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $22.70 in May 2019, 12 percent below the nationwide average of $25.72, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Acting Regional Commissioner Susan Mendez noted that, after testing for statistical significance, wages in the local area were lower than their respective national averages in 18 of the 22 major occupational groups, including construction and extraction, educational instruction and library, and personal care and service. No major occupational group in the local area had wages that were higher than their respective national averages.
When compared to the nationwide distribution, San Antonio area employment was more highly concentrated in 5 of the 22 occupational groups including office and administrative support, food preparation and serving related, and healthcare support. Ten groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including production, transportation and material moving, and management. (See table A and box note at end of release.)
Major occupational group | Percent of total employment | Mean hourly wage | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
United States | San Antonio | United States | San Antonio | Percent difference(1) | |||
Total, all occupations | 100.0 | 100.0 | $25.72 | $22.70 | * | -12 | |
Management | 5.5 | 4.7 | * | 58.88 | 54.71 | * | -7 |
Business and financial operations | 5.6 | 5.5 | 37.56 | 34.96 | * | -7 | |
Computer and mathematical | 3.1 | 2.7 | * | 45.08 | 41.50 | * | -8 |
Architecture and engineering | 1.8 | 1.6 | * | 42.69 | 40.95 | -4 | |
Life, physical, and social science | 0.9 | 0.7 | * | 37.28 | 33.77 | * | -9 |
Community and social service | 1.5 | 1.1 | * | 24.27 | 23.48 | -3 | |
Legal | 0.8 | 0.6 | * | 52.71 | 45.60 | * | -13 |
Educational instruction and library | 6.1 | 5.9 | 27.75 | 23.37 | * | -16 | |
Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media | 1.4 | 1.0 | * | 29.79 | 24.20 | * | -19 |
Healthcare practitioners and technical | 5.9 | 6.3 | * | 40.21 | 36.68 | * | -9 |
Healthcare support | 4.4 | 5.6 | * | 14.91 | 13.10 | * | -12 |
Protective service | 2.4 | 2.3 | 23.98 | 22.19 | -7 | ||
Food preparation and serving related | 9.2 | 11.0 | * | 12.82 | 12.01 | * | -6 |
Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance | 3.0 | 2.8 | 15.03 | 13.06 | * | -13 | |
Personal care and service | 2.2 | 2.3 | 15.03 | 12.81 | * | -15 | |
Sales and related | 9.8 | 10.4 | * | 20.70 | 18.97 | * | -8 |
Office and administrative support | 13.3 | 15.6 | * | 19.73 | 18.02 | * | -9 |
Farming, fishing, and forestry | 0.3 | 0.1 | * | 15.07 | 14.58 | -3 | |
Construction and extraction | 4.2 | 4.2 | 25.28 | 20.75 | * | -18 | |
Installation, maintenance, and repair | 3.9 | 4.0 | 24.10 | 22.01 | * | -9 | |
Production | 6.2 | 4.3 | * | 19.30 | 17.34 | * | -10 |
Transportation and material moving | 8.5 | 7.3 | * | 18.23 | 16.71 | * | -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–office and administrative support–was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. San Antonio had 162,060 jobs in office and administrative support occupations, accounting for 15.6 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 13.3-percent national share. The local average hourly wage for this occupational group was $18.02, significantly lower than the national average of $19.73.
Some of the larger detailed occupations within the office and administrative support group included customer service representatives (32,900), general office clerks (26,010), and secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive (12,100). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants and first-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers, with mean hourly wages of $26.20 and $26.03, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks ($11.07) and receptionists and information clerks ($13.50). (Detailed data for office and administrative support occupations are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_41700.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 San Antonio area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the detailed occupations within the office and administrative support group. For instance, insurance claims and policy processing clerks were employed at 3.1 times the national rate in the San Antonio area, and reservation and transportation ticket agents and travel clerks, at 2.4 times the U.S. average. San Antonio’s location quotient for insurance claims and policy processing clerks was among the highest in all the published metropolitan areas nationwide for this particular occupation. On the other hand, payroll and timekeeping clerks had a location quotient of 1.0 in the greater San Antonio area, 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 Texas Workforce Commission.
With the May 2019 estimates, the OES program has begun implementing the 2018 Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) system. Each set of OES estimates is calculated from six panels of survey data collected over three years. Because the May 2019 estimates are based on a combination of survey data collected using the 2010 SOC and survey data collected using the 2018 SOC, these estimates use a hybrid of the two classification systems that contains some combinations of occupations that are not found in either the 2010 or 2018 SOC. These combinations may include occupations from more than one 2018 SOC minor group or broad occupation. Therefore, OES will not publish data for some 2018 SOC minor groups and broad occupations in the May 2019 estimates. The May 2021 estimates, to be published in Spring 2022, will be the first OES estimates based entirely on survey data collected using the 2018 SOC.
In addition, the OES program has replaced some 2018 SOC detailed occupations with SOC broad occupations or OES-specific aggregations. These include home health aides and personal care aides, for which OES will publish only the 2018 SOC broad occupation 31-1120 Home Health and Personal Care Aides.
For more information on the occupational classification system used in the May 2019 OES estimates, please see www.bls.gov/oes/soc_2018.htm and www.bls.gov/oes/oes_ques.htm#qf10.
The May 2019 OES estimates use the metropolitan area definitions delineated in Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Bulletin 17-01, which add a new Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) for Twin Falls, Idaho. For more information on the area definitions used in the May 2019 estimates, please see www.bls.gov/oes/current/msa_def.htm.
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 580 areas, including states and the District of Columbia, metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs), nonmetropolitan areas, and territories; national industry-specific estimates at the NAICS sector, 3-digit, most 4-digit, 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.
The OES survey is a cooperative effort between BLS and the State Workforce Agencies (SWAs). BLS funds the survey and provides the procedures and technical support, while the State Workforce Agencies collect most of the data. OES estimates are constructed from a sample of about 1.1 million establishments. Each year, two semiannual panels of approximately 180,000 to 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 2019 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2019, November 2018, May 2018, November 2017, May 2017, and November 2016. The unweighted sampled employment of 83 million across all six semiannual panels represents approximately 57 percent of total national employment. The overall national response rate for the six panels, based on the 50 states and the District of Columbia, is 71 percent based on establishments and 68 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The sample in the San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX Metropolitan Statistical Area included 4,857 establishments with a response rate of 46 percent. For more information about OES concepts and methodology, go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_tec.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.
The May 2019 OES estimates are the first set of OES estimates to be based in part on survey data collected using the 2018 SOC. These estimates use a hybrid of the 2010 and 2018 SOC systems. More information on the hybrid classification system is available at www.bls.gov/oes/soc_2018.htm.
The May 2019 OES estimates are based on the 2017 North American Industry Classification System (NAICS). More information about the 2017 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 San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Atascosa, Bandera, Bexar, Comal, Guadalupe, Kendall, Medina, and Wilson Counties in Texas.
For more information
Answers to frequently asked questions about the OES data are available at www.bls.gov/oes/oes_ques.htm. Detailed information about the OES program is available at www.bls.gov/oes/oes_doc.htm.
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) | |
Office and administrative support occupations | 162,060 | 1.2 | $18.02 | $37,480 |
First-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers | 10,610 | 1.0 | 26.03 | 54,130 |
Switchboard operators, including answering service | 390 | 0.8 | 12.78 | 26,570 |
Bill and account collectors | 2,810 | 1.7 | 18.32 | 38,110 |
Billing and posting clerks | 4,490 | 1.4 | 17.46 | 36,320 |
Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks | 9,880 | 0.9 | 19.81 | 41,210 |
Payroll and timekeeping clerks | 990 | 1.0 | 19.11 | 39,750 |
Procurement clerks | 720 | 1.5 | 20.93 | 43,530 |
Tellers | 3,800 | 1.2 | 14.53 | 30,220 |
Financial clerks, all other | 390 | 1.8 | 19.44 | 40,440 |
Court, municipal, and license clerks | 890 | 0.8 | 17.59 | 36,590 |
Credit authorizers, checkers, and clerks | 160 | 0.9 | 19.38 | 40,320 |
Customer service representatives | 32,900 | 1.6 | 15.91 | 33,100 |
Eligibility interviewers, government programs | 860 | 0.9 | 16.86 | 35,070 |
File clerks | 740 | 1.0 | 18.64 | 38,770 |
Hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks | 2,190 | 1.2 | 11.07 | 23,020 |
Interviewers, except eligibility and loan | 1,100 | 0.8 | 15.90 | 33,080 |
Library assistants, clerical | 330 | 0.6 | 13.93 | 28,970 |
Loan interviewers and clerks | 2,600 | 1.8 | 20.08 | 41,770 |
New accounts clerks | 700 | 2.3 | 17.55 | 36,510 |
Order clerks | 800 | 0.8 | 15.91 | 33,090 |
Human resources assistants, except payroll and timekeeping | 1,270 | 1.5 | 19.66 | 40,900 |
Receptionists and information clerks | 5,460 | 0.7 | 13.50 | 28,080 |
Reservation and transportation ticket agents and travel clerks | 2,060 | 2.4 | 22.37 | 46,530 |
Information and record clerks, all other | 1,750 | 1.6 | 18.47 | 38,420 |
Cargo and freight agents | 170 | 0.3 | 24.21 | 50,360 |
Couriers and messengers | 350 | 0.7 | 14.67 | 30,520 |
Public safety telecommunicators | 570 | 0.8 | 19.19 | 39,920 |
Dispatchers, except police, fire, and ambulance | 3,620 | 2.6 | 18.85 | 39,210 |
Meter readers, utilities | 130 | 0.6 | 22.53 | 46,870 |
Postal service clerks | 370 | 0.6 | 23.59 | 49,080 |
Postal service mail carriers | 1,980 | 0.8 | 24.86 | 51,720 |
Postal service mail sorters, processors, and processing machine operators | 580 | 0.8 | 24.66 | 51,290 |
Production, planning, and expediting clerks | 2,180 | 0.8 | 23.35 | 48,560 |
Shipping, receiving, and inventory clerks | 4,080 | 0.8 | 15.88 | 33,030 |
Weighers, measurers, checkers, and samplers, recordkeeping | 230 | 0.5 | 17.79 | 37,010 |
Executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants | 3,010 | 0.8 | 26.20 | 54,490 |
Legal secretaries and administrative assistants | 1,260 | 1.1 | 22.47 | 46,740 |
Medical secretaries and administrative assistants | 8,070 | 1.9 | 17.65 | 36,710 |
Secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive | 12,100 | 0.8 | 16.68 | 34,690 |
Data entry keyers | 1,560 | 1.4 | 15.99 | 33,250 |
Word processors and typists | 110 | 0.3 | 20.13 | 41,870 |
Desktop publishers | 40 | 0.6 | 23.73 | 49,350 |
Insurance claims and policy processing clerks | 5,650 | 3.1 | 19.41 | 40,370 |
Mail clerks and mail machine operators, except postal service | 390 | 0.7 | 15.51 | 32,270 |
Office clerks, general | 26,010 | 1.3 | 16.70 | 34,730 |
Office machine operators, except computer | 500 | 1.6 | 16.38 | 34,070 |
Office and administrative support workers, all other | 910 | 0.7 | 18.40 | 38,270 |
Footnotes: |
Last Modified Date: Wednesday, April 29, 2020