Workers in the Baton Rouge, LA Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $27.84 in May 2023, compared to the nationwide average of $31.48, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Assistant Commissioner for Regional Operations Michael Hirniak noted that higher paying major occupational groups included management ($56.75), architecture and engineering ($49.02), and legal ($46.13). Lower paying occupations included food preparation and serving related ($13.51), healthcare support ($14.21), and building and grounds cleaning and maintenance ($14.50). (See table A.)

Occupational groups with the highest employment in the Baton Rouge area included office and administrative support (11.6 percent), transportation and material moving (8.8 percent), and food preparation and serving related (8.5 percent). Major occupational groups on the lower end of local employment included legal (0.8 percent); arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media (1.0 percent); and life, physical, and social science (1.1 percent).

One occupational group—construction and extraction—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Baton Rouge had 31,330 jobs in construction and extraction, accounting for 8.1 percent of local area employment, compared to the 4.1-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $27.22, compared to the national wage of $29.57.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the construction and extraction group included construction laborers (7,570), first-line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers (3,730), and electricians (3,390). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were boilermakers and first-line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers, with mean hourly wages of $37.14 and $36.62, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were highway maintenance workers ($15.64) and drywall and ceiling tile installers ($17.69). (Detailed data for the construction and extraction occupations are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_12940.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 Baton Rouge area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the construction and extraction group. For instance, boilermakers were employed at 51.8 times the national rate in Baton Rouge, and pile driver operators, at 7.7 times the U.S. average. Carpenters had a location quotient of 1.3 in Baton Rouge, indicating that this particular occupation’s local and national employment shares were similar.

The statistics in this release are from the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey, a cooperative effort between BLS and the State Workforce Agencies (SWAs). BLS funds the survey and provides the procedures and technical support. State Workforce Agencies collect most of the data: in this case, the Louisiana Workforce Commission.

Technical Note

The Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey is a semiannual survey measuring occupational employment and wage rates for wage and salary workers in nonfarm establishments in the United States. The OEWS 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. Full OEWS data tables are available online.

Additional information about the OEWS estimates and methodology are available in the national Technical Notes. The overall national response rate for the six panels, based on the 50 states and the District of Columbia, is 65.8 percent based on establishments and 64.3 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The sample in the Baton Rouge, LA Metropolitan Statistical Area included 3,032 establishments with a response rate of 62 percent.

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 Baton Rouge, LA Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Ascension Parish, East Baton Rouge Parish, East Feliciana Parish, Iberville Parish, Livingston Parish, Pointe Coupee Parish, St. Helena Parish, West Baton Rouge Parish, and West Feliciana Parish.

For more information

Answers to frequently asked questions about the OEWS data, as well as general program documentation, are available on the OEWS website.

Information in this release will be made available to individuals with sensory impairments upon request. Voice phone: (202) 691-5200; Telecommunications Relay Service: 7-1-1.

Table 1. Employment and wage data for construction and extraction occupations, Baton Rouge metropolitan area, May 2023

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages ($)
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Construction and extraction occupations	31,330	2.0	27.22	56,610
First-line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers	3,730	1.9	36.62	76,170
Boilermakers	1,470	51.8	37.14	77,260
Brickmasons and blockmasons	110	0.8	22.32	46,420
Carpenters	2,310	1.3	25.05	52,100
Cement masons and concrete finishers	230	0.5	23.52	48,930
Construction laborers	7,570	2.9	22.14	46,050
Pile driver operators	60	7.7	27.46	57,130
Operating engineers and other construction equipment operators	1,630	1.4	27.33	56,840
Drywall and ceiling tile installers	80	0.4	17.69	36,800
Electricians	3,390	1.9	30.06	62,520
Glaziers	210	1.6	22.49	46,770
Insulation workers, floor, ceiling, and wall	660	6.7	26.22	54,540
Insulation workers, mechanical	170	2.9	26.80	55,750
Painters, construction and maintenance	890	1.6	21.31	44,320
Pipelayers	50	0.5	22.39	46,560
Plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters	2,620	2.4	32.94	68,510
Reinforcing iron and rebar workers	90	2.0	26.53	55,190
Roofers	230	0.7	22.07	45,910
Sheet metal workers	220	0.8	22.66	47,140
Structural iron and steel workers	510	3.2	31.89	66,330
Helpers--carpenters	200	3.6	19.40	40,350
Helpers--electricians	1,090	6.2	21.99	45,740
Helpers--painters, paperhangers, plasterers, and stucco masons	80	4.2	17.93	37,290
Helpers--pipelayers, plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters	400	3.4	19.62	40,820
Helpers, construction trades, all other	700	10.1	20.79	43,240
Construction and building inspectors	330	1.0	34.81	72,400
Hazardous materials removal workers	450	3.5	18.98	39,480
Highway maintenance workers	220	0.6	15.64	32,520
Miscellaneous construction and related workers	610	8.3	27.36	56,910
Service unit operators, oil and gas	220	1.8	28.70	59,700
Excavating and loading machine and dragline operators, surface mining	60	0.8	23.23	48,310
Roustabouts, oil and gas	190	1.7	20.32	42,270
Extraction workers, all other	50	2.6	25.01	52,010
(1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Baton Rouge, LA Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_12940.htm. (2) Estimates for detailed occupations may not sum to the totals due to rounding, and because the totals may include occupations that are 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.