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News Release Information

23-1923-DAL
Tuesday, September 26, 2023

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

Occupational Employment and Wages in Corpus Christi – May 2022

Workers in the Corpus Christi, TX Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $24.42 in May 2022, 18 percent below the nationwide average of $29.76, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Assistant Commissioner for Regional Operations Michael Hirniak 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 management; computer and mathematical; and arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media. Production was the only occupational group with a significantly higher wage than the national average.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, Corpus Christi area employment was more highly concentrated in 5 of the 22 occupational groups, including construction and extraction, food preparation and serving related, and healthcare support. Twelve groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including business and financial operations, computer and mathematical, and transportation and material moving. (See table A.)

Table A. Occupational employment and wages by major occupational group, United States and the Corpus Christi metropolitan area, and measures of statistical significance, May 2022
Major occupational group Percent of total employment Mean hourly wage ($)
United States Corpus Christi United States Corpus Christi Percent difference (1)

Total, all occupations

100.0 100.0 29.76 24.42* -18

Management

6.7 6.4* 63.08 49.46* -22

Business and financial operations

6.5 4.1* 41.39 35.63* -14

Computer and mathematical

3.4 1.3* 51.99 38.49* -26

Architecture and engineering

1.7 1.7 45.52 44.82 -2

Life, physical, and social science

0.9 0.9 40.21 33.72* -16

Community and social service

1.6 1.2* 26.81 22.72* -15

Legal

0.8 0.8 59.87 60.13 0

Educational instruction and library

5.7 6.3* 30.41 24.68* -19

Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media

1.4 0.7* 36.78 25.08* -32

Healthcare practitioners and technical

6.1 5.9* 46.52 39.16* -16

Healthcare support

4.6 6.4* 17.10 13.04* -24

Protective service

2.3 2.3 25.97 25.16* -3

Food preparation and serving related

8.5 11.3* 15.45 12.65* -18

Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance

2.9 2.8* 17.26 13.98* -19

Personal care and service

1.9 1.6* 17.41 14.34* -18

Sales and related

8.9 8.8 24.22 19.01* -22

Office and administrative support

12.6 12.3* 21.90 19.12* -13

Farming, fishing, and forestry

0.3 0.2* 18.21 16.52* -9

Construction and extraction

4.1 7.4* 28.08 24.28* -14

Installation, maintenance, and repair

3.9 5.7* 26.77 25.41* -5

Production

5.9 4.3* 21.81 26.82* 23

Transportation and material moving

9.2 7.5* 21.12 19.66* -7

(1) A positive percent difference measures how much the mean wage in the Corpus Christi, TX Metropolitan Statistical Area is above the national mean wage, while a negative difference reflects a lower wage.
* The mean hourly wage or percent share of employment is significantly different from the national average of all areas at the 90-percent confidence level.

One occupational group—construction and extraction—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Corpus Christi had 13,490 jobs in construction and extraction, accounting for 7.4 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 4.1-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $24.28, significantly below the national wage of $28.08.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the construction and extraction group included construction laborers (2,310), electricians (1,900), and first-line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers (1,860). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were first-line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers, and sheet metal workers, with mean hourly wages of $34.21 and $30.19, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were highway maintenance workers ($16.78) and construction laborers ($17.80). (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_18580.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 Corpus Christi area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the construction and extraction group. For instance, oil and gas roustabouts were employed at 6.9 times the national rate in Corpus Christi, and oil and gas service unit operators, at 4.5 times the U.S. average. Carpenters had a location quotient of 1.0 in Corpus Christi, indicating that this particular occupation’s local and national employment shares were similar.

These statistics are from the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey, a federal-state cooperative program between BLS and State Workforce Agencies, in this case, the Texas Workforce Commission.

Changes to the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) Data

The May 2022 OEWS estimates use the model-based (MB3) estimation method implemented with the May 2021 estimates release. Additional updates were made to the MB3 wage processing methodology for May 2022. For more information, see the May 2022 Survey Methods and Reliability Statement.

The May 2022 estimates are the first OEWS estimates to be produced using the 2022 NAICS, which replaces the 2017 NAICS used for the May 2017-May 2021 estimates. See North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) at BLS for details.


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. OEWS data are available at www.bls.gov/oes/tables.htm.

The OEWS 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. OEWS estimates are constructed from a sample of about 1.1 million establishments. Each year, two semiannual panels of approximately 179,000 to 187,000 sampled establishments are contacted, one panel in May and the other in November. Responses are obtained by Internet or other electronic means, mail, email, telephone, or personal visit. The May 2022 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2022, November 2021, May 2021, November 2020, May 2020, and November 2019. The unweighted sampled employment of 80 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 65.4 percent based on establishments and 62.5 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The sample in the Corpus Christi, TX Metropolitan Statistical Area included 1,817 establishments with a response rate of 56 percent. For more information about OEWS 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.

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 Corpus Christi, TX Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Aransas County, Nueces County, and San Patricio County.

For more information

Answers to frequently asked questions about the OEWS data are available at www.bls.gov/oes/oes_ques.htm. Detailed information about the OEWS program is available at www.bls.gov/oes/oes_doc.htm.

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, Corpus Christi metropolitan area, May 2022
Occupation (1) Employment Mean wages ($)
Level (2) Location quotient (3) Hourly Annual (4)

Construction and extraction occupations

13,490 1.8 24.28 50,490

First-line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers

1,860 2.1 34.21 71,150

Boilermakers

160 9.8 30.78 64,020

Carpenters

850 1.0 24.05 50,020

Tile and stone setters

40 0.8 21.42 44,560

Cement masons and concrete finishers

510 2.1 20.46 42,560

Construction laborers

2,310 1.9 17.80 37,020

Paving, surfacing, and tamping equipment operators

90 1.7 18.87 39,260

Operating engineers and other construction equipment operators

1,050 2.0 23.39 48,650

Electricians

1,900 2.2 26.62 55,370

Glaziers

40 0.6 20.38 42,380

Insulation workers, mechanical

80 2.4 23.24 48,350

Painters, construction and maintenance

350 1.3 20.89 43,450

Plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters

880 1.7 27.15 56,460

Reinforcing iron and rebar workers

110 5.1 24.62 51,220

Roofers

80 0.5 17.96 37,350

Sheet metal workers

340 2.3 30.19 62,800

Structural iron and steel workers

190 2.3 26.12 54,340

Helpers--carpenters

90 2.9 20.63 42,920

Helpers--electricians

370 4.3 20.19 41,990

Construction and building inspectors

180 1.1 27.95 58,140

Fence erectors

40 1.3 18.60 38,690

Hazardous materials removal workers

130 2.3 19.56 40,670

Highway maintenance workers

240 1.3 16.78 34,900

Septic tank servicers and sewer pipe cleaners

70 2.1 16.74 34,820

Rotary drill operators, oil and gas

120 7.7 24.36 50,670

Service unit operators, oil and gas

200 4.5 25.54 53,120

Roustabouts, oil and gas

330 6.9 19.91 41,420

(1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Corpus Christi, TX Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_18580.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.

 

Last Modified Date: Tuesday, September 26, 2023