Workers in the Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway, AR Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $22.23 in May 2019, about 14 percent below the nationwide average of $25.72, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Acting Regional Commissioner Michael Hirniak noted that, after testing for statistical significance, 20 of the 22 major occupational groups had average wages in the local area that were significantly lower than their respective national averages, including legal, computer and mathematical, and construction and extraction. 

When compared to the nationwide distribution, Little Rock area employment was more highly concentrated in 6 of the 22 occupational groups, including healthcare practitioners and technical, installation, maintenance, and repair, and management. Ten groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including production, construction and extraction, and educational instruction and library. (See table A and box note at end of release.)

One occupational group—healthcare practitioners and technical—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Little Rock had 29,020 jobs in healthcare practitioners and technical, accounting for 8.3 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 5.9-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $34.68, significantly below the national wage of $40.21.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the healthcare practitioners and technical group included registered nurses (9,380), licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses (3,240), and pharmacy technicians (1,920). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were family medicine physicians and general dentists, with mean hourly wages of $94.15 and $86.87, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were psychiatric technicians ($14.73) and pharmacy technicians ($15.22). (Detailed data for the healthcare practitioners and technical occupations are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_30780.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 Little Rock area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the healthcare practitioners and technical group. For instance, both psychiatric technicians and surgical technologists were employed at 2.2 times the national rate in Little Rock. Dental hygienists had a location quotient of 1.0 in Little Rock, 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 Arkansas Department of Workforce Services.

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 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 sample 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 Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway, AR Metropolitan Statistical Area included 2,589 establishments with a response rate of 71 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 Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway, AR Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Faulkner, Grant, Lonoke, Perry, Pulaski, and Saline Counties.

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.

Table 1. Employment and wage data for healthcare practitioners and technical occupations, Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway, AR Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2019

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Healthcare practitioners and technical occupations	29,020	1.4	$34.68	$72,130
Chiropractors	70	0.8	16.80	34,930
Dentists, general	310	1.2	86.87	180,700
Dietitians and nutritionists	250	1.6	28.99	60,300
Optometrists	(5)	(5)	44.62	92,800
Pharmacists	1,160	1.6	53.72	111,740
Physician assistants	290	1.0	43.62	90,720
Podiatrists	30	1.5	53.73	111,760
Occupational therapists	550	1.7	37.29	77,560
Physical therapists	690	1.2	39.89	82,970
Radiation therapists	70	1.6	38.00	79,040
Respiratory therapists	610	1.9	29.98	62,360
Speech-language pathologists	680	1.9	35.79	74,450
Veterinarians	100	0.6	44.20	91,940
Registered nurses	9,380	1.3	31.87	66,300
Nurse anesthetists	(5)	(5)	84.90	176,590
Nurse practitioners	930	1.9	49.19	102,320
Audiologists	60	1.7	57.91	120,440
Family medicine physicians	340	1.3	94.15	195,830
Psychiatrists	(5)	(5)	94.68	196,940
Physicians, all other; and ophthalmologists, except pediatric	1,810	1.9	74.14	154,210
Surgeons, except ophthalmologists	30	0.4	(5)	(5)
Dental hygienists	520	1.0	27.13	56,430
Acupuncturists and healthcare diagnosing or treating practitioners, all other	170	2.0	(5)	(5)
Clinical laboratory technologists and technicians	780	1.0	22.71	47,240
Cardiovascular technologists and technicians	180	1.4	24.28	50,510
Diagnostic medical sonographers	160	0.9	32.17	66,910
Nuclear medicine technologists	110	2.6	30.89	64,250
Radiologic technologists and technicians	860	1.7	25.67	53,400
Magnetic resonance imaging technologists	150	1.7	29.49	61,330
Emergency medical technicians and paramedics	150	0.3	16.97	35,290
Dietetic technicians	50	0.7	13.48	28,030
Pharmacy technicians	1,920	1.9	15.22	31,670
Psychiatric technicians	410	2.2	14.73	30,650
Surgical technologists	570	2.2	19.42	40,400
Veterinary technologists and technicians	160	0.6	16.30	33,910
Ophthalmic medical technicians	140	1.0	17.38	36,160
Licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses	3,240	2.0	21.16	44,010
Opticians, dispensing	280	1.6	17.75	36,910
Orthotists and prosthetists	30	1.4	28.33	58,920
Medical dosimetrists, medical records specialists, and health technologists and technicians, all other	950	1.2	20.46	42,560
Athletic trainers	50	0.7	(6)	46,630
Health information technologists, medical registrars, surgical assistants, and healthcare practitioners and technical workers, all other	(5)	(5)	22.19	46,160
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway, AR Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_30780.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. (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.