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News Release Information

24-1878-DAL
Friday, September 06, 2024

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

Occupational Employment and Wages in Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway — May 2023

Workers in the Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway, AR Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $26.09 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 ($48.22), legal ($44.23), and healthcare practitioners and technical ($39.21). Lower paying occupations included food preparation and serving related ($14.18), building and grounds cleaning and maintenance ($15.27), and personal care and service ($15.33). (See table A.)

Occupational groups with the highest employment in the Little Rock area included office and administrative support (12.7 percent), transportation and material moving (9.8 percent), and sales and related (9.2 percent). Major occupational groups on the lower end of local employment included life, physical, and social science (0.8 percent); legal (0.9 percent); and arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media (1.1 percent).

Table A. Occupational employment and wages by major occupational group, United States and the Little Rock metropolitan area, May 2023
Major occupational group Percent of total employment Mean hourly wage ($)
United States Little Rock United States Little Rock

Total, all occupations

100.0 100.0 31.48 26.09

Management

6.9 7.7 66.23 48.22

Business and financial operations

6.6 6.3 43.55 33.45

Computer and mathematical

3.4 2.2 54.39 38.47

Architecture and engineering

1.7 1.2 47.64 37.18

Life, physical, and social science

0.9 0.8 42.24 31.91

Community and social service

1.6 1.4 28.36 25.35

Legal

0.8 0.9 64.34 44.23

Educational instruction and library

5.8 5.4 31.92 31.87

Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media

1.4 1.1 36.31 24.00

Healthcare practitioners and technical

6.1 8.8 49.07 39.21

Healthcare support

4.7 4.4 18.37 16.43

Protective service

2.3 2.1 27.74 23.03

Food preparation and serving related

8.7 8.7 16.58 14.18

Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance

2.9 2.6 18.43 15.27

Personal care and service

2.0 1.7 18.48 15.33

Sales and related

8.8 9.2 25.62 21.08

Office and administrative support

12.2 12.7 23.05 20.11

Farming, fishing, and forestry

0.3 0.1 19.22 18.91

Construction and extraction

4.1 3.8 29.57 22.14

Installation, maintenance, and repair

3.9 4.1 28.13 24.58

Production

5.8 5.1 22.90 20.98

Transportation and material moving

9.1 9.8 22.45 20.78

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 30,330 jobs in healthcare practitioners and technical, accounting for 8.8 percent of local area employment, compared to the 6.1-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $39.21, compared to the national wage of $49.07.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the healthcare practitioners and technical group included registered nurses (10,860), licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses (2,850), and pharmacy technicians (1,360). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were optometrists and pharmacists, with mean hourly wages of $69.29 and $59.57, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were pharmacy technicians ($18.07) and psychiatric technicians ($18.16). (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, family medicine physicians were employed at 3.3 times the national rate in Little Rock, and surgical technologists, at 2.2 times the U.S. average. Cardiovascular technologist and technicians had a location quotient of 1.1 in Little Rock, 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 Arkansas Department of Workforce Services.


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 Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway, AR Metropolitan Statistical Area included 2,670 establishments with a response rate of 63 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 Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway, AR Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Faulkner County, Grant County, Lonoke County, Perry County, Pulaski County, and Saline County.

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 healthcare practitioners and technical occupations, Little Rock metropolitan area, May 2023
Occupation (1) Employment Mean wages ($)
Level (2) Location quotient (3) Hourly Annual (4)

Healthcare practitioners and technical occupations

30,330 1.4 39.21 81,550

Chiropractors

50 0.6 50.04 104,080

Dentists, general

270 1.0 70.56 146,770

Dietitians and nutritionists

300 1.8 28.41 59,100

Optometrists

60 0.6 69.29 144,130

Pharmacists

940 1.3 59.57 123,910

Physician assistants

500 1.5 32.42 67,440

Occupational therapists

640 2.0 45.60 94,850

Physical therapists

870 1.6 45.00 93,610

Respiratory therapists

580 2.0 32.34 67,270

Speech-language pathologists

830 2.1 42.01 87,390

Therapists, all other

110 3.0 32.60 67,810

Veterinarians

130 0.7 56.61 117,740

Registered nurses

10,860 1.5 37.64 78,290

Nurse anesthetists

80 0.7 76.89 159,930

Nurse practitioners

1,060 1.7 53.90 112,110

Audiologists

50 1.7 41.34 85,990

Family medicine physicians

840 3.3 42.53 88,450

Physicians, pathologists

40 1.4 153.28 318,820

Psychiatrists

50 0.9 109.81 228,400

Radiologists

(5) (5) 114.47 238,100

Physicians, all other

810 1.2 100.35 208,730

Dental hygienists

510 1.1 37.53 78,060

Healthcare diagnosing or treating practitioners, all other

140 1.9 41.26 85,820

Clinical laboratory technologists and technicians

1,070 1.4 25.71 53,470

Cardiovascular technologists and technicians

140 1.1 30.96 64,400

Diagnostic medical sonographers

190 1.0 35.46 73,750

Nuclear medicine technologists

90 2.4 33.71 70,130

Radiologic technologists and technicians

670 1.3 29.97 62,340

Magnetic resonance imaging technologists

140 1.5 36.04 74,960

Emergency medical technicians

260 0.7 18.13 37,710

Paramedics

220 1.0 26.80 55,740

Dietetic technicians

50 0.9 15.90 33,070

Pharmacy technicians

1,360 1.3 18.07 37,590

Psychiatric technicians

260 1.0 18.16 37,760

Surgical technologists

560 2.2 24.91 51,800

Ophthalmic medical technicians

150 0.9 19.97 41,530

Licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses

2,850 2.0 24.48 50,930

Medical records specialists

780 1.9 22.61 47,040

Opticians, dispensing

210 1.2 21.59 44,900

Orthotists and prosthetists

40 2.0 42.79 89,010

Health technologists and technicians, all other

390 1.0 30.84 64,160

Health information technologists and medical registrars

70 0.9 32.86 68,340

Athletic trainers

70 1.0 (6) 51,500

Healthcare practitioners and technical workers, all other

280 3.3 22.39 46,570

(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.

 

Last Modified Date: Friday, September 06, 2024