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).

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.