Workers in the Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $21.65 in May 2018, about 13 percent below the nationwide average of $24.98, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Assistant Commissioner for Regional Operations Stanley W. Suchman noted that, after testing for statistical significance, wages in the local area were lower than their respective national averages in 20 of the 22 major occupational groups including legal; management; and computer and mathematical.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 6 of the 22 occupational groups, including healthcare practitioners and technical; management; and sales and related. Conversely, 11 groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including production; education, training, and library; and transportation and material moving. (See table A and box notes 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-North Little Rock-Conway had 29,650 jobs in healthcare practitioners and technical, accounting for 8.6 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 6.0-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $32.77, significantly below the national wage of $39.42.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the healthcare practitioners and technical group included registered nurses (9,990), licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses (3,410), and pharmacy technicians (1,690). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were family and general practitioners, as well as general dentists, with mean hourly wages of $120.14 and $83.49, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were psychiatric technicians ($14.29) and pharmacy technicians ($14.62). (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-North Little Rock-Conway Metropolitan Statistical Area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the healthcare practitioners and technical group. For instance, psychiatric technicians were employed at 2.7 times the national rate in Little Rock, and speech-language pathologists, at 2.2 times the U.S. average. Little Rock's location quotient for speech-language pathologists was among the highest in all metropolitan areas for this occupation. On the other hand, clinical laboratory technologists 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.

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 1.2 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 2018 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2018, November 2017, May 2017, November 2016, May 2016, and November 2015. The unweighted sample employment of 83 million across all six semiannual panels represents approximately 58 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 Metropolitan Statistical Area included 2,631 establishments with a response rate of 69 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 2018 OES estimates are based on the 2010 Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) system and the 2017 North American Industry Classification System (NAICS). Information about the 2010 SOC is available on the BLS website at www.bls.gov/soc and 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 Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Faulkner, Grant, Lonoke, Perry, Pulaski, and Saline Counties in Arkansas.

Additional information

OES data are available on our regional web page at www.bls.gov/regions/southwest. Answers to frequently asked questions about the OES data are available at www.bls.gov/oes/oes_ques.htm. Detailed technical information about the OES survey is available in our Survey Methods and Reliability Statement on the BLS website at www.bls.gov/oes/current/methods_statement.pdf.

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 from the Occupational Employment Statistics survey, by occupation, Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2018

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Healthcare practitioners and technical occupations	29,650	1.4	$32.77	$68,160
Chiropractors	(5)	(5)	15.33	31,890
Dentists, general	320	1.2	83.49	173,650
Dietitians and nutritionists	200	1.3	28.53	59,330
Optometrists	(5)	(5)	45.28	94,190
Pharmacists	1,270	1.7	53.14	110,540
Family and general practitioners	250	0.9	120.14	249,890
Psychiatrists	(5)	(5)	88.13	183,300
Physicians and surgeons, all other	1,580	1.7	62.50	130,000
Physician assistants	220	0.8	50.09	104,190
Podiatrists	30	1.4	67.23	139,830
Occupational therapists	560	1.8	35.86	74,580
Physical therapists	660	1.2	38.88	80,880
Radiation therapists	110	2.6	32.77	68,160
Respiratory therapists	340	1.1	27.04	56,240
Speech-language pathologists	760	2.2	34.07	70,870
Veterinarians	140	0.8	28.75	59,800
Registered nurses	9,990	1.4	31.27	65,030
Nurse anesthetists	(5)	(5)	87.75	182,510
Nurse practitioners	660	1.5	45.63	94,910
Health diagnosing and treating practitioners, all other	140	1.6	(5)	(5)
Clinical laboratory technologists and technicians	870	1.1	21.13	43,950
Dental hygienists	330	0.6	34.46	71,680
Cardiovascular technologists and technicians	280	2.1	24.97	51,940
Diagnostic medical sonographers	250	1.5	31.07	64,610
Nuclear medicine technologists	90	2.1	35.58	74,010
Radiologic technologists	950	1.9	24.12	50,160
Magnetic resonance imaging technologists	190	2.1	29.17	60,680
Emergency medical technicians and paramedics	(5)	(5)	14.93	31,050
Dietetic technicians	100	1.2	13.26	27,590
Pharmacy technicians	1,690	1.7	14.62	30,410
Psychiatric technicians	460	2.7	14.29	29,730
Respiratory therapy technicians	(5)	(5)	22.66	47,130
Surgical technologists	450	1.7	21.30	44,300
Veterinary technologists and technicians	(5)	(5)	13.48	28,040
Ophthalmic medical technicians	(5)	(5)	16.79	34,930
Licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses	3,410	2.0	20.23	42,080
Medical records and health information technicians	580	1.2	18.51	38,510
Opticians, dispensing	270	1.6	17.75	36,910
Health technologists and technicians, all other	500	1.7	20.89	43,440
Occupational health and safety specialists	200	1.0	28.39	59,050
Occupational health and safety technicians	50	1.1	32.66	67,930
Healthcare practitioners and technical workers, all other	440	5.7	21.64	45,010
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 do not sum to the totals because the totals include occupations 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.