Workers in the Oklahoma City, OK Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $23.26 in May 2019, about 10 percent below the nationwide average of $25.72, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Acting Regional Commissioner Susan Mendez noted that, after testing for statistical significance, 18 of the 22 major occupational groups had average wages in the local area that were significantly lower than their respective national averages, including educational instruction and library, computer and mathematical, and legal. No local group had wages that were significantly above their respective national average.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, Oklahoma City area employment was more highly concentrated in 7 of the 22 occupational groups, including construction and extraction, office and administrative support, and food preparation and serving related. Conversely, ten groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including production, healthcare support, and personal care and service. (See table A and box note at end of release.)

One occupational group—construction and extraction—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Oklahoma City had 36,090 jobs in construction and extraction, accounting for 5.8 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 4.2-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $23.05, significantly below the national wage of $25.28.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the construction and extraction group included first-line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers (4,470), construction laborers (3,180), and oil and gas roustabouts (2,690). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were first-line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers, as well as oil and gas rotary drill operators, with mean hourly wages of $33.93 and $29.95, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were helpers for brickmasons, blockmasons, stonemasons, and tile and marble setters ($14.45) and construction laborers ($15.97). (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_36420.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 Oklahoma City area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in some of the occupations within the construction and extraction group. For instance, oil and gas rotary drill operators were employed at 19.8 times the national rate in Oklahoma City, and oil and gas derrick operators, at 11.3 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, highway maintenance workers had a location quotient of 1.0 in Oklahoma City, 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 Oklahoma Employment Security Commission.

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 Oklahoma City, OK Metropolitan Statistical Area included 3,742 establishments with a response rate of 78 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 Oklahoma City, OK Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Canadian, Cleveland, Grady, Lincoln, Logan, McClain, and Oklahoma 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 construction and extraction occupations, Oklahoma City, OK Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2019

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Construction and extraction occupations	36,090	1.4	$23.05	$47,950
First-line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers	4,470	1.7	33.93	70,580
Brickmasons and blockmasons	110	0.4	24.41	50,770
Stonemasons	(5)	(5)	19.51	40,590
Carpenters	2,470	0.8	20.42	42,470
Tile and stone setters	(5)	(5)	17.77	36,970
Cement masons and concrete finishers	1,050	1.3	18.27	38,000
Construction laborers	3,180	0.7	15.97	33,220
Paving, surfacing, and tamping equipment operators	430	2.2	17.28	35,950
Operating engineers and other construction equipment operators	1,980	1.1	20.03	41,660
Drywall and ceiling tile installers	(5)	(5)	18.90	39,320
Electricians	2,550	0.9	24.64	51,250
Glaziers	160	0.7	20.86	43,390
Insulation workers, floor, ceiling, and wall	(5)	(5)	28.32	58,910
Insulation workers, mechanical	90	0.8	30.53	63,510
Painters, construction and maintenance	1,100	1.1	20.12	41,840
Paperhangers	(5)	(5)	15.09	31,390
Pipelayers	280	1.8	18.22	37,890
Plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters	2,280	1.2	25.66	53,370
Plasterers and stucco masons	(5)	(5)	18.50	38,470
Reinforcing iron and rebar workers	(5)	(5)	18.59	38,670
Roofers	440	0.8	19.68	40,930
Sheet metal workers	2,520	4.5	25.95	53,970
Structural iron and steel workers	540	1.6	19.92	41,430
Helpers--brickmasons, blockmasons, stonemasons, and tile and marble setters	160	1.6	14.45	30,050
Helpers--carpenters	(5)	(5)	13.00	27,040
Helpers--electricians	470	1.4	16.95	35,270
Helpers--pipelayers, plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters	490	2.0	17.65	36,710
Helpers, construction trades, all other	(5)	(5)	15.06	31,320
Construction and building inspectors	1,080	2.3	27.26	56,700
Fence erectors	110	1.0	16.04	33,360
Hazardous materials removal workers	130	0.7	23.15	48,150
Highway maintenance workers	630	1.0	17.77	36,970
Rail-track laying and maintenance equipment operators	30	0.5	15.27	31,750
Septic tank servicers and sewer pipe cleaners	110	0.9	16.53	34,370
Miscellaneous construction and related workers	710	5.2	16.44	34,200
Derrick operators, oil and gas	580	11.3	25.97	54,020
Rotary drill operators, oil and gas	1,780	19.8	29.95	62,290
Service unit operators, oil and gas	1,300	5.9	20.48	42,600
Excavating and loading machine and dragline operators, surface mining	(5)	(5)	18.40	38,260
Roustabouts, oil and gas	2,690	10.7	20.14	41,880
Earth drillers, except oil and gas; and explosives workers, ordnance handling experts, and blasters	(5)	(5)	23.27	48,390
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Oklahoma City, OK Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_36420.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.