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News Release Information

24-1857-DAL
Friday, September 06, 2024

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

Occupational Employment and Wages in Oklahoma City — May 2023

Workers in the Oklahoma City, OK Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $27.25 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 ($53.80), legal ($50.31), and healthcare practitioners and technical ($49.37). Lower paying occupations included food preparation and serving related ($13.33), personal care and service ($15.26), and building and grounds cleaning and maintenance ($15.44). (See table A.)

Occupational groups with the highest employment in the Oklahoma City area included office and administrative support (14.0 percent), food preparation and serving related (10.4 percent), and transportation and material moving (9.3 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 Oklahoma City metropolitan area, May 2023
Major occupational group Percent of total employment Mean hourly wage ($)
United States Oklahoma City United States Oklahoma City

Total, all occupations

100.0 100.0 31.48 27.25

Management

6.9 6.0 66.23 53.80

Business and financial operations

6.6 6.5 43.55 36.95

Computer and mathematical

3.4 2.9 54.39 43.37

Architecture and engineering

1.7 1.9 47.64 44.70

Life, physical, and social science

0.9 0.8 42.24 36.70

Community and social service

1.6 1.5 28.36 25.59

Legal

0.8 0.9 64.34 50.31

Educational instruction and library

5.8 5.4 31.92 25.66

Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media

1.4 1.1 36.31 26.14

Healthcare practitioners and technical

6.1 6.6 49.07 49.37

Healthcare support

4.7 3.4 18.37 16.97

Protective service

2.3 2.0 27.74 27.42

Food preparation and serving related

8.7 10.4 16.58 13.33

Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance

2.9 2.7 18.43 15.44

Personal care and service

2.0 1.7 18.48 15.26

Sales and related

8.8 9.1 25.62 23.19

Office and administrative support

12.2 14.0 23.05 21.07

Farming, fishing, and forestry

0.3 0.2 19.22 20.25

Construction and extraction

4.1 4.9 29.57 26.06

Installation, maintenance, and repair

3.9 4.7 28.13 25.68

Production

5.8 4.2 22.90 21.38

Transportation and material moving

9.1 9.3 22.45 19.76

One occupational group—office and administrative support—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Oklahoma City had 91,690 jobs in office and administrative support, accounting for 14.0 percent of local area employment, compared to the 12.2-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $21.07, compared to the national wage of $23.05.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the office and administrative support group included customer service representatives (15,680), general office clerks (11,230), and first-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers (8,840). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were first-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers and cargo and freight agents, with mean hourly wages of $31.43 and $31.30, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks ($12.94) and gambling cage workers ($14.61). (Detailed data for the office and administrative support 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 office and administrative support group. For instance, order clerks were employed at 4.3 times the national rate in Oklahoma City, and reservation and transportation ticket agents and travel clerks, at 1.6 times the U.S. average. Billing and posting clerks had a location quotient of 1.0 in Oklahoma City, 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 Oklahoma Employment Security Commission.


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 Oklahoma City, OK Metropolitan Statistical Area included 3,803 establishments with a response rate of 75 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 Oklahoma City, OK Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Canadian County, Cleveland County, Grady County, Lincoln County, Logan County, McClain County, and Oklahoma 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 office and administrative support occupations, Oklahoma City metropolitan area, May 2023
Occupation (1) Employment Mean wages ($)
Level (2) Location quotient (3) Hourly Annual (4)

Office and administrative support occupations

91,690 1.1 21.07 43,830

First-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers

8,840 1.4 31.43 65,370

Switchboard operators, including answering service

120 0.6 16.34 33,990

Bill and account collectors

810 1.0 20.06 41,730

Billing and posting clerks

1,800 1.0 20.71 43,070

Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks

7,260 1.1 21.65 45,030

Gambling cage workers

190 3.5 14.61 30,380

Payroll and timekeeping clerks

770 1.1 23.18 48,220

Procurement clerks

320 1.2 24.26 50,450

Tellers

2,150 1.5 16.99 35,350

Court, municipal, and license clerks

1,010 1.5 20.16 41,940

Credit authorizers, checkers, and clerks

80 1.4 19.01 39,540

Customer service representatives

15,680 1.3 19.33 40,200

Eligibility interviewers, government programs

290 0.5 25.34 52,700

File clerks

760 2.1 19.28 40,100

Hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks

1,370 1.2 12.94 26,920

Interviewers, except eligibility and loan

730 1.1 17.91 37,260

Library assistants, clerical

290 0.8 14.71 30,590

Loan interviewers and clerks

1,420 1.6 20.93 43,530

New accounts clerks

490 2.8 19.61 40,790

Order clerks

1,690 4.3 19.84 41,260

Human resources assistants, except payroll and timekeeping

270 0.6 23.34 48,550

Receptionists and information clerks

3,790 0.9 15.92 33,120

Reservation and transportation ticket agents and travel clerks

840 1.6 21.15 44,000

Information and record clerks, all other

630 1.0 23.73 49,360

Cargo and freight agents

130 0.3 31.30 65,110

Couriers and messengers

490 1.6 17.85 37,120

Public safety telecommunicators

390 0.9 21.43 44,580

Dispatchers, except police, fire, and ambulance

890 1.0 22.90 47,640

Meter readers, utilities

120 1.4 19.58 40,720

Postal service clerks

250 0.7 27.91 58,040

Postal service mail carriers

1,370 1.0 28.55 59,380

Postal service mail sorters, processors, and processing machine operators

500 1.0 26.84 55,820

Production, planning, and expediting clerks

2,750 1.6 26.81 55,770

Shipping, receiving, and inventory clerks

3,140 0.9 19.23 40,000

Weighers, measurers, checkers, and samplers, recordkeeping

140 0.6 20.99 43,650

Executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants

1,420 0.7 28.87 60,040

Legal secretaries and administrative assistants

(5) (5) 23.08 48,010

Medical secretaries and administrative assistants

4,440 1.4 18.67 38,820

Secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive

8,250 1.1 19.20 39,940

Data entry keyers

900 1.4 18.09 37,630

Word processors and typists

80 0.5 19.53 40,630

Desktop publishers

60 2.6 25.61 53,260

Insurance claims and policy processing clerks

1,100 1.1 23.21 48,270

Mail clerks and mail machine operators, except postal service

270 1.0 16.26 33,820

Office clerks, general

11,230 1.0 17.92 37,270

Office machine operators, except computer

120 1.0 16.76 34,850

Proofreaders and copy markers

30 1.5 19.14 39,820

Office and administrative support workers, all other

170 0.2 22.54 46,890

(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.

 

Last Modified Date: Friday, September 06, 2024