Workers in the Shreveport-Bossier City Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $19.23 in May 2018, about 23 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 19 of the 22 major occupational groups, including legal; computer and mathematical; and management.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 10 of the 22 occupational groups, including healthcare practitioners and technical; sales and related; and installation, maintenance, and repair. Conversely, 11 groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including computer and mathematical; business and financial operations; and management. (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. Shreveport-Bossier City had 15,380 jobs in healthcare practitioners and technical, accounting for 8.8 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 6.0-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $32.37, significantly below the national wage of $39.42.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the healthcare practitioners and technical group included registered nurses (5,400), licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses (2,260), and pharmacy technicians (730). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were surgeons and nurse anesthetists, with mean hourly wages of $86.59 and $83.17, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were veterinary technologists and technicians ($11.99) and psychiatric technicians ($12.76). (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_43340.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 Shreveport-Bossier City Metropolitan Statistical Area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in some of the occupations within the healthcare practitioners and technical group. For instance, licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses were employed at 2.7 times the national rate in Shreveport, and respiratory therapists, at 2.1 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, emergency medical technicians and paramedics had a location quotient of 1.0 in Shreveport, 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 Louisiana Workforce 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 1.2 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 Shreveport-Bossier City Metropolitan Statistical Area included 1,988 establishments with a response rate of 72 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 Shreveport-Bossier City Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Bossier, Caddo, and De Soto Parishes in Louisiana.

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, Shreveport-Bossier City Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2018

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Healthcare practitioners and technical occupations	15,380	1.5	$32.37	$67,320
Dentists, general	90	0.7	33.79	70,290
Dietitians and nutritionists	80	1.0	29.22	60,770
Optometrists	30	0.8	72.71	151,250
Pharmacists	460	1.2	58.58	121,840
Anesthesiologists	(5)	(5)	(6)	(6)
Surgeons	(5)	(5)	86.59	180,120
Physicians and surgeons, all other	510	1.1	83.89	174,480
Physician assistants	160	1.2	46.62	96,970
Occupational therapists	150	1.0	42.27	87,930
Physical therapists	240	0.9	43.53	90,550
Respiratory therapists	330	2.1	25.72	53,500
Speech-language pathologists	100	0.6	42.88	89,190
Therapists, all other	(5)	(5)	27.93	58,100
Veterinarians	80	0.9	35.28	73,390
Registered nurses	5,400	1.5	31.12	64,730
Nurse anesthetists	90	1.8	83.17	172,990
Nurse practitioners	210	1.0	53.58	111,450
Dental hygienists	210	0.8	25.34	52,700
Diagnostic medical sonographers	(5)	(5)	28.14	58,520
Radiologic technologists	390	1.6	23.70	49,300
Emergency medical technicians and paramedics	300	1.0	18.46	38,400
Pharmacy technicians	730	1.4	16.66	34,660
Psychiatric technicians	120	1.4	12.76	26,530
Surgical technologists	(5)	(5)	18.66	38,820
Veterinary technologists and technicians	(5)	(5)	11.99	24,930
Licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses	2,260	2.7	18.98	39,480
Medical records and health information technicians	370	1.5	18.22	37,900
Opticians, dispensing	70	0.8	15.80	32,860
Health technologists and technicians, all other	220	1.4	15.88	33,040
Occupational health and safety specialists	60	0.6	36.32	75,540
Healthcare practitioners and technical workers, all other	310	7.8	20.91	43,490
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Shreveport-Bossier City, LA Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_43340.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. (6) This wage is equal to or greater than $80.00 per hour or $166,400 per year.