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Thursday, May 15, 2014
Workers in the Phoenix-Mesa-Glendale Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $21.96 in May 2013, about 2 percent below the nationwide average of $22.33, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Regional Commissioner Richard J. Holden noted that, after testing for statistical significance, wages in the local area were significantly higher than their respective national averages in 3 of the 22 major occupational groups: healthcare support, healthcare practitioners and technical, and food preparation and serving related. Eleven groups had significantly lower wages than their respective national averages, including life, physical, and social science; arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media; and business and financial operations.
When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 9 of the 22 occupational groups, including office and administrative support, sales and related, and construction and extraction. Conversely, eight 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 note at end of release.)
Major occupational group | Percent of total employment | Mean hourly wage | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
United States | Phoenix | United States | Phoenix | Percent difference (1) | |
Total, all occupations | 100.0% | 100.0% | $22.33 | $21.96* | -2 |
Management | 4.9 | 5.5* | 53.15 | 49.82* | -6 |
Business and financial operations | 5.0 | 5.2* | 34.14 | 30.81* | -10 |
Computer and mathematical | 2.8 | 3.4* | 39.43 | 37.58* | -5 |
Architecture and engineering | 1.8 | 2.2* | 38.51 | 36.78* | -4 |
Life, physical, and social science | 0.9 | 0.5* | 33.37 | 28.89* | -13 |
Community and social services | 1.4 | 1.4 | 21.50 | 20.51* | -5 |
Legal | 0.8 | 0.7 | 47.89 | 48.70 | 2 |
Education, training, and library | 6.3 | 5.4* | 24.76 | 22.11* | -11 |
Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media | 1.3 | 1.2 | 26.72 | 23.32* | -13 |
Healthcare practitioner and technical | 5.8 | 5.3* | 35.93 | 37.20* | 4 |
Healthcare support | 3.0 | 2.7* | 13.61 | 14.94* | 10 |
Protective service | 2.5 | 2.7* | 20.92 | 20.60 | -2 |
Food preparation and serving related | 9.0 | 9.1 | 10.38 | 10.82* | 4 |
Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance | 3.2 | 3.1* | 12.51 | 11.53* | -8 |
Personal care and service | 3.0 | 3.2* | 11.88 | 12.00 | 1 |
Sales and related | 10.6 | 11.8* | 18.37 | 18.37 | 0 |
Office and administrative support | 16.2 | 17.6* | 16.78 | 16.80 | 0 |
Farming, fishing, and forestry | 0.3 | 0.1* | 11.70 | 10.57* | -10 |
Construction and extraction | 3.8 | 4.4* | 21.94 | 19.79* | -10 |
Installation, maintenance, and repair | 3.9 | 3.8 | 21.35 | 21.58 | 1 |
Production | 6.6 | 4.4* | 16.79 | 16.56 | -1 |
Transportation and material moving | 6.8 | 6.1* | 16.28 | 17.09 | 5 |
Footnotes: |
One occupational group—office and administrative support—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Phoenix-Mesa-Glendale had 313,670 jobs in office and administrative support, accounting for 17.6 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 16.2-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $16.80, compared to the national wage of $16.78.
Some of the largest detailed occupations within the office and administrative support group included customer service representatives (51,440), general office clerks (32,940), and secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive (28,610). Among the higher paying jobs were postal service mail carriers and postal service clerks, with mean hourly wages of $25.01 and $24.92, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks ($11.04) and tellers ($12.48). (Detailed occupational data for office and administrative support are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/2013/may/oes_38060.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 Phoenix-Mesa-Glendale Metropolitan Statistical Area, above average concentrations of employment were found in some of the occupations within the office and administrative support group. For instance, loan interviewers and clerks were employed at 2.5 times the national rate in Phoenix, and bill and account collectors, at 1.9 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive, had a location quotient of 1.0 in Phoenix, 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 Arizona Department of Commerce.
OES wage and employment data for the 22 major occupational groups in the Phoenix metropolitan statistical area were compared to their respective national averages based on statistical significance testing. Only those occupations with wages or employment shares above or below the national wage or share after testing for significance at the 90-percent confidence level meet the criteria.
NOTE: 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 Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) survey is a semiannual mail survey measuring occupational employment and wage rates for wage and salary workers in nonfarm establishments in the United States. Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands are also surveyed, but their data are not included in the national estimates. OES estimates are constructed from a sample of about 1.2 million establishments. Forms are mailed to approximately 200,000 sampled establishments in May and November each year for a 3-year period. May 2013 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected in May 2013, November 2012, May 2012, November 2011, May 2011, and November 2010. The overall national response rate for the six panels is 75.3 percent based on establishments and 71.6 percent based on employment. The sample in the Phoenix-Mesa-Glendale Metropolitan Statistical Area included 7,181 establishments with a response rate of 76 percent. For more information about OES concepts and methodology, go to www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.tn.htm.
The OES survey provides estimates of employment and hourly and annual wages for wage and salary workers in 22 major occupational groups and 821 detailed occupations for the nation, states, metropolitan statistical areas, metropolitan divisions, and nonmetropolitan areas. In addition, employment and wage estimates for 94 minor groups and 458 broad occupations are available in the national data. OES data by state and metropolitan/nonmetropolitan area are available from www.bls.gov/oes/current/oessrcst.htm and www.bls.gov/oes/current/oessrcma.htm , respectively.
The May 2013 OES estimates are based on the 2010 Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) system and the 2012 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 2012 NAICS is available at www.bls.gov/bls/naics.htm .
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 Phoenix-Mesa-Glendale, Ariz. Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Maricopa and Pinal Counties.
Additional information
OES data are available on our regional web page at www.bls.gov/regions/west/home.htm. 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/2013/may/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: 1-800-877-8339.
Occupation (1) | Employment | Mean wages | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Level (2) | Location quotient (3) | Hourly | Annual(4) | |
Office and Administrative Support Occupations | 313,670 | 1.1 | $16.80 | $34,930 |
First-Line Supervisors of Office and Administrative Support Workers | 25,960 | 1.4 | 23.93 | 49,770 |
Switchboard Operators, Including Answering Service | 1,140 | 0.7 | 12.91 | 26,850 |
Telephone Operators | 100 | 0.7 | 13.10 | 27,240 |
Bill and Account Collectors | 9,320 | 1.9 | 16.42 | 34,160 |
Billing and Posting Clerks | 7,890 | 1.2 | 16.92 | 35,200 |
Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks | 17,620 | 0.8 | 17.55 | 36,500 |
Gaming Cage Workers | 350 | 1.5 | 12.65 | 26,300 |
Payroll and Timekeeping Clerks | 1,940 | 0.9 | 17.71 | 36,830 |
Procurement Clerks | 1,080 | 1.2 | 18.13 | 37,700 |
Tellers | 4,580 | 0.7 | 12.48 | 25,960 |
Financial Clerks, All Other | 2,000 | 3.6 | 19.05 | 39,620 |
Brokerage Clerks | 1,640 | 2.0 | 23.61 | 49,110 |
Correspondence Clerks | 160 | 1.5 | 19.37 | 40,280 |
Court, Municipal, and License Clerks | 2,100 | 1.2 | 16.64 | 34,610 |
Credit Authorizers, Checkers, and Clerks | 1,440 | 2.1 | 17.94 | 37,310 |
Customer Service Representatives | 51,440 | 1.6 | 15.62 | 32,490 |
Eligibility Interviewers, Government Programs | 730 | 0.4 | 18.21 | 37,870 |
File Clerks | 2,100 | 1.0 | 14.59 | 30,350 |
Hotel, Motel, and Resort Desk Clerks | 2,510 | 0.8 | 11.04 | 22,970 |
Interviewers, Except Eligibility and Loan | 2,140 | 0.8 | 12.74 | 26,500 |
Library Assistants, Clerical | 780 | 0.6 | 12.69 | 26,390 |
Loan Interviewers and Clerks | 7,030 | 2.5 | 18.61 | 38,720 |
New Accounts Clerks | 970 | 1.3 | 18.49 | 38,460 |
Order Clerks | 3,610 | 1.3 | 14.28 | 29,710 |
Human Resources Assistants, Except Payroll and Timekeeping | 1,610 | 0.9 | 17.58 | 36,570 |
Receptionists and Information Clerks | 11,170 | 0.9 | 13.44 | 27,950 |
Reservation and Transportation Ticket Agents and Travel Clerks | 2,380 | 1.3 | 18.26 | 37,970 |
Information and Record Clerks, All Other | 3,090 | 1.3 | 17.61 | 36,620 |
Cargo and Freight Agents | 200 | 0.2 | 20.91 | 43,490 |
Couriers and Messengers | 580 | 0.6 | 13.08 | 27,200 |
Police, Fire, and Ambulance Dispatchers | 1,150 | 0.9 | 21.80 | 45,340 |
Dispatchers, Except Police, Fire, and Ambulance | 3,400 | 1.4 | 15.17 | 31,540 |
Meter Readers, Utilities | 330 | 0.6 | 23.41 | 48,690 |
Postal Service Clerks | 550 | 0.6 | 24.92 | 51,830 |
Postal Service Mail Carriers | 3,430 | 0.8 | 25.01 | 52,030 |
Postal Service Mail Sorters, Processors, and Processing Machine Operators | 1,430 | 0.9 | 23.45 | 48,780 |
Production, Planning, and Expediting Clerks | 5,030 | 1.3 | 21.03 | 43,740 |
Shipping, Receiving, and Traffic Clerks | 8,710 | 1.0 | 14.79 | 30,760 |
Stock Clerks and Order Fillers | 23,610 | 1.0 | 12.54 | 26,080 |
Weighers, Measurers, Checkers, and Samplers, Recordkeeping | 840 | 0.9 | 14.50 | 30,150 |
Executive Secretaries and Executive Administrative Assistants | 6,230 | 0.6 | 24.16 | 50,240 |
Legal Secretaries | 2,520 | 0.9 | 20.34 | 42,300 |
Medical Secretaries | 12,830 | 1.9 | 15.18 | 31,560 |
Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive | 28,610 | 1.0 | 16.43 | 34,170 |
Computer Operators | 1,400 | 1.6 | 17.47 | 36,340 |
Data Entry Keyers | 3,250 | 1.2 | 14.06 | 29,250 |
Word Processors and Typists | 470 | 0.4 | 15.18 | 31,570 |
Desktop Publishers | 120 | 0.6 | 20.79 | 43,240 |
Insurance Claims and Policy Processing Clerks | 4,080 | 1.3 | 16.80 | 34,930 |
Mail Clerks and Mail Machine Operators, Except Postal Service | 1,790 | 1.3 | 13.30 | 27,660 |
Office Clerks, General | 32,940 | 0.9 | 16.07 | 33,430 |
Office Machine Operators, Except Computer | 1,080 | 1.2 | 13.82 | 28,750 |
Proofreaders and Copy Markers | 60 | 0.4 | 16.66 | 34,640 |
Statistical Assistants | 260 | 1.2 | 20.07 | 41,750 |
Office and Administrative Support Workers, All Other | 1,850 | 0.6 | 15.27 | 31,760 |
Footnotes: |
Last Modified Date: Thursday, May 15, 2014