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News Release Information

14-1053-SAN
Tuesday, June 10, 2014

Contacts Technical information: Media contact:
  • (415) 625-2270

Occupational Employment and Wages in Salem, May 2013

Workers in the Salem Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $20.44 in May 2013, about 8 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 4 of the 22 major occupational groups, including healthcare practitioners and technical, and protective service. Eleven groups had significantly lower wages than their respective national averages, including management; arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media; and computer and mathematical.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 4 of the 22 occupational groups, including community and social service, and business and financial operations. Conversely, six groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including production; architecture and engineering; and installation, maintenance, and repair. (See table A and box note at end of release.)

Table A. Occupational employment and wages by major occupational group, United States and the Salem Metropolitan Statistical Area, and measures of statistical significance, May 2013
Major occupational groupPercent of total employmentMean hourly wage
United StatesSalemUnited StatesSalemPercent difference (1)

Total, all occupations

100.0%100.0%$22.33$20.44*-8

Management

4.95.053.1540.23*-24

Business and financial operations

5.05.8*34.1428.63*-16

Computer and mathematical

2.82.2*39.4332.79*-17

Architecture and engineering

1.80.9*38.5134.14*-11

Life, physical, and social science

0.90.833.3729.24*-12

Community and social services

1.42.5*21.5021.470

Legal

0.80.947.8942.05*-12

Education, training, and library

6.37.124.7624.41-1

Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media

1.30.9*26.7219.40*-27

Healthcare practitioner and technical

5.85.435.9340.79*14

Healthcare support

3.03.113.6115.04*11

Protective service

2.51.9*20.9224.68*18

Food preparation and serving related

9.08.710.3810.562

Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance

3.23.512.5113.51*8

Personal care and service

3.03.8*11.8811.70-2

Sales and related

10.610.118.3715.31*-17

Office and administrative support

16.216.316.7816.30*-3

Farming, fishing, and forestry

0.32.7*11.7011.09-5

Construction and extraction

3.84.021.9421.14-4

Installation, maintenance, and repair

3.93.0*21.3521.03-1

Production

6.65.0*16.7914.77*-12

Transportation and material moving

6.86.416.2815.48*-5

Footnotes:
(1) A positive percent difference measures how much the mean wage in Salem is above the national mean wage, while a negative difference reflects a lower wage.
* The percent share of employment or mean hourly wage for this area is significantly different from the national average of all areas at the 90-percent confidence level.
 

One occupational group—community and social service—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Salem had 3,580 jobs in community and social service, accounting for 2.5 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 1.4-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $21.47, compared to the national wage of $21.50.

Some of the largest detailed occupations within the community and social service group included social and human service assistants (680), clergy (510), and probation officers and correctional treatment specialists (340). Among the higher paying jobs were health educators and mental health counselors, with mean hourly wages of $29.50 and $28.59, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were social and human service assistants ($16.73) and religious activities and education directors ($17.54). (Detailed occupational data for community and social service are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/2013/may/oes_41420.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 Salem Metropolitan Statistical Area, above average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the community and social service group. For instance, clergy were employed at 10.4 times the national rate in Salem, and religious activities and education directors, at 10.4 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, child, family, and school social workers had a location quotient of 1.0 in Salem, 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 Oregon Employment Department.

Note

OES wage and employment data for the 22 major occupational groups in the Salem 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.


Technical Note

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 Salem Metropolitan Statistical Area included 1,804 establishments with a response rate of 73 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 Salem, Ore. Metropolitan Statistical Area  includes Marion and Polk 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.

Table 1. Employment and wage data from the Occupational Employment Statistics survey, by occupation, Salem Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2013
Occupation (1)EmploymentMean wages
Level (2)Location quotient (3)HourlyAnnual(4)

Community and Social Service Occupations

3,5801.8$21.47$44,660

Substance Abuse and Behavioral Disorder Counselors

1301.422.2646,310

Educational, Guidance, School, and Vocational Counselors

2501.027.9258,070

Mental Health Counselors

1601.328.5959,460

Rehabilitation Counselors

2101.919.7441,060

Child, Family, and School Social Workers

3001.022.4746,750

Healthcare Social Workers

1701.127.1256,410

Mental Health and Substance Abuse Social Workers

1901.622.4746,730

Social Workers, All Other

1201.823.5148,910

Health Educators

400.629.5061,360

Probation Officers and Correctional Treatment Specialists

3403.623.5548,990

Social and Human Service Assistants

6801.816.7334,790

Community Health Workers

400.919.8341,250

Community and Social Service Specialists, All Other

1801.820.9943,670

Clergy

51010.419.9941,570

Directors, Religious Activities and Education

21010.417.5436,470

Religious Workers, All Other

(5)(5)16.1233,530

Footnotes:
(1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in Salem, OR, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_41420.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.
 

 

Last Modified Date: Tuesday, June 10, 2014