Workers in the San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $25.49 in May 2014, about 12 percent above the nationwide average of $22.71, 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 higher than their respective national averages in 18 of the 22 major occupational groups, including healthcare practitioners and technical; architecture and engineering; and life, physical, and social science. Only one group had significantly lower wages than their respective national average: transportation and material moving.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 8 of the 22 occupational groups, including food preparation and serving related; architecture and engineering; and business and financial operations. Conversely, seven groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including transportation and material moving; production; and healthcare practitioners and technical. (See table A and box note at end of release.)

One occupational group—architecture and engineering—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos had 41,210 jobs in architecture and engineering, accounting for 3.1 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 1.8-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $43.87, significantly above the national wage of $39.19.

Some of the largest detailed occupations within the architecture and engineering group included electronics engineers, except computer (4,390), civil engineers (4,160), and electrical engineers (4,140). Among the higher paying jobs were electronics engineers, except computer, and electrical engineers, with mean hourly wages of $53.81 and $53.45, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were surveying and mapping technicians ($27.48) and architectural and civil drafters ($27.71). (Detailed occupational data for architecture and engineering are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/2014/may/oes_41740.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 San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos Metropolitan Statistical Area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the architecture and engineering group. For instance, computer hardware engineers were employed at 5.1 times the national rate in San Diego, and electronics engineers, except computer, at 3.4 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, architects, except landscape and naval, had a location quotient of 1.1 in San Diego, 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 California Employment Development Department.

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. May 2014 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2014, November 2013, May 2013, November 2012, May 2012, and November 2011. The overall national response rate for the six panels is 74.3 percent based on establishments and 70.5 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The unweighted employment of sampled establishments across all six semiannual panels represents approximately 57.1 percent of total national employment. (Response rates are slightly lower for these estimates due to the federal shutdown in October 2013.) The sample in the San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos Metropolitan Statistical Area included 6,465 establishments with a response rate of 64 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 2014 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 San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos, Calif. Metropolitan Statistical Area  includes San Diego County.

Additional information

OES data are available on our regional web page at www.bls.gov/regions/west. 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/2014/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: 800-877-8339.

Table 1. Employment and wage data from the Occupational Employment Statistics survey, by occupation, San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2014

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Architecture and Engineering Occupations	41,210	1.7	$43.87	$91,250
Architects, Except Landscape and Naval	940	1.1	46.03	95,740
Landscape Architects	320	1.8	39.18	81,490
Cartographers and Photogrammetrists	180	1.6	34.19	71,110
Surveyors	430	1.1	35.92	74,710
Aerospace Engineers	1,550	2.3	49.79	103,570
Biomedical Engineers	630	3.2	38.60	80,290
Chemical Engineers	220	0.7	41.65	86,630
Civil Engineers	4,160	1.6	46.79	97,320
Computer Hardware Engineers	3,820	5.1	47.62	99,050
Electrical Engineers	4,140	2.4	53.45	111,180
Electronics Engineers, Except Computer	4,390	3.4	53.81	111,920
Environmental Engineers	610	1.2	41.55	86,420
Health and Safety Engineers, Except Mining Safety Engineers and Inspectors	240	1.0	45.05	93,700
Industrial Engineers	3,360	1.5	46.36	96,430
Materials Engineers	310	1.3	47.31	98,390
Mechanical Engineers	3,180	1.2	45.79	95,230
Nuclear Engineers	(5)	(5)	49.82	103,630
Engineers, All Other	2,250	1.9	51.27	106,650
Architectural and Civil Drafters	1,330	1.5	27.71	57,640
Electrical and Electronics Drafters	820	2.8	28.08	58,400
Mechanical Drafters	450	0.7	30.46	63,360
Drafters, All Other	140	1.0	23.55	48,990
Aerospace Engineering and Operations Technicians	230	2.1	34.41	71,570
Civil Engineering Technicians	650	0.9	28.06	58,370
Electrical and Electronics Engineering Technicians	2,750	2.1	30.64	63,730
Electro-Mechanical Technicians	320	2.3	28.04	58,330
Environmental Engineering Technicians	180	1.0	30.72	63,900
Industrial Engineering Technicians	650	1.0	27.76	57,730
Mechanical Engineering Technicians	790	1.7	29.96	62,320
Engineering Technicians, Except Drafters, All Other	1,560	2.4	32.40	67,390
Surveying and Mapping Technicians	310	0.6	27.48	57,150
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos, CA, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_41740.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.