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News Release Information

15-696-SAN
Thursday, April 23, 2015

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

Occupational Employment and Wages in Tucson, May 2014

Workers in the Tucson Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $20.45 in May 2014, about 10 percent below 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, no wages in the local area were higher than their respective national averages in 22 major occupational groups. Thirteen groups had significantly lower wages than their respective national averages, including legal; management; and arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 7 of the 22 occupational groups, including office and administrative support; protective service; and healthcare practitioners and technical. Conversely, three groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including production; and transportation and material moving. (See table A and box note at end of release.)

Table A. Occupational employment and wages by major occupational group, United States and the Tucson Metropolitan Statistical Area, and measures of statistical significance, May 2014
Major occupational groupPercent of total employmentMean hourly wage
United StatesTucsonUnited StatesTucsonPercent difference (1)

Total, all occupations

100.0%100.0%$22.71$20.45*-10

Management

5.04.854.0844.17*-18

Business and financial operations

5.14.634.8128.88*-17

Computer and mathematical

2.82.840.3734.94*-13

Architecture and engineering

1.82.139.1937.16*-5

Life, physical, and social science

0.81.2*33.6928.33*-16

Community and social services

1.42.0*21.7918.69*-14

Legal

0.80.848.6134.09*-30

Education, training, and library

6.26.125.1022.47-10

Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media

1.31.426.8220.68*-23

Healthcare practitioner and technical

5.86.7*36.5434.91-4

Healthcare support

2.92.913.8614.273

Protective service

2.43.4*21.1422.105

Food preparation and serving related

9.19.8*10.5710.50-1

Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance

3.23.212.6811.48*-9

Personal care and service

3.1(2)12.0111.53-4

Sales and related

10.510.218.5915.35*-17

Office and administrative support

16.017.5*17.0815.97*-6

Farming, fishing, and forestry

0.30.1*12.0912.02-1

Construction and extraction

3.93.822.4018.84*-16

Installation, maintenance, and repair

3.94.3*21.7420.99-3

Production

6.63.3*17.0616.94-1

Transportation and material moving

6.84.6*16.5714.05*-15

Footnotes:
(1) A positive percent difference measures how much the mean wage in Tucson is above the national mean wage, while a negative difference reflects a lower wage.
(2) Estimate not released
* 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—office and administrative support—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Tucson had 61,800 jobs in office and administrative support, accounting for 17.5 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 16.0-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $15.97, significantly below the national wage of $17.08.

Some of the largest detailed occupations within the office and administrative support group included customer service representatives (10,780), general office clerks (7,590), and secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive (6,320). Among the higher paying jobs were postal service mail carriers and postal service clerks, with mean hourly wages of $25.73 and $25.53, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks ($10.09) and clerical library assistants ($10.57). (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/2014/may/oes_46060.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 Tucson Metropolitan Statistical Area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in some of the occupations within the office and administrative support group. For instance, customer service representatives were employed at 1.6 times the national rate in Tucson, and medical secretaries, at 1.6 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, dispatchers, except police, fire, and ambulance, had a location quotient of 1.0 in Tucson, 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 Administration.

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. 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 Tucson Metropolitan Statistical Area included 2,759 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 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 Tucson, Ariz. Metropolitan Statistical Area  includes Pima 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, Tucson Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2014
Occupation (1)EmploymentMean wages
Level (2)Location quotient (3)HourlyAnnual (4)

Office and Administrative Support Occupations

61,8001.1$15.97$33,220

First-Line Supervisors of Office and Administrative Support Workers

5,1001.422.4646,720

Switchboard Operators, Including Answering Service

2600.911.5524,030

Bill and Account Collectors

1,3001.413.1527,350

Billing and Posting Clerks

1,7201.315.3932,020

Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks

2,4600.616.6134,560

Payroll and Timekeeping Clerks

4901.116.4234,160

Procurement Clerks

4002.215.9833,250

Tellers

1,1200.812.8326,690

Financial Clerks, All Other

(5)(5)17.8537,120

Brokerage Clerks

700.524.4250,790

Court, Municipal, and License Clerks

4301.315.6032,450

Credit Authorizers, Checkers, and Clerks

400.316.2633,830

Customer Service Representatives

10,7801.613.1727,390

Eligibility Interviewers, Government Programs

1900.618.4638,400

File Clerks

3000.813.9729,060

Hotel, Motel, and Resort Desk Clerks

8101.310.0920,980

Interviewers, Except Eligibility and Loan

(5)(5)10.8622,590

Library Assistants, Clerical

2901.110.5721,980

Loan Interviewers and Clerks

7301.318.8539,200

New Accounts Clerks

1901.419.6140,790

Order Clerks

2000.415.9033,070

Human Resources Assistants, Except Payroll and Timekeeping

3300.915.7432,730

Receptionists and Information Clerks

2,1900.912.3825,740

Reservation and Transportation Ticket Agents and Travel Clerks

(5)(5)16.0133,310

Information and Record Clerks, All Other

1,2602.715.6532,540

Cargo and Freight Agents

(5)(5)18.5838,650

Couriers and Messengers

700.410.8722,600

Police, Fire, and Ambulance Dispatchers

3301.318.7038,890

Dispatchers, Except Police, Fire, and Ambulance

5001.016.4834,290

Meter Readers, Utilities

500.522.4246,630

Postal Service Clerks

1400.725.5353,090

Postal Service Mail Carriers

7801.025.7353,510

Postal Service Mail Sorters, Processors, and Processing Machine Operators

2200.723.3448,550

Production, Planning, and Expediting Clerks

1,1301.524.1450,220

Shipping, Receiving, and Traffic Clerks

1,3100.814.7630,700

Stock Clerks and Order Fillers

5,4401.111.8124,570

Weighers, Measurers, Checkers, and Samplers, Recordkeeping

900.513.4227,920

Executive Secretaries and Executive Administrative Assistants

9500.525.0652,110

Legal Secretaries

6501.216.7834,910

Medical Secretaries

2,1301.615.3331,890

Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive

6,3201.115.6732,580

Computer Operators

600.419.5040,560

Data Entry Keyers

3900.712.8726,770

Word Processors and Typists

800.412.6526,310

Insurance Claims and Policy Processing Clerks

4600.716.6834,700

Mail Clerks and Mail Machine Operators, Except Postal Service

1600.611.6824,290

Office Clerks, General

7,5901.015.9433,140

Office Machine Operators, Except Computer

1000.613.1127,270

Statistical Assistants

401.019.6040,770

Office and Administrative Support Workers, All Other

1900.315.8232,900

Footnotes:
(1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in Tucson, AZ, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_46060.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: Thursday, April 23, 2015