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News Release Information

16-1307-SAN
Thursday, June 30, 2016

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

Occupational Employment and Wages in Boise City — May 2015

Workers in the Boise City Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $20.28 in May 2015, about 13 percent below the nationwide average of $23.23, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Assistant Commissioner for Regional Operations Richard Holden noted that, after testing for statistical significance, wages in the local area were lower than their respective national averages in 20 of the 22 major occupational groups, including management; legal; and computer and mathematical. No wages in the local area were higher than their respective national averages.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 7 of the 22 occupational groups, including office and administrative support; construction and extraction; and management. Conversely, six groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including transportation and material moving; production; and education, training, and library. (See table A and box note at end of release.)

Table A. Occupational employment and wages by major occupational group, United States and the Boise City Metropolitan Statistical Area, and measures of statistical significance, May 2015
Major occupational groupPercent of total employmentMean hourly wage
United StatesBoise CityUnited StatesBoise CityPercent difference (1)

Total, all occupations

100.0%100.0%$23.23$20.28*-13

Management

5.05.8*55.3040.26*-27

Business and Financial Operations

5.14.7*35.4830.69*-14

Computer and Mathematical

2.93.141.4333.42*-19

Architecture and Engineering

1.82.5*39.8937.92-5

Life, Physical, and Social Science

0.80.9*34.2427.04*-21

Community and Social Services

1.41.8*22.1919.86*-11

Legal

0.80.849.7439.67*-20

Education, Training, and Library

6.25.5*25.4818.27*-28

Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media

1.31.627.3920.09*-27

Healthcare Practitioner and Technical

5.85.837.4035.02*-6

Healthcare Support

2.92.814.1913.08*-8

Protective Service

2.41.9*21.4518.80*-12

Food Preparation and Serving Related

9.18.7*10.989.76*-11

Building and Grounds Cleaning and Maintenance

3.23.013.0212.22*-6

Personal Care and Service

3.13.212.3310.54*-15

Sales and Related

10.510.018.9017.79*-6

Office and Administrative Support

15.817.4*17.4715.70*-10

Farming, Fishing, and Forestry

0.30.5*12.6712.982

Construction and Extraction

4.04.9*22.8818.40*-20

Installation, Maintenance, and Repair

3.93.822.1120.26*-8

Production

6.65.6*17.4115.20*-13

Transportation and Material Moving

6.95.6*16.9015.52*-8

Footnotes:
(1) A positive percent difference measures how much the mean wage in Boise City 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—office and administrative support—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Boise City had 49,470 jobs in office and administrative support, accounting for 17.4 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 15.8-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $15.70, significantly below the national wage of $17.47.

Some of the largest detailed occupations within the office and administrative support group included customer service representatives (10,070), general office clerks (6,500), and secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive (4,300). Among the higher paying jobs were postal service mail sorters, processors, and processing machine operators and postal service mail carriers, with mean hourly wages of $25.52 and $24.26, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks ($10.25) and clerical library assistants ($10.26). (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/2015/may/oes_14260.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 Boise City Metropolitan Statistical Area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in some of the occupations within the office and administrative support group. For instance, procurement clerks were employed at 3.0 times the national rate in Boise City, and customer service representatives, at 1.9 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, postal service mail carriers had a location quotient of 1.0 in Boise City, 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 Idaho Department of Labor.

Notes on Occupational Employment Statistics Data

With the issuance of data for May 2015, the OES program has incorporated redefined metropolitan area definitions as designated by the Office of Management and Budget. OES data are available for 394 metropolitan areas, 38 metropolitan divisions, and 167 OES-defined nonmetropolitan areas. A listing of the areas and their definitions can be found at www.bls.gov/oes/current/msa_def.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.


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. The OES program produces employment and wage estimates for over 800 occupations for all industries combined in the nation; the 50 states and the District of Columbia; 432 metropolitan areas and divisions; 167 nonmetropolitan areas; and Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. National estimates are also available by industry for NAICS sectors, 3-, 4-, and selected 5- and 6-digit industries, and by ownership across all industries and for schools and hospitals. OES data are available at www.bls.gov/oes/tables.htm.

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 2015 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2015, November 2014, May 2014, November 2013, May 2013, and November 2012. The overall national response rate for the six panels is 73.5 percent based on establishments and 69.6 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The unweighted employment of sampled establishments across all six semiannual panels represents approximately 57.9 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 Boise City Metropolitan Statistical Area included 2,752 establishments with a response rate of 78 percent. For more information about OES concepts and methodology, go to www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.tn.htm.

The May 2015 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.

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 Boise City, Idaho Metropolitan Statistical Area  includes Ada, Boise, Canyon, Gem, and Owyhee Counties.

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/2015/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, Boise City Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2015
Occupation (1)EmploymentMean wages
Level (2)Location quotient (3)HourlyAnnual (4)

Office and Administrative Support Occupations

49,4701.1$15.70$32,660

First-Line Supervisors of Office and Administrative Support Workers

3,2301.123.0848,010

Switchboard Operators, Including Answering Service

2501.213.6028,280

Bill and Account Collectors

1,1501.716.6634,640

Billing and Posting Clerks

1,2801.316.4134,130

Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks

4,0301.217.1635,700

Payroll and Timekeeping Clerks

3401.017.8237,060

Procurement Clerks

4403.019.9341,450

Tellers

1,2501.212.3525,700

Financial Clerks, All Other

500.620.0741,740

Brokerage Clerks

600.523.8449,590

Court, Municipal, and License Clerks

2300.916.2033,700

Credit Authorizers, Checkers, and Clerks

1401.716.6334,600

Customer Service Representatives

10,0701.913.8828,870

File Clerks

2801.014.2729,670

Hotel, Motel, and Resort Desk Clerks

3700.710.2521,320

Interviewers, Except Eligibility and Loan

5501.415.6532,550

Library Assistants, Clerical

1300.610.2621,350

Loan Interviewers and Clerks

7101.618.4638,400

New Accounts Clerks

2202.218.3338,130

Order Clerks

5101.320.5042,630

Human Resources Assistants, Except Payroll and Timekeeping

2400.817.5336,450

Receptionists and Information Clerks

2,3601.212.8226,660

Reservation and Transportation Ticket Agents and Travel Clerks

4701.717.2435,860

Cargo and Freight Agents

400.217.7336,870

Couriers and Messengers

2801.911.8824,720

Police, Fire, and Ambulance Dispatchers

1300.718.1737,800

Dispatchers, Except Police, Fire, and Ambulance

4901.221.4944,710

Postal Service Clerks

1000.624.1650,240

Postal Service Mail Carriers

6201.024.2650,470

Postal Service Mail Sorters, Processors, and Processing Machine Operators

1900.825.5253,080

Production, Planning, and Expediting Clerks

6901.119.7641,090

Shipping, Receiving, and Traffic Clerks

1,5301.113.9428,990

Stock Clerks and Order Fillers

2,9900.812.2725,520

Weighers, Measurers, Checkers, and Samplers, Recordkeeping

1000.711.1223,130

Executive Secretaries and Executive Administrative Assistants

6700.521.2644,220

Legal Secretaries

2100.519.9241,440

Medical Secretaries

4900.517.1735,720

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

4,3000.914.7830,730

Computer Operators

1101.018.1737,800

Data Entry Keyers

2400.613.1227,290

Word Processors and Typists

300.216.6534,620

Insurance Claims and Policy Processing Clerks

2900.518.5638,610

Mail Clerks and Mail Machine Operators, Except Postal Service

800.412.7426,500

Office Clerks, General

6,5001.114.1429,420

Office Machine Operators, Except Computer

1301.012.0225,010

Office and Administrative Support Workers, All Other

3400.715.5532,350

Footnotes:
(1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in Boise City, ID, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_14260.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.
 

 

Last Modified Date: Thursday, June 30, 2016