Workers in the Eugene Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $20.81 in May 2015, about 10 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 11 of the 22 major occupational groups, including management; legal; and computer and mathematical. Three groups had significantly higher wages than their respective national averages.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 5 of the 22 occupational groups, including sales and related; personal care and service; and life, physical, and social science. Conversely, six groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including business and financial operations; protective service; and computer and mathematical. (See table A and box note at end of release.)

One occupational group—sales and related—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Eugene had 17,250 jobs in sales and related, accounting for 11.8 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 10.5-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $16.06, significantly below the national wage of $18.90.

Some of the largest detailed occupations within the sales and related group included retail salespersons (5,890), cashiers (4,890), and sales representatives, wholesale and manufacturing, except technical and scientific products (1,520). Among the higher paying jobs were sales engineers and securities, commodities, and financial services sales agents, with mean hourly wages of $52.01 and $39.28, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were cashiers ($10.87) and demonstrators and product promoters ($11.84). (Detailed occupational data for sales and related are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/2015/may/oes_21660.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 Eugene Metropolitan Statistical Area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in some of the occupations within the sales and related group. For instance, parts salespersons were employed at 1.5 times the national rate in Eugene. On the other hand, sales representatives, wholesale and manufacturing, except technical and scientific products had a location quotient of 1.0 in Eugene, 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.

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 Eugene Metropolitan Statistical Area included 1,954 establishments with a response rate of 75 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 Eugene, Ore. Metropolitan Statistical Area  includes Lane 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/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, Eugene Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2015

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Sales and Related Occupations	17,250	1.1	$16.06	$33,390
First-Line Supervisors of Retail Sales Workers	1,400	1.1	18.94	39,380
First-Line Supervisors of Non-Retail Sales Workers	230	0.9	31.92	66,400
Cashiers	4,890	1.3	10.87	22,610
Counter and Rental Clerks	520	1.1	13.49	28,050
Parts Salespersons	380	1.5	18.66	38,810
Retail Salespersons	5,890	1.2	13.68	28,460
Advertising Sales Agents	160	1.0	21.06	43,790
Insurance Sales Agents	350	0.9	27.15	56,470
Securities, Commodities, and Financial Services Sales Agents	290	0.9	39.28	81,700
Travel Agents	60	0.9	16.14	33,560
Sales Representatives, Services, All Other	600	0.6	23.22	48,300
Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing, Technical and Scientific Products	150	0.4	39.25	81,640
Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing, Except Technical and Scientific Products	1,520	1.0	24.23	50,400
Demonstrators and Product Promoters	180	2.0	11.84	24,630
Real Estate Brokers	30	0.7	26.80	55,740
Real Estate Sales Agents	90	0.5	23.98	49,890
Sales Engineers	40	0.5	52.01	108,190
Telemarketers	(5)	(5)	12.01	24,970
Sales and Related Workers, All Other	250	2.8	14.53	30,230
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in Eugene, OR, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_21660.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.