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17-635-SAN
Wednesday, May 17, 2017
Workers in the Idaho Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $21.22 in May 2016, about 11 percent below the nationwide average of $23.86, 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 higher than their respective national averages in 1 of the 22 major occupational groups: architecture and engineering. Fourteen 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 6 of the 22 occupational groups, including construction and extraction; life, physical, and social science; and architecture and engineering. Conversely, nine groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including office and administrative support; business and financial operations; and computer and mathematical. (See table A and box note at end of release.)
Major occupational group | Percent of total employment | Mean hourly wage | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
United States | Idaho Falls | United States | Idaho Falls | Percent difference (1) | |
Total, all occupations | 100.0 | 100.0 | $23.86 | $21.22* | -11 |
Management | 5.1 | 6.3* | 56.74 | 45.24* | -20 |
Business and financial operations | 5.2 | 3.7* | 36.09 | 31.98* | -11 |
Computer and mathematical | 3.0 | 1.8* | 42.25 | 36.64 | -13 |
Architecture and engineering | 1.8 | 3.1* | 40.53 | 46.04* | 14 |
Life, physical, and social science | 0.8 | 2.8* | 35.06 | 32.99 | -6 |
Community and social service | 1.4 | 1.7* | 22.69 | 21.53 | -5 |
Legal | 0.8 | 0.4* | 50.95 | 35.40* | -31 |
Education, training, and library | 6.2 | 5.3* | 26.21 | 17.30* | -34 |
Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media | 1.4 | 1.3 | 28.07 | 16.85* | -40 |
Healthcare practitioners and technical | 5.9 | 5.2* | 38.06 | 33.52* | -12 |
Healthcare support | 2.9 | 3.1 | 14.65 | 13.19* | -10 |
Protective service | 2.4 | 2.3 | 22.03 | 22.84 | 4 |
Food preparation and serving related | 9.2 | 8.3* | 11.47 | 9.85* | -14 |
Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance | 3.2 | 2.8* | 13.47 | 11.84* | -12 |
Personal care and service | 3.2 | 3.3 | 12.74 | 10.67* | -16 |
Sales and related | 10.4 | 11.1 | 19.50 | 15.56* | -20 |
Office and administrative support | 15.7 | 13.4* | 17.91 | 15.29* | -15 |
Farming, fishing, and forestry | 0.3 | 1.3* | 13.37 | 9.93* | -26 |
Construction and extraction | 4.0 | 6.7* | 23.51 | 22.72 | -3 |
Installation, maintenance, and repair | 3.9 | 4.0 | 22.45 | 21.10 | -6 |
Production | 6.5 | 5.7* | 17.88 | 19.01 | 6 |
Transportation and material moving | 6.9 | 6.4 | 17.34 | 15.71* | -9 |
Footnotes: |
One occupational group—construction and extraction—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Idaho Falls had 4,170 jobs in construction and extraction, accounting for 6.7 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 4.0-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $22.72, compared to the national wage of $23.51.
Some of the larger detailed occupations within the construction and extraction group included construction laborers (840), electricians (460), and first-line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers (420). Among the higher paying jobs were first-line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers and electricians, with mean hourly wages of $33.54 and $25.69, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were floor, ceiling, and wall insulation workers ($9.82) and construction laborers ($14.70). (Detailed occupational data for construction and extraction are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/2016/may/oes_26820.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 Idaho Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the construction and extraction group. For instance, construction laborers were employed at 2.1 times the national rate in Idaho Falls, and first-line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers, at 1.8 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, carpenters had a location quotient of 1.0 in Idaho Falls, 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.
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.
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 data available from BLS include cross-industry occupational employment and wage estimates for the nation; over 650 areas, including states and the District of Columbia, metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs), metropolitan divisions, nonmetropolitan areas, and territories; national industry-specific estimates at the NAICS sector, 3-, 4-, and selected 5- and 6-digit industry levels, and national estimates 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. Each year, two semiannual panels of approximately 200,000 sampled establishments are contacted, one panel in May and the other in November. Responses are obtained by mail, Internet or other electronic means, email, telephone, or personal visit. The May 2016 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2016, November 2015, May 2015, November 2014, May 2014, and November 2013. The overall national response rate for the six panels, based on the 50 states and the District of Columbia, is 73 percent based on establishments and 69 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The unweighted employment of sampled establishments across all six semiannual panels represents approximately 58 percent of total national employment. The sample in the Idaho Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area included 1,099 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 2016 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 Idaho Falls, Idaho Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Bonneville and Jefferson 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/current/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.
Occupation (1) | Employment | Mean wages | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Level (2) | Location quotient (3) | Hourly | Annual (4) | |
Construction and extraction occupations | 4,170 | 1.7 | $22.72 | $47,250 |
First-line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers | 420 | 1.8 | 33.54 | 69,770 |
Brickmasons and blockmasons | (5) | (5) | 19.83 | 41,240 |
Carpenters | 300 | 1.0 | 22.98 | 47,800 |
Cement masons and concrete finishers | 150 | 2.0 | 16.71 | 34,750 |
Construction laborers | 840 | 2.1 | 14.70 | 30,580 |
Operating engineers and other construction equipment operators | 260 | 1.7 | 23.15 | 48,160 |
Drywall and ceiling tile installers | (5) | (5) | 18.97 | 39,460 |
Electricians | 460 | 1.7 | 25.69 | 53,430 |
Insulation workers, floor, ceiling, and wall | 40 | 2.9 | 9.82 | 20,420 |
Painters, construction and maintenance | 90 | 1.0 | 16.08 | 33,440 |
Plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters | 300 | 1.6 | 21.77 | 45,280 |
Structural iron and steel workers | 100 | 3.3 | 25.14 | 52,300 |
Highway maintenance workers | 90 | 1.4 | 17.79 | 37,000 |
Footnotes: |
Last Modified Date: Wednesday, May 17, 2017