Workers in the Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $22.51 in May 2016, about 6 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 lower than their respective national averages in 8 of the 22 major occupational groups, including computer and mathematical; business and financial operations; and management. Nine groups had significantly higher wages than their respective national averages, including healthcare practitioners and technical; community and social service; and education, training, and library.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 5 of the 22 occupational groups, including transportation and material moving; construction and extraction; and education, training, and library. Conversely, 10 groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including computer and mathematical; business and financial operations; and architecture and engineering. (See table A and box note at end of release.)

One occupational group—healthcare practitioners and technical—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario had 72,860 jobs in healthcare practitioners and technical, accounting for 5.3 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 5.9-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $41.76, significantly above the national wage of $38.06.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the healthcare practitioners and technical group included registered nurses (27,090), licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses (7,680), and pharmacy technicians (3,450). Among the higher paying jobs were surgeons and psychiatrists, with mean hourly wages of $132.54 and $132.12, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were ophthalmic medical technicians ($15.06) and emergency medical technicians and paramedics ($16.05). (Detailed occupational data for healthcare practitioners and technical are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/2016/may/oes_40140.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 Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario Metropolitan Statistical Area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in some of the occupations within the healthcare practitioners and technical group. For instance, psychiatric technicians were employed at 1.9 times the national rate in Riverside, and general dentists, at 1.5 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, registered nurses had a location quotient of 1.0 in Riverside, 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. 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 Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario Metropolitan Statistical Area included 6,028 establishments with a response rate of 63 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 Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, Calif. Metropolitan Statistical Area  includes Riverside and San Bernardino 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.

Table 1. Employment and wage data from the Occupational Employment Statistics survey, by occupation, Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2016

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Healthcare practitioners and technical occupations	72,860	0.9	$41.76	$86,870
Chiropractors	200	0.6	38.32	79,700
Dentists, general	1,550	1.5	73.52	152,930
Dietitians and nutritionists	660	1.1	31.43	65,370
Optometrists	200	0.6	68.04	141,520
Pharmacists	2,750	0.9	64.35	133,850
Family and general practitioners	800	0.7	102.40	212,980
Internists, general	210	0.5	51.95	108,050
Obstetricians and gynecologists	120	0.6	129.46	269,280
Pediatricians, general	260	1.0	95.53	198,700
Psychiatrists	380	1.6	132.12	274,800
Surgeons	290	0.7	132.54	275,680
Physicians and surgeons, all other	2,030	0.6	88.02	183,080
Physician assistants	540	0.5	53.18	110,610
Podiatrists	50	0.5	60.38	125,580
Occupational therapists	720	0.6	44.68	92,930
Physical therapists	1,310	0.6	42.76	88,940
Radiation therapists	140	0.9	51.05	106,190
Recreational therapists	220	1.3	35.76	74,380
Respiratory therapists	1,540	1.3	34.77	72,320
Speech-language pathologists	870	0.7	43.02	89,490
Therapists, all other	40	0.4	38.07	79,190
Veterinarians	450	0.7	45.99	95,660
Registered nurses	27,090	1.0	46.28	96,270
Nurse practitioners	1,070	0.7	53.78	111,870
Audiologists	(5)	(5)	47.40	98,600
Health diagnosing and treating practitioners, all other	150	0.4	32.75	68,120
Medical and clinical laboratory technologists	550	0.3	38.32	79,700
Medical and clinical laboratory technicians	1,020	0.7	20.81	43,280
Dental hygienists	1,490	0.8	44.18	91,900
Cardiovascular technologists and technicians	480	0.9	30.58	63,610
Diagnostic medical sonographers	480	0.8	38.48	80,030
Nuclear medicine technologists	190	1.0	49.72	103,410
Radiologic technologists	1,700	0.9	32.66	67,940
Magnetic resonance imaging technologists	180	0.5	40.34	83,910
Emergency medical technicians and paramedics	2,170	0.9	16.05	33,380
Dietetic technicians	260	0.8	16.17	33,640
Pharmacy technicians	3,450	0.9	17.85	37,120
Psychiatric technicians	1,140	1.9	29.13	60,590
Respiratory therapy technicians	50	0.5	29.92	62,230
Surgical technologists	800	0.8	25.27	52,560
Veterinary technologists and technicians	580	0.6	19.77	41,130
Ophthalmic medical technicians	210	0.5	15.06	31,320
Licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses	7,680	1.1	23.51	48,900
Medical records and health information technicians	1,590	0.8	22.30	46,370
Opticians, dispensing	780	1.1	17.70	36,820
Orthotists and prosthetists	50	0.7	33.70	70,090
Hearing aid specialists	50	0.7	25.69	53,440
Health technologists and technicians, all other	2,870	2.4	20.39	42,410
Occupational health and safety specialists	470	0.6	36.23	75,370
Occupational health and safety technicians	90	0.6	27.55	57,300
Athletic trainers	90	0.4	(5)	54,170
Healthcare practitioners and technical workers, all other	440	1.3	33.25	69,160
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_40140.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.