Workers in the Tucson Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $22.18 in May 2017, about 9 percent below the nationwide average of $24.34, 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 13 of the 22 major occupational groups, including management; legal; and arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media. Two groups had significantly higher wages than their respective national averages: architecture and engineering; and food preparation and serving related.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 10 of the 22 occupational groups, including office and administrative support; food preparation and serving related; and personal care and service. Conversely, five groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including production; transportation and material moving; and business and financial operations. (See table A and box note at end of release.)

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 61,960 jobs in office and administrative support, accounting for 17.0 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 15.4-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $16.50, significantly below the national wage of $18.24.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the office and administrative support group included customer service representatives (14,580), general office clerks (7,000), and secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive (6,080). Among the higher paying jobs were postal service clerks and first-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers, with mean hourly wages of $24.65 and $24.48, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks ($11.55) and interviewers, except eligibility and loan ($12.41). (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/current/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 2.1 times the national rate in Tucson. On the other hand, production, planning, and expediting clerks 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.

Technical Note

The Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) survey is a semiannual 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 2017 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2017, November 2016, May 2016, November 2015, May 2015, and November 2014. The overall national response rate for the six panels, based on the 50 states and the District of Columbia, is 72 percent based on establishments and 68 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The unweighted sample employment of 82 million across all six semiannual panels represents approximately 58 percent of total national employment. The sample in the Tucson Metropolitan Statistical Area included 2,687 establishments with a response rate of 66 percent. For more information about OES concepts and methodology, go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_tec.htm.

The May 2017 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 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/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, Tucson Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2017

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Office and administrative support occupations	61,960	1.1	$16.50	$34,320
First-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers	4,610	1.2	24.48	50,920
Switchboard operators, including answering service	190	0.9	12.98	27,000
Bill and account collectors	570	0.8	17.21	35,800
Billing and posting clerks	1,040	0.9	17.06	35,480
Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks	2,740	0.7	18.76	39,020
Payroll and timekeeping clerks	330	0.9	17.90	37,230
Procurement clerks	280	1.5	19.70	40,970
Tellers	1,030	0.8	14.26	29,650
Brokerage clerks	130	0.8	22.45	46,690
Court, municipal, and license clerks	360	1.1	16.42	34,150
Customer service representatives	14,580	2.1	14.00	29,130
Eligibility interviewers, government programs	240	0.7	20.67	42,990
File clerks	240	0.8	15.24	31,710
Hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks	680	1.1	11.55	24,030
Interviewers, except eligibility and loan	310	0.6	12.41	25,820
Library assistants, clerical	290	1.2	12.90	26,830
Loan interviewers and clerks	800	1.4	18.17	37,800
New accounts clerks	100	1.0	(5)	(5)
Order clerks	120	0.3	15.87	33,000
Human resources assistants, except payroll and timekeeping	400	1.2	17.13	35,640
Receptionists and information clerks	3,220	1.2	14.04	29,200
Reservation and transportation ticket agents and travel clerks	230	0.6	17.42	36,220
Information and record clerks, all other	980	2.4	17.30	35,990
Cargo and freight agents	130	0.6	16.60	34,530
Couriers and messengers	130	0.7	13.00	27,040
Police, fire, and ambulance dispatchers	300	1.2	18.96	39,440
Dispatchers, except police, fire, and ambulance	520	1.0	16.86	35,070
Meter readers, utilities	30	0.4	21.09	43,860
Postal service clerks	160	0.7	24.65	51,260
Postal service mail carriers	910	1.1	24.46	50,890
Postal service mail sorters, processors, and processing machine operators	210	0.7	23.30	48,450
Production, planning, and expediting clerks	850	1.0	24.18	50,300
Shipping, receiving, and traffic clerks	1,090	0.6	16.23	33,760
Stock clerks and order fillers	5,720	1.1	13.06	27,160
Weighers, measurers, checkers, and samplers, recordkeeping	120	0.7	15.18	31,580
Executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants	1,570	1.0	22.02	45,810
Legal secretaries	420	0.9	21.04	43,760
Medical secretaries	1,460	1.0	16.91	35,170
Secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive	6,080	1.1	16.32	33,940
Computer operators	(5)	(5)	22.85	47,530
Data entry keyers	260	0.6	13.52	28,110
Word processors and typists	40	0.2	15.89	33,040
Insurance claims and policy processing clerks	570	0.8	17.06	35,490
Mail clerks and mail machine operators, except postal service	140	0.7	13.81	28,730
Office clerks, general	7,000	0.9	16.06	33,410
Office machine operators, except computer	120	0.8	16.33	33,970
Statistical assistants	30	1.2	23.28	48,420
Office and administrative support workers, all other	370	0.7	17.34	36,070
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.