Workers in the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $35.29 in May 2023, compared to the nationwide average of $31.48, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Chris Rosenlund noted that higher paying major occupational groups included legal ($83.20), management ($72.62), and computer and mathematical ($58.90). Lower paying occupations included healthcare support ($18.82), food preparation and serving related ($19.10), and personal care and service ($20.62). (See table A.)

Occupational groups with the highest employment in the Los Angeles area included office and administrative support (12.1 percent), food preparation and serving related (9.2 percent), and transportation and material moving (8.4 percent). Major occupational groups on the lower end of local employment included life, physical, and social science (0.9 percent); legal (1.1 percent); and architecture and engineering (1.7 percent). (See table A.)

One occupational group—arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Los Angeles had 201,640 jobs in arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media, accounting for 3.3 percent of local area employment, compared to the 1.4-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $50.11, compared to the national wage of $36.31.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media group included producers and directors (32,880), actors (18,140), and graphic designers (14,140). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were art directors and news analysts, reporters, and journalists, with mean hourly wages of $72.47 and $67.14, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were floral designers ($20.38) and merchandise displayers and window trimmers ($20.90). (Detailed data for the arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media occupations are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_31080.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 Los Angeles area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media group. For instance, special effects artists and animators were employed at 8.5 times the national rate in Los Angeles, and sound engineering technicians, at 8.0 times the U.S. average. Public relations specialists had a location quotient of 1.0 in Los Angeles, indicating that this particular occupation’s local and national employment shares were similar.

The statistics in this release are from the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey, a cooperative effort between BLS and the State Workforce Agencies (SWAs). BLS funds the survey and provides the procedures and technical support. State Workforce Agencies collect most of the data: in this case, the California Employment Development Department.

The Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey is a semiannual survey measuring occupational employment and wage rates for wage and salary workers in nonfarm establishments in the United States. The OEWS data available from BLS include cross-industry occupational employment and wage estimates for the nation; over 580 areas, including states and the District of Columbia, metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs), nonmetropolitan areas, and territories; national industry-specific estimates at the NAICS sector, 3-digit, most 4-digit, and selected 5- and 6-digit industry levels; and national estimates by ownership across all industries and for schools and hospitals. Full OEWS data tables are available online.

Additional information about the OEWS estimates and methodology are available in the national Technical Notes. The overall national response rate for the six panels, based on the 50 states and the District of Columbia, is 65.8 percent based on establishments and 64.3 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The sample in the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area included 14,486 establishments with a response rate of 52 percent.

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.

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 Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Los Angeles County and Orange County.

For more information

Answers to frequently asked questions about the OEWS data, as well as general program documentation, are available on the OEWS website.

Information in this release will be made available to individuals with sensory impairments upon request. Voice phone: (202) 691-5200; Telecommunications Relay Service: 7-1-1.