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News Release Information

24-1521-SAN
Thursday, July 25, 2024

Contacts Technical information: Media contact:
  • (415) 625-2270

Occupational Employment and Wages in Spokane-Spokane Valley — May 2023

Workers in the Spokane-Spokane Valley, WA Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $30.93 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 management ($65.81), healthcare practitioners and technical ($55.63), and legal ($47.78). Lower paying occupations included food preparation and serving related ($19.55), building and grounds cleaning and maintenance ($20.02), and healthcare support ($20.81). (See table A.)

Occupational groups with the highest employment in the Spokane area included office and administrative support (12.3 percent), sales and related (9.3 percent), and transportation and material moving (8.9 percent). Major occupational groups on the lower end of local employment included legal (0.7 percent); life, physical, and social science (0.8 percent); and arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media (1.3 percent). (See table A.)

Table A. Occupational employment and wages by major occupational group, United States and the Spokane metropolitan area, May 2023
Major occupational groupPercent of total employmentMean hourly wage ($)
United StatesSpokaneUnited StatesSpokane

Total, all occupations

100.0100.031.4830.93

Management

6.94.566.2365.81

Business and financial operations

6.66.443.5539.53

Computer and mathematical

3.42.354.3947.60

Architecture and engineering

1.71.347.6442.10

Life, physical, and social science

0.90.842.2436.60

Community and social service

1.62.428.3628.25

Legal

0.80.764.3447.78

Educational instruction and library

5.85.931.9232.67

Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media

1.41.336.3129.73

Healthcare practitioners and technical

6.17.049.0755.63

Healthcare support

4.76.418.3720.81

Protective service

2.32.627.7429.82

Food preparation and serving related

8.78.816.5819.55

Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance

2.93.318.4320.02

Personal care and service

2.01.818.4822.54

Sales and related

8.89.325.6225.37

Office and administrative support

12.212.323.0523.81

Farming, fishing, and forestry

0.30.219.2225.42

Construction and extraction

4.14.729.5732.40

Installation, maintenance, and repair

3.93.928.1329.34

Production

5.85.222.9024.97

Transportation and material moving

9.18.922.4523.38

One occupational group—office and administrative support—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Spokane had 31,380 jobs in office and administrative support, accounting for 12.3 percent of local area employment, compared to the 12.2-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $23.81, compared to the national wage of $23.05.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the office and administrative support group included general office clerks (4,440), customer service representatives (3,200), and secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive (2,950). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were first-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers and public safety telecommunicators, with mean hourly wages of $34.33 and $31.65, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks ($17.19) and mail clerks and mail machine operators, except postal service ($18.40). (Detailed data for the office and administrative support occupations are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_44060.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 Spokane area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in some of the occupations within the office and administrative support group. For instance, tellers were employed at 2.3 times the national rate in Spokane, and government programs eligibility interviewers, at 2.2 times the U.S. average. First-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers had a location quotient of 1.0 in Spokane, 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 Washington Employment Security Department.


Technical Note

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 Spokane-Spokane Valley, WA Metropolitan Statistical Area included 2,304 establishments with a response rate of 72 percent.

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 Spokane-Spokane Valley, WA Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Pend Oreille County, Spokane County, and Stevens 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.

Table 1. Employment and wage data for office and administrative support occupations, Spokane metropolitan area, May 2023
Occupation (1)EmploymentMean wages ($)
Level (2)Location quotient (3)HourlyAnnual (4)

Office and administrative support occupations

31,3801.023.8149,520

First-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers

2,4901.034.3371,400

Switchboard operators, including answering service

500.719.4040,350

Bill and account collectors

2300.720.8843,420

Billing and posting clerks

1,3201.821.8845,500

Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks

2,6401.024.7051,370

Payroll and timekeeping clerks

2901.126.4855,070

Procurement clerks

1601.521.8045,340

Tellers

1,3002.321.3044,300

Financial clerks, all other

500.622.9147,660

Court, municipal, and license clerks

3001.225.5253,090

Customer service representatives

3,2000.721.3644,420

Eligibility interviewers, government programs

5502.224.6951,360

File clerks

600.421.3044,300

Hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks

4601.017.1935,760

Interviewers, except eligibility and loan

2500.920.1942,000

Library assistants, clerical

2802.019.7040,970

Loan interviewers and clerks

4301.324.8951,760

New accounts clerks

(5)(5)22.2146,190

Order clerks

(5)(5)21.6645,050

Human resources assistants, except payroll and timekeeping

2101.223.6349,140

Receptionists and information clerks

2,3101.418.8539,200

Reservation and transportation ticket agents and travel clerks

600.318.5038,480

Information and record clerks, all other

3501.422.4746,750

Cargo and freight agents

500.325.8153,670

Couriers and messengers

800.720.2742,160

Public safety telecommunicators

3502.131.6565,840

Dispatchers, except police, fire, and ambulance

3501.025.5153,050

Postal service clerks

1501.228.3058,860

Postal service mail carriers

6001.127.8757,970

Postal service mail sorters, processors, and processing machine operators

3201.625.8553,760

Production, planning, and expediting clerks

6401.026.2054,490

Shipping, receiving, and inventory clerks

1,3400.921.3444,400

Weighers, measurers, checkers, and samplers, recordkeeping

500.623.5949,070

Executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants

6100.830.7263,910

Legal secretaries and administrative assistants

(5)(5)24.1650,250

Medical secretaries and administrative assistants

8100.623.4748,820

Secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive

2,9501.022.6547,110

Data entry keyers

2200.918.9039,300

Insurance claims and policy processing clerks

3300.827.7957,800

Mail clerks and mail machine operators, except postal service

1501.318.4038,270

Office clerks, general

4,4401.123.1448,140

Office and administrative support workers, all other

4401.521.2044,100

Footnotes:
(1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Spokane-Spokane Valley, WA Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_44060.htm.
(2) Estimates for detailed occupations may not sum to the totals due to rounding, and because the totals may include occupations that are 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.

 

Last Modified Date: Thursday, July 25, 2024