Department of Labor Logo United States Department of Labor
Dot gov

The .gov means it's official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you're on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

News Release Information

24-1347-SAN
Thursday, July 11, 2024

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

Occupational Employment and Wages in Bakersfield — May 2023

Workers in the Bakersfield, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $28.92 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 ($60.03), legal ($57.29), and healthcare practitioners and technical ($55.01). Lower paying occupations included food preparation and serving related ($17.80), healthcare support ($17.92), and personal care and service ($19.36). (See table A.)

Occupational groups with the highest employment in the Bakersfield area included transportation and material moving (10.6 percent), office and administrative support (9.2 percent), and food preparation and serving related (8.5 percent). Major occupational groups on the lower end of local employment included legal (0.3 percent); arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media (0.8 percent); and life, physical, and social science (1.0 percent). (See table A.)

Table A. Occupational employment and wages by major occupational group, United States and the Bakersfield metropolitan area, May 2023
Major occupational group Percent of total employment Mean hourly wage ($)
United States Bakersfield United States Bakersfield

Total, all occupations

100.0 100.0 31.48 28.92

Management

6.9 4.6 66.23 60.03

Business and financial operations

6.6 4.3 43.55 42.11

Computer and mathematical

3.4 1.4 54.39 50.14

Architecture and engineering

1.7 2.2 47.64 53.16

Life, physical, and social science

0.9 1.0 42.24 41.93

Community and social service

1.6 2.2 28.36 29.89

Legal

0.8 0.3 64.34 57.29

Educational instruction and library

5.8 7.0 31.92 34.79

Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media

1.4 0.8 36.31 29.60

Healthcare practitioners and technical

6.1 4.6 49.07 55.01

Healthcare support

4.7 5.9 18.37 17.92

Protective service

2.3 3.2 27.74 35.65

Food preparation and serving related

8.7 8.5 16.58 17.80

Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance

2.9 2.3 18.43 19.89

Personal care and service

2.0 1.4 18.48 19.36

Sales and related

8.8 6.7 25.62 22.59

Office and administrative support

12.2 9.2 23.05 23.71

Farming, fishing, and forestry

0.3 12.0 19.22 16.88

Construction and extraction

4.1 4.7 29.57 31.89

Installation, maintenance, and repair

3.9 4.0 28.13 30.76

Production

5.8 3.1 22.90 25.32

Transportation and material moving

9.1 10.6 22.45 22.25

One occupational group—transportation and material moving—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Bakersfield had 34,910 jobs in transportation and material moving, accounting for 10.6 percent of local area employment, compared to the 9.1-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $22.25, compared to the national wage of $22.45.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the transportation and material moving group included hand laborers and freight, stock, and material movers (9,140), heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers (6,460), and stockers and order fillers (6,400). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were crane and tower operators, with a mean hourly wages of $30.28. At the lower end of the wage scale were cleaners of vehicles and equipment ($17.80) and automotive and watercraft service attendants ($18.01). (Detailed data for the transportation and material moving occupations are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_12540.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 Bakersfield area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in some of the occupations within the transportation and material moving group. For instance, hand packers and packagers were employed at 2.2 times the national rate in Bakersfield, and heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers, at 1.5 times the U.S. average. Stockers and order fillers had a location quotient of 1.0 in Bakersfield, 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.


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 Bakersfield, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area included 2,369 establishments with a response rate of 60 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 Bakersfield, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Kern 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 transportation and material moving occupations, Bakersfield metropolitan area, May 2023
Occupation (1) Employment Mean wages ($)
Level (2) Location quotient (3) Hourly Annual (4)

Transportation and material moving occupations

34,910 1.2 22.25 46,280

First-line supervisors of transportation and material moving workers, except aircraft cargo handling supervisors

1,130 0.9 32.99 68,610

Commercial pilots

160 1.4 (5) 93,230

Driver/sales workers

740 0.7 20.86 43,390

Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers

6,460 1.5 25.96 54,000

Light truck drivers

1,710 0.8 20.49 42,620

Bus drivers, school

460 0.6 24.05 50,020

Bus drivers, transit and intercity

280 0.7 24.50 50,960

Shuttle drivers and chauffeurs

310 0.7 18.04 37,510

Motor vehicle operators, all other

90 0.8 24.81 51,600

Automotive and watercraft service attendants

220 1.1 18.01 37,470

Transportation inspectors

40 0.7 37.46 77,910

Crane and tower operators

170 1.8 30.28 62,980

Industrial truck and tractor operators

2,420 1.4 22.64 47,080

Cleaners of vehicles and equipment

1,150 1.5 17.80 37,020

Laborers and freight, stock, and material movers, hand

9,140 1.4 20.44 42,520

Packers and packagers, hand

3,030 2.2 18.13 37,710

Stockers and order fillers

6,400 1.0 20.16 41,940

Wellhead pumpers

40 1.1 44.28 92,100

Refuse and recyclable material collectors

240 0.8 25.80 53,660

Material moving workers, all other

210 4.1 18.88 39,270

Footnotes:
(1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Bakersfield, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_12540.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) Wages for some occupations that do not generally work year-round, full time, are reported either as hourly wages or annual salaries depending on how they are typically paid.

 

Last Modified Date: Thursday, July 11, 2024