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News Release Information

24-1516-SAN
Thursday, July 25, 2024

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

Occupational Employment and Wages in Bellingham — May 2023

Workers in the Bellingham, WA Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $31.78 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 ($64.28), healthcare practitioners and technical ($59.34), and architecture and engineering ($48.03). Lower paying occupations included building and grounds cleaning and maintenance ($20.69), food preparation and serving related ($20.75), and healthcare support ($21.79). (See table A.)

Occupational groups with the highest employment in the Bellingham area included office and administrative support (11.7 percent), food preparation and serving related (10.4 percent), and sales and related (9.3 percent). Major occupational groups on the lower end of local employment included legal (0.5 percent); life, physical, and social science (1.1 percent); and arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media (1.1 percent). (See table A.)

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

Total, all occupations

100.0 100.0 31.48 31.78

Management

6.9 4.5 66.23 64.28

Business and financial operations

6.6 5.9 43.55 40.98

Computer and mathematical

3.4 2.3 54.39 47.34

Architecture and engineering

1.7 1.6 47.64 48.03

Life, physical, and social science

0.9 1.1 42.24 38.97

Community and social service

1.6 1.8 28.36 30.23

Legal

0.8 0.5 64.34 46.07

Educational instruction and library

5.8 6.7 31.92 34.59

Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media

1.4 1.1 36.31 28.41

Healthcare practitioners and technical

6.1 5.2 49.07 59.34

Healthcare support

4.7 4.6 18.37 21.79

Protective service

2.3 2.1 27.74 37.07

Food preparation and serving related

8.7 10.4 16.58 20.75

Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance

2.9 3.2 18.43 20.69

Personal care and service

2.0 1.9 18.48 22.27

Sales and related

8.8 9.3 25.62 25.03

Office and administrative support

12.2 11.7 23.05 24.54

Farming, fishing, and forestry

0.3 0.4 19.22 24.16

Construction and extraction

4.1 6.8 29.57 35.41

Installation, maintenance, and repair

3.9 3.9 28.13 31.01

Production

5.8 7.1 22.90 25.72

Transportation and material moving

9.1 7.5 22.45 24.01

One occupational group—office and administrative support—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Bellingham had 10,610 jobs in office and administrative support, accounting for 11.7 percent of local area employment, compared to the 12.2-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $24.54, 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 (1,390), bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks (1,090), and customer service representatives (1,080). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were first-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers and executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants, with mean hourly wages of $34.32 and $32.26, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks ($17.42) and receptionists and information clerks ($19.15). (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_13380.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 Bellingham area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in some of the occupations within the office and administrative support group. For instance, clerical library assistants were employed at 4.5 times the national rate in Bellingham, and cargo and freight agents, at 3.4 times the U.S. average. First-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers had a location quotient of 1.0 in Bellingham, 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 Bellingham, WA Metropolitan Statistical Area included 1,365 establishments with a response rate of 73 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 Bellingham, WA Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Whatcom 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, Bellingham metropolitan area, May 2023
Occupation (1) Employment Mean wages ($)
Level (2) Location quotient (3) Hourly Annual (4)

Office and administrative support occupations

10,610 1.0 24.54 51,040

First-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers

860 1.0 34.32 71,380

Bill and account collectors

40 0.4 21.98 45,730

Billing and posting clerks

330 1.3 24.07 50,070

Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks

1,090 1.2 25.53 53,110

Payroll and timekeeping clerks

80 0.8 28.54 59,350

Procurement clerks

30 0.8 21.86 45,470

Tellers

440 2.2 22.65 47,110

Court, municipal, and license clerks

120 1.3 26.39 54,880

Customer service representatives

1,080 0.6 22.03 45,830

Eligibility interviewers, government programs

60 0.6 27.34 56,860

Hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks

180 1.2 17.42 36,240

Library assistants, clerical

220 4.5 20.36 42,340

Loan interviewers and clerks

150 1.3 26.90 55,950

Order clerks

40 0.8 22.16 46,080

Human resources assistants, except payroll and timekeeping

50 0.8 23.90 49,710

Receptionists and information clerks

790 1.3 19.15 39,830

Reservation and transportation ticket agents and travel clerks

80 1.1 19.86 41,320

Information and record clerks, all other

80 0.8 21.83 45,410

Cargo and freight agents

210 3.4 23.60 49,090

Couriers and messengers

30 0.8 21.01 43,710

Dispatchers, except police, fire, and ambulance

170 1.4 27.10 56,370

Postal service clerks

50 1.0 28.22 58,690

Postal service mail carriers

260 1.3 27.10 56,360

Production, planning, and expediting clerks

250 1.1 28.01 58,260

Shipping, receiving, and inventory clerks

450 0.9 21.40 44,500

Executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants

250 0.9 32.26 67,090

Legal secretaries and administrative assistants

70 0.8 23.57 49,030

Medical secretaries and administrative assistants

220 0.5 25.88 53,830

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

970 0.9 23.96 49,830

Insurance claims and policy processing clerks

50 0.3 24.69 51,350

Office clerks, general

1,390 0.9 23.74 49,380

Office and administrative support workers, all other

160 1.6 23.70 49,290

Footnotes:
(1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Bellingham, WA Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_13380.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.

 

Last Modified Date: Thursday, July 25, 2024