Workers in the Bend-Redmond, OR Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $29.94 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 healthcare practitioners and technical ($58.53), management ($54.51), and computer and mathematical ($48.79). Lower paying occupations included food preparation and serving related ($17.19), building and grounds cleaning and maintenance ($19.63), and personal care and service ($19.75). (See table A.)

Occupational groups with the highest employment in the Bend area included office and administrative support (11.9 percent), food preparation and serving related (11.2 percent), and sales and related (9.8 percent). Major occupational groups on the lower end of local employment included legal (0.7 percent); life, physical, and social science (1.3 percent); and architecture and engineering (1.4 percent). (See table A.)

One occupational group—office and administrative support—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Bend had 10,790 jobs in office and administrative support, accounting for 11.9 percent of local area employment, compared to the 12.2-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $23.07, compared to the national wage of $23.05.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the office and administrative support group included bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks (1,350), general office clerks (1,190), and customer service representatives (1,170). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were public safety telecommunicators and first-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers, with mean hourly wages of $31.98 and $31.94, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks ($17.43) and receptionists and information clerks ($18.48). (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_13460.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 Bend area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in some of the occupations within the office and administrative support group. For instance, medical secretaries and administrative assistants were employed at 2.0 times the national rate in Bend, and hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks, at 2.0 times the U.S. average. Billing and posting clerks had a location quotient of 1.1 in Bend, 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 Oregon Employment 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 Bend-Redmond, OR Metropolitan Statistical Area included 1,517 establishments with a response rate of 66 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 Bend-Redmond, OR Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Deschutes 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.

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. OEWS data are available at www.bls.gov/oes/tables.htm.

The OEWS survey is a cooperative effort between BLS and the State Workforce Agencies (SWAs). BLS funds the survey and provides the procedures and technical support, while the State Workforce Agencies collect most of the data. OEWS estimates are constructed from a sample of about 1.1 million establishments. Each year, two semiannual panels of approximately 179,000 to 187,000 sampled establishments are contacted, one panel in May and the other in November. Responses are obtained by Internet or other electronic means, mail, email, telephone, or personal visit. The May 2022 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2022, November 2021, May 2021, November 2020, May 2020, and November 2019. The unweighted sampled employment of 80 million across all six semiannual panels represents approximately 57 percent of total national employment. The overall national response rate for the six panels, based on the 50 states and the District of Columbia, is 65.4 percent based on establishments and 62.5 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The sample in the Bend-Redmond, OR Metropolitan Statistical Area included 1,408 establishments with a response rate of 71 percent. For more information about OEWS concepts and methodology, go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_tec.htm.

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 Bend-Redmond, OR Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Deschutes County.

For more information

Answers to frequently asked questions about the OEWS data are available at www.bls.gov/oes/oes_ques.htm. Detailed information about the OEWS program is available at www.bls.gov/oes/oes_doc.htm.

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, Bend metropolitan area, May 2023

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages ($)
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Office and administrative support occupations	10,790	1.0	23.07	47,990
First-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers	730	0.8	31.94	66,420
Billing and posting clerks	280	1.1	23.97	49,860
Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks	1,350	1.5	24.07	50,070
Payroll and timekeeping clerks	110	1.2	27.91	58,050
Procurement clerks	30	0.9	25.96	54,000
Tellers	160	0.8	19.92	41,430
Court, municipal, and license clerks	50	0.6	27.92	58,070
Customer service representatives	1,170	0.7	21.93	45,610
Eligibility interviewers, government programs	50	0.6	23.78	49,460
Hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks	310	2.0	17.43	36,260
Loan interviewers and clerks	80	0.6	23.55	48,970
New accounts clerks	40	1.7	22.99	47,820
Order clerks	40	0.8	22.92	47,670
Human resources assistants, except payroll and timekeeping	30	0.5	22.20	46,170
Receptionists and information clerks	980	1.7	18.48	38,440
Reservation and transportation ticket agents and travel clerks	60	0.9	20.01	41,620
Information and record clerks, all other	180	2.0	21.08	43,850
Cargo and freight agents	30	0.6	29.07	60,460
Couriers and messengers	40	0.9	19.89	41,360
Public safety telecommunicators	50	0.9	31.98	66,520
Dispatchers, except police, fire, and ambulance	150	1.2	23.38	48,620
Postal service clerks	30	0.7	27.94	58,110
Postal service mail carriers	110	0.6	27.97	58,180
Production, planning, and expediting clerks	180	0.8	25.27	52,550
Shipping, receiving, and inventory clerks	560	1.1	21.47	44,650
Executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants	220	0.8	29.17	60,670
Legal secretaries and administrative assistants	50	0.5	30.18	62,780
Medical secretaries and administrative assistants	900	2.0	22.83	47,480
Secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive	940	0.9	22.81	47,430
Data entry keyers	60	0.7	21.21	44,110
Insurance claims and policy processing clerks	170	1.2	19.73	41,050
Mail clerks and mail machine operators, except postal service	50	1.2	18.65	38,790
Office clerks, general	1,190	0.8	22.19	46,150
Office and administrative support workers, all other	160	1.5	22.55	46,910
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Bend-Redmond, OR Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_13460.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.