Workers in the Eugene, OR Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $28.86 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 ($55.40), management ($52.47), and computer and mathematical ($46.08). Lower paying occupations included food preparation and serving related ($16.32), building and grounds cleaning and maintenance ($18.36), and personal care and service ($18.82). (See table A.)

Occupational groups with the highest employment in the Eugene area included office and administrative support (12.4 percent), food preparation and serving related (9.9 percent), and sales and related (8.8 percent). Major occupational groups on the lower end of local employment included legal (0.6 percent); architecture and engineering (0.9 percent); and life, physical, and social science (1 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. Eugene had 19,330 jobs in office and administrative support, accounting for 12.4 percent of local area employment, compared to the 12.2-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $22.33, 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 (2,680), bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks (2,170), and customer service representatives (1,910). 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 $31.70 and $31.13, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks ($16.11) and receptionists and information clerks ($17.78). (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_21660.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 Eugene area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in some of the occupations within the office and administrative support group. For instance, interviewers, except eligibility and loan were employed at 3.4 times the national rate in Eugene, and receptionists and information clerks, at 1.4 times the U.S. average. Hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks had a location quotient of 1.0 in Eugene, 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.

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 Eugene, OR Metropolitan Statistical Area included 1,906 establishments with a response rate of 70 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 Eugene, OR Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Lane 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, Eugene metropolitan area, May 2023

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages ($)
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Office and administrative support occupations	19,330	1.0	22.33	46,450
First-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers	1,200	0.8	31.13	64,750
Bill and account collectors	90	0.5	22.82	47,470
Billing and posting clerks	420	1.0	22.54	46,890
Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks	2,170	1.4	23.44	48,760
Payroll and timekeeping clerks	190	1.2	26.21	54,510
Procurement clerks	60	0.9	22.85	47,530
Tellers	310	0.9	19.46	40,470
Court, municipal, and license clerks	80	0.5	25.06	52,120
Customer service representatives	1,910	0.7	20.55	42,740
Eligibility interviewers, government programs	150	1.0	23.57	49,020
File clerks	50	0.5	22.90	47,630
Hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks	280	1.0	16.11	33,510
Interviewers, except eligibility and loan	560	3.4	19.50	40,550
Library assistants, clerical	50	0.5	19.63	40,830
Loan interviewers and clerks	150	0.7	23.57	49,020
New accounts clerks	160	3.8	22.77	47,360
Order clerks	100	1.1	21.26	44,210
Human resources assistants, except payroll and timekeeping	70	0.7	21.67	45,080
Receptionists and information clerks	1,480	1.4	17.78	36,980
Reservation and transportation ticket agents and travel clerks	40	0.4	19.88	41,350
Information and record clerks, all other	410	2.6	19.64	40,840
Couriers and messengers	100	1.4	18.53	38,550
Public safety telecommunicators	80	0.8	31.70	65,930
Dispatchers, except police, fire, and ambulance	240	1.1	21.09	43,870
Postal service clerks	90	1.2	26.23	54,560
Postal service mail carriers	380	1.1	27.03	56,220
Postal service mail sorters, processors, and processing machine operators	150	1.2	26.70	55,540
Production, planning, and expediting clerks	270	0.7	25.62	53,300
Shipping, receiving, and inventory clerks	1,170	1.4	20.65	42,950
Executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants	460	0.9	30.53	63,510
Legal secretaries and administrative assistants	50	0.3	24.85	51,690
Medical secretaries and administrative assistants	1,060	1.4	22.50	46,810
Secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive	1,790	1.0	22.74	47,300
Data entry keyers	100	0.7	20.71	43,070
Insurance claims and policy processing clerks	120	0.5	21.85	45,450
Mail clerks and mail machine operators, except postal service	40	0.6	18.51	38,490
Office clerks, general	2,680	1.1	20.69	43,030
Office and administrative support workers, all other	440	2.5	21.01	43,700
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Eugene, OR Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_21660.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.