Workers in Guam had an average (mean) hourly wage of $22.21 in May 2025, compared to the nationwide average of $33.54, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Chris Rosenlund noted that higher paying major occupational groups included legal ($43.38), healthcare practitioners and technical ($42.38), and management ($40.79). Lower paying occupations included food preparation and serving related ($11.28), personal care and service ($12.55), and building and grounds cleaning and maintenance ($12.85). (See table A.)

Occupational groups with the highest employment shares in the Guam area included office and administrative support (13.2 percent), construction and extraction (11.1 percent), and food preparation and serving related (11.0 percent). Major occupational groups on the lower end of local employment included legal (0.5 percent); arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media (0.7 percent); and community and social service (1.1 percent).

One occupational group—construction and extraction—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Guam had 7,390 jobs in construction and extraction, accounting for 11.1 percent of local area employment, compared to the 4.1-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $19.35, compared to the national wage of $31.42.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the construction and extraction group included carpenters (1,510), cement masons and concrete finishers (1,190), and electricians (890). Among the higher paying jobs in this group were first-line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers ($27.84) and construction and building inspectors ($27.28). At the lower end of the wage scale were construction laborers ($14.62) and helpers of electricians ($15.69). (Detailed data for the construction and extraction occupations are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to https://data.bls.gov/oes/#/area/6600000/2025.)

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 2.00 indicates that an occupation accounts for twice the share of employment in the area than it does nationally. In the Guam area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in nearly all of the occupations within the construction and extraction group. For instance, reinforcing iron and rebar workers were employed at 67.80 times the national rate in Guam, and cement masons and concrete finishers, at 13.51 times the U.S. average.

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 Guam Department of Labor.

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 530 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 is 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 66.2 percent based on establishments and 67.2 percent based on weighted sampled employment.

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.

For more information

Answers to frequently asked questions about the OEWS data, as well as general program documentation, are available on the OEWS website.

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Table 1. Employment and wage data for construction and extraction occupations, Guam metropolitan area, May 2025

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages ($)
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Construction and extraction occupations	7,390	2.69	19.35	40,240
First-line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers	610	1.75	27.84	57,900
Carpenters	1,510	5.26	19.10	39,730
Cement masons and concrete finishers	1,190	13.51	17.38	36,140
Construction laborers	800	1.70	14.62	30,400
Operating engineers and other construction equipment operators	650	3.16	20.62	42,890
Electricians	890	2.75	21.36	44,440
Painters, construction and maintenance	330	3.39	16.70	34,740
Plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters	320	1.61	19.04	39,610
Reinforcing iron and rebar workers	400	67.80	17.87	37,170
Sheet metal workers	140	2.67	18.77	39,030
Structural iron and steel workers	150	5.27	17.51	36,420
Helpers--electricians	90	3.24	15.69	32,630
Construction and building inspectors	40	0.60	27.28	56,740
Hazardous materials removal workers	30	1.37	(5)	(5)
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Guam, GU Metropolitan Statistical Area, see https://data.bls.gov/oes/#/area/6600000/2025. (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.