Workers in the Medford, OR Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $29.46 in May 2024, compared to the nationwide average of $32.66, 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 ($54.74), and legal ($49.03). Lower paying occupations included food preparation and serving related ($17.83), building and grounds cleaning and maintenance ($19.44), and personal care and service ($19.76). (See table A.)

Occupational groups with the highest employment in the Medford area included office and administrative support (12.3 percent), food preparation and serving related (10.1 percent), and transportation and material moving (9.0 percent). Major occupational groups on the lower end of local employment included legal (0.5 percent); architecture and engineering (0.8 percent); and life, physical, and social science (1.2 percent).

One occupational group—office and administrative support—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Medford had 10,930 jobs in office and administrative support, accounting for 12.3 percent of local area employment, compared to the 11.8-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $23.74, compared to the national wage of $24.12.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the office and administrative support group included general office clerks (1,510); bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks (1,220); and medical secretaries and administrative assistants (1,000). Among the higher paying jobs in this group were executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants ($33.78). At the lower end of the wage scale were hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks ($17.13) and receptionists and information clerks ($19.19). (Detailed data for the office and administrative support occupations are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to https://data.bls.gov/oes/#/area/0032780.)

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 Medford 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 2.10 times the national rate in Medford, and hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks, at 1.79 times the U.S. average. Tellers had a location quotient of 1.03 in Medford, 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 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 65.7 percent based on establishments and 65.9 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The sample in the Medford, OR Metropolitan Statistical Area included 1,380 establishments with a response rate of 68 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 Medford, OR Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Jackson 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, Medford metropolitan area, May 2024

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages ($)
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Office and administrative support occupations	10,930	1.04	23.74	49,370
First-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers	650	0.75	32.97	68,570
Bill and account collectors	40	0.40	24.92	51,830
Billing and posting clerks	370	1.53	24.24	50,420
Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks	1,220	1.46	23.85	49,600
Payroll and timekeeping clerks	150	1.65	26.39	54,880
Procurement clerks	40	1.25	22.37	46,530
Tellers	200	1.03	19.92	41,420
Court, municipal, and license clerks	70	0.69	27.22	56,620
Customer service representatives	830	0.53	21.46	44,640
Eligibility interviewers, government programs	90	0.99	23.83	49,560
File clerks	40	0.92	25.19	52,400
Hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks	270	1.79	17.13	35,630
Interviewers, except eligibility and loan	50	0.53	23.59	49,060
Loan interviewers and clerks	80	0.82	23.31	48,490
New accounts clerks	40	1.93	22.75	47,320
Order clerks	50	1.07	21.05	43,790
Human resources assistants, except payroll and timekeeping	40	0.83	23.46	48,790
Receptionists and information clerks	920	1.66	19.19	39,910
Information and record clerks, all other	200	2.40	22.36	46,520
Cargo and freight agents	90	1.65	23.06	47,970
Couriers and messengers	50	1.28	19.25	40,030
Public safety telecommunicators	80	1.34	37.39	77,770
Dispatchers, except police, fire, and ambulance	180	1.51	24.12	50,170
Postal service clerks	50	1.18	29.55	61,460
Postal service mail carriers	200	1.06	27.96	58,150
Postal service mail sorters, processors, and processing machine operators	60	0.98	28.38	59,020
Production, planning, and expediting clerks	250	1.11	26.70	55,530
Shipping, receiving, and inventory clerks	550	1.12	21.64	45,020
Executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants	170	0.62	33.78	70,250
Legal secretaries and administrative assistants	30	0.36	25.79	53,650
Medical secretaries and administrative assistants	1,000	2.10	24.45	50,860
Secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive	910	0.91	23.17	48,190
Data entry keyers	60	0.74	20.94	43,550
Insurance claims and policy processing clerks	(5)	(5)	23.15	48,140
Office clerks, general	1,510	1.05	23.15	48,150
Office and administrative support workers, all other	150	1.30	22.69	47,190
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Medford, OR Metropolitan Statistical Area, see https://data.bls.gov/oes/#/area/0032780. (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.