Workers in the Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $34.79 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 ($66.19), healthcare practitioners and technical ($61.77), and legal ($59.17). Lower paying occupations included food preparation and serving related ($18.35), building and grounds cleaning and maintenance ($20.55), and personal care and service ($20.80). (See table A.)

Occupational groups with the highest employment in the Portland area included office and administrative support (11.8 percent), transportation and material moving (8.7 percent), and food preparation and serving related (8.3 percent). Major occupational groups on the lower end of local employment included legal (0.8 percent); life, physical, and social science (1 percent); and protective service (1.5 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. Portland had 141,870 jobs in office and administrative support, accounting for 11.8 percent of local area employment, compared to the 12.2-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $24.67, compared to the national wage of $23.05.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the office and administrative support group included customer service representatives (18,010), general office clerks (15,430), and bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks (14,840). 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 $36.10 and $34.41, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks ($17.62) and receptionists and information clerks ($19.39). (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_38900.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 Portland area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in some of the occupations within the office and administrative support group. For instance, cargo and freight agents were employed at 1.5 times the national rate in Portland. Executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants had a location quotient of 1.0 in Portland, 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, and 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 Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA Metropolitan Statistical Area included 7,335 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 Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Clackamas County, OR; Columbia County, OR; Multnomah County, OR; Washington County, OR; Yamhill County, OR; Clark County, WA; and Skamania County, WA.

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, Portland metropolitan area, May 2023

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages ($)
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Office and administrative support occupations	141,870	1.0	24.67	51,300
First-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers	9,420	0.8	34.41	71,570
Switchboard operators, including answering service	170	0.5	22.76	47,340
Bill and account collectors	590	0.4	26.24	54,590
Billing and posting clerks	4,750	1.4	25.40	52,820
Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks	14,840	1.2	25.31	52,650
Payroll and timekeeping clerks	1,280	1.0	28.27	58,810
Procurement clerks	540	1.1	22.57	46,950
Tellers	2,150	0.8	21.40	44,520
Financial clerks, all other	190	0.5	24.68	51,330
Brokerage clerks	110	0.3	29.22	60,770
Correspondence clerks	50	1.3	21.83	45,410
Court, municipal, and license clerks	680	0.5	26.47	55,060
Credit authorizers, checkers, and clerks	160	1.4	25.57	53,180
Customer service representatives	18,010	0.8	22.54	46,890
Eligibility interviewers, government programs	1,150	1.0	25.88	53,820
File clerks	490	0.8	24.85	51,690
Hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks	1,530	0.7	17.62	36,640
Interviewers, except eligibility and loan	1,580	1.2	24.28	50,500
Library assistants, clerical	720	1.1	22.07	45,900
Loan interviewers and clerks	1,140	0.7	26.06	54,210
New accounts clerks	350	1.1	23.04	47,920
Order clerks	920	1.3	23.11	48,070
Human resources assistants, except payroll and timekeeping	770	1.0	25.19	52,390
Receptionists and information clerks	9,550	1.2	19.39	40,320
Reservation and transportation ticket agents and travel clerks	1,090	1.2	21.73	45,190
Information and record clerks, all other	4,100	3.4	21.76	45,250
Cargo and freight agents	1,220	1.5	25.45	52,930
Couriers and messengers	660	1.2	20.85	43,360
Public safety telecommunicators	370	0.5	36.10	75,080
Dispatchers, except police, fire, and ambulance	2,240	1.4	25.68	53,420
Meter readers, utilities	40	0.3	29.92	62,220
Postal service clerks	420	0.7	28.81	59,920
Postal service mail carriers	2,260	0.9	28.36	58,990
Postal service mail sorters, processors, and processing machine operators	980	1.1	26.90	55,950
Production, planning, and expediting clerks	2,230	0.7	28.56	59,400
Shipping, receiving, and inventory clerks	7,820	1.2	22.58	46,970
Weighers, measurers, checkers, and samplers, recordkeeping	210	0.5	22.40	46,590
Executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants	3,920	1.0	33.99	70,700
Legal secretaries and administrative assistants	940	0.8	28.93	60,170
Medical secretaries and administrative assistants	7,650	1.3	24.52	50,990
Secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive	13,290	0.9	24.66	51,290
Data entry keyers	920	0.8	21.80	45,350
Desktop publishers	40	1.0	30.30	63,010
Insurance claims and policy processing clerks	1,180	0.6	25.64	53,330
Mail clerks and mail machine operators, except postal service	580	1.1	20.06	41,720
Office clerks, general	15,430	0.8	22.75	47,320
Office machine operators, except computer	160	0.7	20.48	42,600
Proofreaders and copy markers	30	0.8	20.75	43,170
Office and administrative support workers, all other	2,840	2.1	23.87	49,650
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_38900.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.