Workers in the Spokane-Spokane Valley, WA Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $30.93 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 ($65.81), healthcare practitioners and technical ($55.63), and legal ($47.78). Lower paying occupations included food preparation and serving related ($19.55), building and grounds cleaning and maintenance ($20.02), and healthcare support ($20.81). (See table A.)

Occupational groups with the highest employment in the Spokane area included office and administrative support (12.3 percent), sales and related (9.3 percent), and transportation and material moving (8.9 percent). Major occupational groups on the lower end of local employment included legal (0.7 percent); life, physical, and social science (0.8 percent); and arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media (1.3 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. Spokane had 31,380 jobs in office and administrative support, accounting for 12.3 percent of local area employment, compared to the 12.2-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $23.81, 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 (4,440), customer service representatives (3,200), and secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive (2,950). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were first-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers and public safety telecommunicators, with mean hourly wages of $34.33 and $31.65, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks ($17.19) and mail clerks and mail machine operators, except postal service ($18.40). (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_44060.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 Spokane area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in some of the occupations within the office and administrative support group. For instance, tellers were employed at 2.3 times the national rate in Spokane, and government programs eligibility interviewers, at 2.2 times the U.S. average. First-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers had a location quotient of 1.0 in Spokane, 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 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 Spokane-Spokane Valley, WA Metropolitan Statistical Area included 2,304 establishments with a response rate of 72 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 Spokane-Spokane Valley, WA Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Pend Oreille County, Spokane County, and Stevens 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, Spokane metropolitan area, May 2023

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages ($)
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Office and administrative support occupations	31,380	1.0	23.81	49,520
First-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers	2,490	1.0	34.33	71,400
Switchboard operators, including answering service	50	0.7	19.40	40,350
Bill and account collectors	230	0.7	20.88	43,420
Billing and posting clerks	1,320	1.8	21.88	45,500
Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks	2,640	1.0	24.70	51,370
Payroll and timekeeping clerks	290	1.1	26.48	55,070
Procurement clerks	160	1.5	21.80	45,340
Tellers	1,300	2.3	21.30	44,300
Financial clerks, all other	50	0.6	22.91	47,660
Court, municipal, and license clerks	300	1.2	25.52	53,090
Customer service representatives	3,200	0.7	21.36	44,420
Eligibility interviewers, government programs	550	2.2	24.69	51,360
File clerks	60	0.4	21.30	44,300
Hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks	460	1.0	17.19	35,760
Interviewers, except eligibility and loan	250	0.9	20.19	42,000
Library assistants, clerical	280	2.0	19.70	40,970
Loan interviewers and clerks	430	1.3	24.89	51,760
New accounts clerks	(5)	(5)	22.21	46,190
Order clerks	(5)	(5)	21.66	45,050
Human resources assistants, except payroll and timekeeping	210	1.2	23.63	49,140
Receptionists and information clerks	2,310	1.4	18.85	39,200
Reservation and transportation ticket agents and travel clerks	60	0.3	18.50	38,480
Information and record clerks, all other	350	1.4	22.47	46,750
Cargo and freight agents	50	0.3	25.81	53,670
Couriers and messengers	80	0.7	20.27	42,160
Public safety telecommunicators	350	2.1	31.65	65,840
Dispatchers, except police, fire, and ambulance	350	1.0	25.51	53,050
Postal service clerks	150	1.2	28.30	58,860
Postal service mail carriers	600	1.1	27.87	57,970
Postal service mail sorters, processors, and processing machine operators	320	1.6	25.85	53,760
Production, planning, and expediting clerks	640	1.0	26.20	54,490
Shipping, receiving, and inventory clerks	1,340	0.9	21.34	44,400
Weighers, measurers, checkers, and samplers, recordkeeping	50	0.6	23.59	49,070
Executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants	610	0.8	30.72	63,910
Legal secretaries and administrative assistants	(5)	(5)	24.16	50,250
Medical secretaries and administrative assistants	810	0.6	23.47	48,820
Secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive	2,950	1.0	22.65	47,110
Data entry keyers	220	0.9	18.90	39,300
Insurance claims and policy processing clerks	330	0.8	27.79	57,800
Mail clerks and mail machine operators, except postal service	150	1.3	18.40	38,270
Office clerks, general	4,440	1.1	23.14	48,140
Office and administrative support workers, all other	440	1.5	21.20	44,100
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Spokane-Spokane Valley, WA Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_44060.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. (5) Estimate not released.