Workers in the Spokane-Spokane Valley, WA Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $28.56 in May 2022, 4 percent below the nationwide average of $29.76, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Chris Rosenlund noted that, after testing for statistical significance, wages in the local area were lower than their respective national averages in 6 of the 22 major occupational groups, including legal; computer and mathematical; and arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media. Ten groups had significantly higher wages than their respective national averages, including food preparation and serving related, construction and extraction, and personal care and service.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, Spokane area employment was more highly concentrated in 8 of the 22 occupational groups, including healthcare support, community and social service, and healthcare practitioners and technical. Eight groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including management, production, and computer and mathematical. (See table A.)

One occupational group—healthcare support—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Spokane had 17,470 jobs in healthcare support, accounting for 7.0 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 4.6-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $18.82, significantly above the national wage of $17.10.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the healthcare support group included home health and personal care aides (10,320), nursing assistants (2,500), and medical assistants (1,530). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were massage therapists and occupational therapy assistants, with mean hourly wages of $30.07 and $29.42, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers ($17.09) and home health and personal care aides ($17.58). (Detailed data for the healthcare 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 many of the occupations within the healthcare support group. For instance, home health and personal care aides were employed at 1.7 times the national rate in Spokane, and dental assistants, at 1.6 times the U.S. average. Nursing assistants had a location quotient of 1.1 in Spokane, indicating that this particular occupation’s local and national employment shares were similar.

These statistics are from the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey, a federal-state cooperative program between BLS and State Workforce Agencies, 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. OEWS data are available at www.bls.gov/oes/tables.htm.

The OEWS survey is a cooperative effort between BLS and the State Workforce Agencies (SWAs). BLS funds the survey and provides the procedures and technical support, while the State Workforce Agencies collect most of the data. OEWS estimates are constructed from a sample of about 1.1 million establishments. Each year, two semiannual panels of approximately 179,000 to 187,000 sampled establishments are contacted, one panel in May and the other in November. Responses are obtained by Internet or other electronic means, mail, email, telephone, or personal visit. The May 2022 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2022, November 2021, May 2021, November 2020, May 2020, and November 2019. The unweighted sampled employment of 80 million across all six semiannual panels represents approximately 57 percent of total national employment. The overall national response rate for the six panels, based on the 50 states and the District of Columbia, is 65.4 percent based on establishments and 62.5 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The sample in the Spokane-Spokane Valley, WA Metropolitan Statistical Area included 2,224 establishments with a response rate of 74 percent. For more information about OEWS concepts and methodology, go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_tec.htm.

A value that is statistically different from another does not necessarily mean that the difference has economic or practical significance. Statistical significance is concerned with the ability to make confident statements about a universe based on a sample. It is entirely possible that a large difference between two values is not significantly different statistically, while a small difference is, since both the size and heterogeneity of the sample affect the relative error of the data being tested.

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 are available at www.bls.gov/oes/oes_ques.htm. Detailed information about the OEWS program is available at www.bls.gov/oes/oes_doc.htm.

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 healthcare support occupations, Spokane metropolitan area, May 2022

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages ($)
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Healthcare support occupations	17,470	1.5	18.82	39,140
Home health and personal care aides	10,320	1.7	17.58	36,560
Nursing assistants	2,500	1.1	18.58	38,640
Occupational therapy assistants	80	1.1	29.42	61,200
Physical therapist assistants	190	1.2	28.34	58,940
Physical therapist aides	110	1.5	17.60	36,610
Massage therapists	240	1.6	30.07	62,540
Dental assistants	970	1.6	21.58	44,890
Medical assistants	1,530	1.2	21.40	44,510
Medical equipment preparers	270	2.5	21.46	44,630
Medical transcriptionists	140	1.8	18.55	38,590
Pharmacy aides	120	1.7	18.19	37,830
Veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers	270	1.4	17.09	35,550
Phlebotomists	310	1.3	20.43	42,490
Healthcare support workers, all other	310	1.7	21.73	45,210
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.