Workers in the Spokane-Spokane Valley, WA Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $31.92 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 management ($68.85), healthcare practitioners and technical ($55.81), and legal ($51.37). Lower paying occupations included food preparation and serving related ($19.88), building and grounds cleaning and maintenance ($20.69), and healthcare support ($22.59). (See table A.)

Occupational groups with the highest employment in the Spokane area included office and administrative support (12.1 percent), sales and related (9.1 percent), and transportation and material moving (8.9 percent). Major occupational groups on the lower end of local employment included legal (0.6 percent); life, physical, and social science (0.9 percent); and architecture and engineering (1.3 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. Spokane had 30,900 jobs in office and administrative support, accounting for 12.1 percent of local area employment, compared to the 11.8-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $25.09, 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 (4,280); customer service representatives (2,920); and secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive (2,710). Among the higher paying jobs in this group were first-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers ($35.92). At the lower end of the wage scale were hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks ($18.29) and office machine operators, except computer ($19.07). (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/0044060.)

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 Spokane area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in some of the occupations within the office and administrative support group. For instance, billing and posting clerks were employed at 2.25 times the national rate in Spokane. Shipping, receiving, and inventory clerks had a location quotient of 0.99 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 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 Spokane-Spokane Valley, WA Metropolitan Statistical Area included 2,303 establishments with a response rate of 74 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 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 2024

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages ($)
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Office and administrative support occupations	30,900	1.02	25.09	52,180
First-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers	2,530	1.02	35.92	74,720
Switchboard operators, including answering service	60	1.09	21.04	43,760
Bill and account collectors	230	0.84	21.99	45,730
Billing and posting clerks	1,550	2.25	23.76	49,410
Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks	2,610	1.08	26.28	54,660
Payroll and timekeeping clerks	230	0.88	27.91	58,040
Procurement clerks	160	1.57	22.95	47,740
Tellers	1,090	1.94	22.60	47,010
Court, municipal, and license clerks	310	1.12	27.04	56,240
Customer service representatives	2,920	0.65	22.61	47,020
Eligibility interviewers, government programs	460	1.79	28.84	60,000
File clerks	40	0.29	22.61	47,030
Hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks	470	1.09	18.29	38,040
Interviewers, except eligibility and loan	170	0.65	22.43	46,660
Library assistants, clerical	240	1.79	21.77	45,280
Loan interviewers and clerks	380	1.34	27.79	57,810
Order clerks	(5)	(5)	21.96	45,670
Human resources assistants, except payroll and timekeeping	190	1.27	24.28	50,490
Receptionists and information clerks	2,430	1.52	19.95	41,490
Reservation and transportation ticket agents and travel clerks	60	0.28	19.49	40,550
Information and record clerks, all other	320	1.36	23.49	48,850
Cargo and freight agents	50	0.29	26.95	56,050
Couriers and messengers	160	1.30	19.25	40,040
Public safety telecommunicators	380	2.30	33.21	69,070
Dispatchers, except police, fire, and ambulance	380	1.08	25.55	53,140
Postal service clerks	140	1.06	29.05	60,420
Postal service mail carriers	590	1.07	28.21	58,680
Postal service mail sorters, processors, and processing machine operators	310	1.68	27.00	56,150
Production, planning, and expediting clerks	620	0.97	28.28	58,820
Shipping, receiving, and inventory clerks	1,410	0.99	22.58	46,960
Weighers, measurers, checkers, and samplers, recordkeeping	50	0.60	24.62	51,200
Executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants	530	0.67	32.62	67,860
Legal secretaries and administrative assistants	360	1.41	24.16	50,260
Medical secretaries and administrative assistants	1,060	0.77	24.70	51,380
Secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive	2,710	0.94	23.77	49,430
Data entry keyers	110	0.51	21.58	44,890
Insurance claims and policy processing clerks	290	0.76	28.85	60,010
Mail clerks and mail machine operators, except postal service	120	1.15	19.45	40,450
Office clerks, general	4,280	1.03	23.92	49,760
Office machine operators, except computer	40	1.01	19.07	39,660
Office and administrative support workers, all other	280	0.87	23.39	48,660
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Spokane-Spokane Valley, WA Metropolitan Statistical Area, see https://data.bls.gov/oes/#/area/0044060. (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.