Department of Labor Logo United States Department of Labor
Dot gov

The .gov means it's official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you're on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

News Release Information

25-752-SAN
Thursday, May 15, 2025

Contacts Technical information: Media contact:
  • (415) 625-2270

Occupational Employment and Wages in Walla Walla — May 2024

Workers in the Walla Walla, WA Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $30.70 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 ($62.73), healthcare practitioners and technical ($53.99), and architecture and engineering ($49.61). Lower paying occupations included food preparation and serving related ($19.57), building and grounds cleaning and maintenance ($20.63), and healthcare support ($22.23). (See table A.)

Occupational groups with the highest employment in the Walla Walla area included office and administrative support (10.0 percent), production (9.6 percent), and food preparation and serving related (9.0 percent). Major occupational groups on the lower end of local employment included legal (0.4 percent), personal care and service (1.2 percent), and computer and mathematical (1.4 percent).

Table A. Occupational employment and wages by major occupational group, United States and the Walla Walla metropolitan area, May 2024
Major occupational group Percent of total employment Mean hourly wage ($)
United States Walla Walla United States Walla Walla

Total, all occupations

100.0 100.0 32.66 30.70

Management

7.1 3.7 68.15 62.73

Business and financial operations

6.7 5.6 45.04 40.71

Computer and mathematical

3.4 1.4 56.16 46.42

Architecture and engineering

1.7 2.2 49.99 49.61

Life, physical, and social science

0.9 1.4 43.12 38.93

Community and social service

1.7 2.0 30.31 32.75

Legal

0.8 0.4 66.19 46.21

Educational instruction and library

5.8 7.2 31.69 32.31

Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media

1.4 1.4 37.04 28.56

Healthcare practitioners and technical

6.2 6.8 50.59 53.99

Healthcare support

4.8 7.2 19.06 22.23

Protective service

2.4 3.9 29.33 36.51

Food preparation and serving related

8.8 9.0 17.32 19.57

Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance

2.9 3.3 19.01 20.63

Personal care and service

2.0 1.2 18.95 23.36

Sales and related

8.7 8.3 26.00 24.11

Office and administrative support

11.8 10.0 24.12 24.73

Farming, fishing, and forestry

0.3 1.4 20.06 19.93

Construction and extraction

4.1 3.8 30.73 32.76

Installation, maintenance, and repair

3.9 3.6 29.63 29.57

Production

5.7 9.6 24.08 23.70

Transportation and material moving

8.9 6.5 23.44 22.37

One occupational group—production—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Walla Walla had 2,460 jobs in production, accounting for 9.6 percent of local area employment, compared to the 5.7-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $23.70, compared to the national wage of $24.08.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the production group included first-line supervisors of production and operating workers (190); separating, filtering, clarifying, precipitating, and still machine setters, operators, and tenders (140); and miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators (110). Among the higher paying jobs in this group were first-line supervisors of production and operating workers ($34.74) and separating, filtering, clarifying, precipitating, and still machine setters, operators, and tenders ($32.29). At the lower end of the wage scale were bakers ($18.81) and helpers--production workers ($19.56). (Detailed data for the production occupations are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to https://data.bls.gov/oes/#/area/0047460.)

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 Walla Walla area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the production group. For instance, separating, filtering, clarifying, precipitating, and still machine setters, operators, and tenders were employed at 15.05 times the national rate in Walla Walla, and first-line supervisors of production and operating workers, at 1.64 times the U.S. average.

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.

Changes to the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) Data

Effective with the May 2024 OEWS news release, the OEWS program has implemented new metropolitan area definitions based on the 2020 decennial census and delineated by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Bulletin 23-01. This news release does not include data for Colorado and its areas because of quality concerns with Colorado’s Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) data. See the national OEWS news release for more information.


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 Walla Walla, WA Metropolitan Statistical Area included 509 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 Walla Walla, WA Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Walla Walla 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 production occupations, Walla Walla metropolitan area, May 2024
Occupation (1) Employment Mean wages ($)
Level (2) Location quotient (3) Hourly Annual (4)

Production occupations

2,460 1.69 23.70 49,290

First-line supervisors of production and operating workers

190 1.64 34.74 72,260

Miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators

110 0.46 21.21 44,120

Bakers

40 0.96 18.81 39,130

Welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers

70 1.02 27.50 57,200

Printing press operators

40 1.51 22.57 46,940

Water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators

30 1.44 31.80 66,150

Separating, filtering, clarifying, precipitating, and still machine setters, operators, and tenders

140 15.05 32.29 67,160

Cutting and slicing machine setters, operators, and tenders

70 9.04 20.40 42,420

Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers

50 0.51 25.83 53,730

Packaging and filling machine operators and tenders

100 1.54 19.99 41,590

Helpers--production workers

70 2.52 19.56 40,670

Footnotes:
(1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Walla Walla, WA Metropolitan Statistical Area, see https://data.bls.gov/oes/#/area/0047460.
(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.

 

Last Modified Date: Thursday, May 15, 2025