Deschutes Co. workers pay 7% below U.S. average

Workers in the Bend-Redmond Metropolitan Statistical Area (Deschutes County) had an average (mean) hourly wage of $23.27 in May 2018, about 7 percent below the nationwide average of $24.98, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics figures released Tuesday.

Assistant Commissioner for Regional Operations Richard Holden noted that, after testing for statistical significance, wages in the local area were higher than their respective national averages in 6 of the 22 major occupational groups, including health care practitioners and technical; protective service; and healthcare support.

Eleven groups had significantly lower wages than their respective national averages, including management; computer and mathematical; and arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 8 of the 22 occupational groups, including food preparation and serving related; construction and extraction; and building and grounds cleaning and maintenance.

Conversely, 10 groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including business and financial operations; transportation and material moving; and production.

One occupational group–construction and extraction–was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Bend-Redmond had 5,090 jobs in construction and extraction, accounting for 6.1 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 4.1-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $22.52, significantly below the national wage of $24.62.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the construction and extraction group included carpenters (1,120), construction laborers (770), and operating engineers and other construction equipment operators (430). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were construction and building inspectors and first-line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers, with mean hourly wages of $34.13 and $32.49, respectively.

At the lower end of the wage scale were helpers–brickmasons, blockmasons, stonemasons, and tile and marble setters ($15.63) and construction and maintenance painters ($17.42). (Detailed data for the construction and extraction occupations are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_13460.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.

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 Bend-Redmond Metropolitan Statistical Area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the construction and extraction group.

For instance, roofers were employed at 3 times the national rate in Bend, and carpenters at 2.7 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, electricians had a location quotient of 1.0 in Bend, indicating that this particular occupation’s local and national employment shares were similar.

These statistics are from the Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) survey, a federal-state cooperative program between BLS and State Workforce Agencies, in this case, the Oregon Employment Department.

For more details and a technical note, visit: https://www.bls.gov/regions/west/news-release/occupationalemploymentandwages_bend.htm