Average wages for C.O. workers fall below U.S. average, Bureau of Labor Statistics reports i
Recent data show local workers earn 6% less than the average wage in the U.S. Medical workers actually earn more, however, NewsChannel 21's Isabella Warren reports.
Here's the full report just issued by the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics:
Occupational Employment and Wages in Bend-Redmond — May 2022
Workers in the Bend-Redmond, OR Metropolitan Statistical Area (defined as all of Deschutes County had an average (mean) hourly wage of $28.00 in May 2022, 6 percent below the nationwide average of $29.76, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported late last week.
Regional Commissioner Chris Rosenlund noted that, after testing for statistical significance, wages in the local area were lower than their respective national averages in 10 of the 22 major occupational groups, including legal; management; and arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media. Seven groups had significantly higher wages than their respective national averages, including healthcare practitioners and technical, protective service, and healthcare support.
When compared to the nationwide distribution, Bend area employment was more highly concentrated in 9 of the 22 occupational groups, including food preparation and serving related, construction and extraction, and building and grounds cleaning and maintenance. Ten groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including transportation and material moving, production, and protective service. (See table A.)
| Major occupational group | Percent of total employment | Mean hourly wage | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | Bend | United States | Bend | Percent difference (1) | |
| Total, all occupations | 100.0 | 100.0 | $29.76 | $28.00* | -6 |
| Management | 6.7 | 7.0* | 63.08 | 49.28* | -22 |
| Business and financial operations | 6.5 | 5.7* | 41.39 | 36.73* | -11 |
| Computer and mathematical | 3.4 | 2.4* | 51.99 | 45.62 | -12 |
| Architecture and engineering | 1.7 | 1.4* | 45.52 | 42.49* | -7 |
| Life, physical, and social science | 0.9 | 1.4* | 40.21 | 37.62* | -6 |
| Community and social service | 1.6 | 2.2* | 26.81 | 27.25 | 2 |
| Legal | 0.8 | 0.6* | 59.87 | 43.90* | -27 |
| Educational instruction and library | 5.7 | 4.9* | 30.41 | 29.10* | -4 |
| Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media | 1.4 | 1.4 | 36.78 | 27.30* | -26 |
| Healthcare practitioners and technical | 6.1 | 5.9* | 46.52 | 56.24* | 21 |
| Healthcare support | 4.6 | 3.9* | 17.10 | 20.37* | 19 |
| Protective service | 2.3 | 1.3* | 25.97 | 30.95* | 19 |
| Food preparation and serving related | 8.5 | 10.7* | 15.45 | 16.16* | 5 |
| Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance | 2.9 | 3.7* | 17.26 | 18.29* | 6 |
| Personal care and service | 1.9 | 2.6* | 17.41 | 18.68* | 7 |
| Sales and related | 8.9 | 9.6* | 24.22 | 21.62* | -11 |
| Office and administrative support | 12.6 | 13.2* | 21.90 | 21.42* | -2 |
| Farming, fishing, and forestry | 0.3 | 0.3 | 18.21 | 23.34* | 28 |
| Construction and extraction | 4.1 | 6.2* | 28.08 | 26.98* | -4 |
| Installation, maintenance, and repair | 3.9 | 3.9 | 26.77 | 26.71 | 0 |
| Production | 5.9 | 4.7* | 21.81 | 21.70 | -1 |
| Transportation and material moving | 9.2 | 7.2* | 21.12 | 21.37 | 1 |
| Footnotes: (1) A positive percent difference measures how much the mean wage in the Bend-Redmond, OR Metropolitan Statistical Area is above the national mean wage, while a negative difference reflects a lower wage. * The mean hourly wage or percent share of employment is significantly different from the national average of all areas at the 90-percent confidence level. |
One occupational group—food preparation and serving related—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Bend had 9,270 jobs in food preparation and serving related, accounting for 10.7 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 8.5-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $16.16, significantly above the national wage of $15.45.
Some of the larger detailed occupations within the food preparation and serving related group included fast food and counter workers (2,990), waiters and waitresses (1,390), and restaurant cooks (1,080). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were chefs and head cooks and first-line supervisors of food preparation and serving workers, with mean hourly wages of $26.40 and $19.93, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were dining room and cafeteria attendants and bartender helpers ($13.98) and restaurant, lounge, and coffee shop hosts and hostesses ($14.44). (Detailed data for the food preparation and serving related 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. (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 Bend area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in some of the occupations within the food preparation and serving related group. For instance, bartenders were employed at 1.7 times the national rate in Bend, and dishwashers, at 1.6 times the U.S. average. Waiters and waitresses had a location quotient of 1.1 in Bend, 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 Oregon Employment Department.
Changes to the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) Data
The May 2022 OEWS estimates use the model-based (MB3) estimation method implemented with the May 2021 estimates release. Additional updates were made to the MB3 wage processing methodology for May 2022. For more information, see the May 2022 Survey Methods and Reliability Statement.
The May 2022 estimates are the first OEWS estimates to be produced using the 2022 NAICS, which replaces the 2017 NAICS used for the May 2017-May 2021 estimates. See North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) at BLS for details.
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 Bend-Redmond, OR Metropolitan Statistical Area included 1,408 establishments with a response rate of 71 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 Bend-Redmond, OR Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Deschutes 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.
| Occupation (1) | Employment | Mean wages | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Level (2) | Location quotient (3) | Hourly | Annual (4) | |
| Food preparation and serving related occupations | 9,270 | 1.3 | $16.16 | $33,610 |
| Chefs and head cooks | 140 | 1.5 | 26.40 | 54,910 |
| First-line supervisors of food preparation and serving workers | 900 | 1.3 | 19.93 | 41,450 |
| Cooks, institution and cafeteria | 240 | 1.0 | 18.04 | 37,530 |
| Cooks, restaurant | 1,080 | 1.4 | 17.37 | 36,130 |
| Cooks, short order | 90 | 1.1 | 16.53 | 34,370 |
| Food preparation workers | 380 | 0.7 | 16.50 | 34,330 |
| Bartenders | 600 | 1.7 | 16.07 | 33,430 |
| Fast food and counter workers | 2,990 | 1.5 | 14.81 | 30,800 |
| Waiters and waitresses | 1,390 | 1.1 | 15.41 | 32,060 |
| Food servers, nonrestaurant | 170 | 1.1 | 16.76 | 34,860 |
| Dining room and cafeteria attendants and bartender helpers | 300 | 1.2 | 13.98 | 29,070 |
| Dishwashers | 420 | 1.6 | 14.90 | 30,980 |
| Hosts and hostesses, restaurant, lounge, and coffee shop | 270 | 1.2 | 14.44 | 30,040 |
| Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Bend-Redmond, OR Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_13460.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. |
