Workers in the Warren-Troy-Farmington Hills Metropolitan Division had an average (mean) hourly wage of $22.53 in May 2012, about 2 percent above the nationwide average of $22.01, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Charlene Peiffer noted that, after testing for statistical significance, wages in the local area were significantly higher than their respective national averages in 3 of the 22 major occupational groups: construction and extraction; production; and sales and related occupations. Five groups had significantly lower wages than their respective national averages, including computer and mathematical occupations; life, physical, and social sciences; and healthcare support.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 7 of the 22 occupational groups, including production; architecture and engineering; and sales and related occupations. Conversely, 12 groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including education, training, and library, transportation and material moving, and construction and extraction occupations. (See table A and box note at end of release.)

One occupational group—architecture and engineering—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Warren-Troy-Farmington Hills had 48,070 jobs in architecture and engineering, accounting for 4.5 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 1.8-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $37.66, compared to the national wage of $37.98.

With employment of 15,770, mechanical engineers was the largest occupation within the architecture and engineering group, followed by industrial engineers (7,640) and mechanical engineering technicians (2,400). Among the higher paying jobs were computer hardware engineers and aerospace engineers, with mean hourly wages of $55.52 and $50.25, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were surveying and mapping technicians ($18.67) and civil engineering technicians ($19.18). (Detailed occupational data for architecture and engineering are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/2012/may/oes_47644.htm)

Location quotients allow for the exploration of an area’s occupational make-up 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 Warren-Troy-Farmington Hills Metropolitan Division, above average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the architecture and engineering group. For instance, mechanical engineers were employed at 7.6 times the national rate in the area and mechanical engineering technicians, at 6.3 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, civil engineers had a location quotient of 1.0 in the area, 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 Michigan Department of Labor & Economic Growth.

With the release of the May 2012 estimates, OES data are based on the 2010 Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) system for the first time. The OES survey provides estimates of employment and hourly and annual wages for wage and salary workers in 22 major occupational groups and more than 800 detailed occupations for the nation, states, metropolitan statistical areas, metropolitan divisions, and nonmetropolitan areas. In addition, employment and wage estimates for 94 minor groups and 458 broad occupations are available in the national data for the first time. Information about the 2010 SOC is available on the BLS website at www.bls.gov/soc.

The May 2012 OES estimates are the first to be produced using the 2012 North American Industry Classification System (NAICS). Information about the 2012 NAICS is available on the BLS website at www.bls.gov/bls/naics.htm .

Technical Note

The Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) survey is a semiannual mail survey measuring occupational employment and wage rates for wage and salary workers in nonfarm establishments in the United States. Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands are also surveyed, but their data are not included in the national estimates. OES estimates are constructed from a sample of about 1.2 million establishments. Forms are mailed to approximately 200,000 sampled establishments in May and November each year for a 3-year period. May 2012 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected in May 2012, November 2011, May 2011, November 2010, May 2010, and November 2009. The overall national response rate for the six panels is 76.6 percent based on establishments and 72.9 percent based on employment. The sample in the Warren-Troy-Farmington Hills Metropolitan Division included 5,794 establishments with a response rate of 74 percent. For more information about OES concepts and methodology, go to www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.tn.htm.

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 Warren-Troy-Farmington Hills, Mich. Metropolitan Division&nbsp includes Lapeer, Livingston, Macomb, Oakland, and St. Clair Counties.

Additional information

OES data are available on our regional web page at www.bls.gov/ro5/home.htm. Answers to frequently asked questions about the OES data are available at www.bls.gov/oes/oes_ques.htm. Detailed technical information about the OES survey is available in our Survey Methods and Reliability Statement on the BLS website at www.bls.gov/oes/2012/may/methods_statement.pdf. Information in this release will be made available to sensory impaired individuals upon request – Voice phone: 202-691-5200; Federal Relay Service: 1-800-877-8339.

Table 1. Employment and wage data from the Occupational Employment Statistics survey, by occupation, Warren-Troy-Farmington Hills Metropolitan Division, May 2012

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual(4)
Architecture and Engineering Occupations	48,070	2.5	$37.66	$78,330
Architects, Except Landscape and Naval	660	1.0	33.71	70,120
Landscape Architects	130	1.0	27.84	57,900
Cartographers and Photogrammetrists	(5)	(5)	22.92	47,670
Surveyors	430	1.3	25.84	53,750
Aerospace Engineers	(5)	(5)	50.25	104,520
Chemical Engineers	120	0.4	44.86	93,300
Civil Engineers	2,130	1.0	32.41	67,410
Computer Hardware Engineers	710	1.1	55.52	115,480
Electrical Engineers	1,930	1.5	37.79	78,610
Electronics Engineers, Except Computer	1,220	1.1	39.74	82,660
Environmental Engineers	330	0.8	32.79	68,200
Health and Safety Engineers, Except Mining Safety Engineers and Inspectors	130	0.7	37.46	77,920
Industrial Engineers	7,640	4.2	40.91	85,100
Materials Engineers	620	3.3	41.57	86,470
Mechanical Engineers	15,770	7.6	42.89	89,220
Engineers, All Other	4,040	4.0	44.09	91,720
Architectural and Civil Drafters	720	1.1	26.24	54,580
Electrical and Electronics Drafters	120	0.5	23.50	48,880
Mechanical Drafters	1,370	2.6	24.79	51,560
Drafters, All Other	(5)	(5)	19.35	40,240
Civil Engineering Technicians	900	1.6	19.18	39,900
Electrical and Electronics Engineering Technicians	1,630	1.4	26.45	55,020
Electro-Mechanical Technicians	130	0.9	(5)	(5)
Environmental Engineering Technicians	120	0.8	22.04	45,840
Industrial Engineering Technicians	2,310	4.2	20.76	43,190
Mechanical Engineering Technicians	2,400	6.3	26.71	55,550
Engineering Technicians, Except Drafters, All Other	1,380	2.6	26.46	55,040
Surveying and Mapping Technicians	180	0.5	18.67	38,830
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in Warren-Troy-Farmington Hills, MI Metropolitan Division, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_47644.htm. (2) Estimates for detailed occupations do not sum to the totals because the totals include occupations 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.

Last Modified Date: May 9, 2013

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