Occupational Employment and Wages in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, May 2012

Workers in the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $22.18 in May 2012, about 1 percent above the nationwide average of $22.01, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Regional Commissioner Stanley W. Suchman noted that, after testing for statistical significance, wages in the local area were significantly higher than their respective national averages in 8 of the 22 major occupational groups, including healthcare support and sales and related. Nine groups had wages that were measurably lower than their respective national averages; included in this grouping were construction and extraction, as well as production.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, Dallas area employment was more highly concentrated in 6 of the 22 occupational groups including office and administrative support, computer and mathematical, and sales and related. Conversely, 13 groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation; these groups included education, training, and library, healthcare support, and production. (See table A and box note at end of release.)

One occupational group – business and financial operations – was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Dallas had 169,240 jobs in business and financial operations, accounting for 5.7 percent of local area employment, significantly above the national share of 4.9 percent. The average hourly wage for this occupational group was $34.60, about 3 percent above the national average of $33.44.

With employment of 29,050, accountants and auditors was the largest occupation within the business and financial operations group. Among the higher paying jobs were personal financial advisors and management analysts, with mean hourly wages of $43.37 and $43.09, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were tax preparers ($20.02) and meeting, convention, and event planners ($24.40). (Detailed occupational data for the business and financial operations group are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of all detailed occupations go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_19100.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 Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington metropolitan area, above average concentrations of employment were found in some of the detailed occupations within the business and financial operations group. For instance, credit analysts were employed at 1.7 times the national rate in Dallas, and auto damage insurance appraisers, at more than twice the U.S. average. On the other hand, labor relations specialists had a location quotient of 0.3 in Dallas, meaning the local employment share in this particular occupation was well below the national average.

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 Texas Workforce Commission.

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 Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington Metropolitan Statistical Area included 13,854 establishments with a response rate of 61 percent. For more information about OES concepts and methodology, go to www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.tn.htm.

The substate area data published in this release reflect the standards and definitions established by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget.

The Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlingtons, Texas, Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) includes Collin, Dallas, Delta, Denton, Ellis, Hunt, Johnson, Kaufman, Parker, Rockwall, Tarrant , and Wise Counties in Texas.

OES data are available on our regional web page at www.bls.gov/ro6. 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.

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics | Southwest Information Office, Suite 221, 525 South Griffin Street, Dallas, TX 75202

www.bls.gov/ro6 | Telephone: 1-972-850-4800 | Contact Southwest (RO6)