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Wednesday, May 8, 2013

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OCCUPATIONAL EMPLOYMENT AND WAGES IN IDAHO FALLS
May 2012

Workers in the Idaho Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $17.15 in May 2012, about 22 percent below the nationwide average of $22.01, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Regional Commissioner Richard J. Holden noted that, after testing for statistical significance, no wages in the local area were significantly higher than their respective national averages in 22 major occupational groups. Twenty one groups had significantly lower wages than their respective national averages, including legal; management; and arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 5 of the 22 occupational groups, including sales and related, transportation and material moving, and community and social service. Conversely, nine groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including business and financial operations, computer and mathematical, and production. (See table A and box note at end of release.)

Table A. Occupational employment and wages by major occupational group, United States and the Idaho Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area, and measures of statistical significance, May 2012
Major occupational group Percent of total employment Mean hourly wage
United States Idaho Falls United States Idaho Falls Percent difference (1)

Total, all occupations

 100.0% 100.0% $22.01 $17.15* -22

Management

 4.9 4.5* 52.20 37.91* -27

Business and financial operations

 4.9 2.6* 33.44 28.22* -16

Computer and mathematical

 2.7 0.9* 38.55 29.27* -24

Architecture and engineering

 1.8 1.5* 37.98 36.76 -3

Life, physical, and social science

 0.8 1.5* 32.87 25.16* -23

Community and social services

 1.4 2.4* 21.27 18.12* -15

Legal

 0.8 0.6* 47.39 28.11* -41

Education, training, and library

 6.4 5.3* 24.62 16.00* -35

Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media

 1.3 1.3 26.20 15.11* -42

Healthcare practitioner and technical

 5.9 5.8 35.35 31.36* -11

Healthcare support

 3.0 3.1 13.36 11.66* -13

Protective service

 2.5 1.7* 20.70 18.90* -9

Food preparation and serving related

 8.9 9.0 10.28 9.17* -11

Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance

 3.3 2.9* 12.34 10.64* -14

Personal care and service

 2.9 3.4 11.80 10.15* -14

Sales and related

 10.6 13.5* 18.26 14.89* -18

Office and administrative support

 16.4 16.9 16.54 13.74* -17

Farming, fishing, and forestry

 0.3 1.2* 11.65 9.79* -16

Construction and extraction

 3.8 4.4 21.61 17.60* -19

Installation, maintenance, and repair

 3.9 4.0 21.09 18.54* -12

Production

 6.6 4.8* 16.59 15.03* -9

Transportation and material moving

 6.7 8.8* 16.15 13.67* -15

Footnotes:
(1) A positive percent difference measures how much the mean wage in Idaho Falls is above the national mean wage, while a negative difference reflects a lower wage.
* The percent share of employment or mean hourly wage for this area is significantly different from the national average of all areas at the 90-percent confidence level.

One occupational group—transportation and material moving—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Idaho Falls had 4,290 jobs in transportation and material moving, accounting for 8.8 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 6.7-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $13.67, measurably below the national wage of $16.15.

With employment of 1,330, heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers was the largest occupation within the transportation and material moving group, followed by laborers and freight, stock, and material movers by hand (760) and driver/sales workers (320). Among the higher paying jobs were first-line supervisors of transportation and material-moving machine and vehicle operators, and first-line supervisors of helpers, laborers, and material movers by hand, with mean hourly wages of $21.23 and $17.63, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were automotive and watercraft service attendants ($9.13) and packers and packagers, hand ($9.20). (Detailed occupational data for transportation and material moving are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/2012/may/oes_26820.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 Idaho Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area, above average concentrations of employment were found in some of the occupations within the transportation and material moving group. For instance, heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers were employed at 2.3 times the national rate in Idaho Falls, and driver/sales workers, at 2.2 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, light truck or delivery services drivers had a location quotient of 1.0 in Idaho Falls, 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 Idaho Department of Labor.

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 .

OES wage and employment data for the 22 major occupational groups in the Idaho Falls metropolitan statistical area were compared to their respective national averages based on statistical significance testing. Only those occupations with wages or employment shares above or below the national wage or share after testing for significance at the 90-percent confidence level meet the criteria.

NOTE: 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.

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 Idaho Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area included 1,046 establishments with a response rate of 78 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 Idaho Falls, Idaho Metropolitan Statistical Area&nbsp includes Bonneville and Jefferson Counties.

Additional information

OES data are available on our regional web page at www.bls.gov/ro9/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.

OOH Earnings Table Extraction Wizard - output frame
Table 1. Employment and wage data from the Occupational Employment Statistics survey, by occupation, Idaho Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2012
Occupation (1) Employment Mean wages
Level (2) Location quotient (3) Hourly Annual(4)

Transportation and Material Moving Occupations

4,2901.3$13.67$28,430

First-Line Supervisors of Helpers, Laborers, and Material Movers, Hand

1001.617.6336,660

First-Line Supervisors of Transportation and Material-Moving Machine and Vehicle Operators

1001.321.2344,160

Commercial Pilots

(5)(5)(5)55,360

Bus Drivers, School or Special Client

(5)(5)13.8328,770

Driver/Sales Workers

3202.29.9520,690

Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers

1,3302.317.4136,220

Light Truck or Delivery Services Drivers

2901.013.0927,220

Taxi Drivers and Chauffeurs

601.09.4519,650

Automotive and Watercraft Service Attendants

1102.79.1318,980

Industrial Truck and Tractor Operators

1901.112.5026,000

Cleaners of Vehicles and Equipment

1301.19.3419,420

Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand

7601.010.7222,300

Packers and Packagers, Hand

2100.99.2019,140

Footnotes:
(1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in Idaho Falls, ID, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_26820.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 8, 2013