Chart Book, May 2009

State and Area Focus

Figure 24

States with higher concentrations of employment in production occupations were in the Midwest along the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers. Production workers accounted for at least 10 percent of employment in Wisconsin, Indiana, Arkansas, Iowa, Alabama, and South Carolina.

• Montana, Florida, Alaska, New Mexico, Maryland, Nevada, and Hawaii had less than 4 percent of their total employment in these occupations.
• Wisconsin had a high level of employment in the following production occupations: team assemblers (35,320); first-line supervisors/managers of production and operating workers (19,780); machinists (15,920); and inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers (15,420).
• The largest production occupations in Hawaii were bakers (1,380), laundry and dry-cleaning workers (1,290), and first-line supervisors/managers of production and operating workers (1,280).
• Team assembler was one of the largest production occupations in most States.

Figure 25

Wages were near average in States with high concentrations of production workers.

• The States with the highest average wages for production occupations were Wyoming ($42,680), Alaska ($39,910), Washington ($38,640), Connecticut ($38,190), and Michigan ($37,500).
• The States with the lowest average wages for these occupations were Arkansas ($28,660), South Dakota ($28,710), Mississippi ($29,420), Georgia ($29,990), and Idaho ($30,480).
• The highest average wages in Wyoming, Alaska, Washington, Connecticut, and Michigan may be explained by their dominant industries. Wyoming and Alaska have high-paying production occupations in the oil and gas extraction industries. Washington and Connecticut have high-paying production occupations in the aerospace product and parts manufacturing industries, and Michigan has high-paying jobs in motor vehicle manufacturing and related industries.

Figure 26

The five States bordering the Gulf of Mexico—Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas—represented about 17 percent of the total employment in the United States.

• Employment concentration of cashiers in all five Gulf States was higher than the average employment concentration of cashiers in the United States. Measured as employment per 1,000 jobs, Mississippi had the highest concentration of employment in this occupation, and Alabama, Louisiana, and Florida had the third, fourth, and seventh highest concentrations respectively. Over 19 percent of the total U.S. employment in this occupation was located in these five States.
• Only Florida and Texas had concentrations of retail salespersons that were higher than the U.S. average. Although Florida had the highest concentration of employment in this occupation among the five Gulf States, it had only the 15th highest concentration when compared with all States.
• Mississippi had the highest concentration of fast-food cooks among all States, with almost 11 out of every 1,000 jobs in the State in this occupation, over twice the average U.S. concentration.

Figure 27

New York had the highest concentration of fashion designers. With 6,990 fashioner designers, New York employed over 44 percent of the fashion designers in the country.

States with the highest concentrations of selected occupations, May 2009

Occupation	State	Employment per 1,000 jobs in State	Employment per 1,000 jobs in United States	Employment level in State
Industrial production managers	Michigan	2.16	1.13	8,410
Meeting and convention planners	District of Columbia	3.03	0.39	1,930
Insurance underwriters	Connecticut	2.20	0.75	3,620
Atmospheric and space scientists	Colorado	0.55	0.06	1,220
Mental health counselors	Pennsylvania	2.75	0.82	15,340
Fashion designers	New York	0.82	0.12	6,990
Optometrists	Hawaii	0.49	0.20	290
Home health aides	North Carolina	19.50	7.31	75,990
Parking enforcement workers	California	0.17	0.07	2,420
Crossing guards	New Jersey	1.44	0.52	5,540
Bartenders	Montana	12.34	3.77	5,330
Pest control workers	Florida	1.32	0.49	9,730
Gaming dealers	Nevada	18.99	0.67	22,400
Telemarketers	Utah	7.79	2.36	9,240
Bill and account collectors	South Dakota	11.80	3.09	4,640
Mine cutting and channeling machine operators	West Virginia	2.33	0.06	1,640
Slaughterers and meat packers	Nebraska	6.46	0.75	5,930

• States had higher concentrations of different occupations depending on the dominant industries in each State.
• California had the highest concentration of parking enforcement workers of all States, with over twice the employment in this occupation per 1,000 jobs compared with the U.S. average. California employed over 25 percent of the parking enforcement workers in the Nation.
• Telemarketers accounted for more employment in Utah than in any other State, accounting for almost 8 in 1,000 jobs in Utah, compared with just over 2 per 1,000 jobs in the United States.
• Montana had the highest concentration of bartenders in the country, with over three times as many bartenders per 1,000 jobs as the U.S. average.
• South Dakota had the highest concentration of bill and account collectors, with almost four times the national average.

Figure 28

Several engineering occupations, including electronics, environmental, petroleum, aerospace, and chemical engineers were most highly concentrated in small States.

States with the highest concentrations in each engineering occupation, May 2009

Occupation	State	Employment per 1,000 jobs in State	Employment per 1,000 jobs in United States	Employment level in State
Aerospace engineers	Kansas	2.46	0.54	3,320
Agricultural engineers	North Dakota	0.15	0.02	50
Biomedical engineers	Utah	0.52	0.11	620
Chemical engineers	Delaware	1.26	0.22	520
Civil engineers	Alaska	4.58	1.99	1,410
Computer hardware engineers	Colorado	1.45	0.50	3,240
Electrical engineers	Idaho	2.59	1.16	1,590
Electronics engineers, except computer	Rhode Island	2.35	1.04	1,080
Environmental engineers	Wyoming	1.51	0.39	430
Health and safety engineers, except mining safety engineers and inspectors	Alaska	0.50	0.18	160
Industrial engineers	Michigan	5.14	1.60	20,000
Marine engineers and naval architects	Virginia	0.34	0.04	1,210
Materials engineers	Washington	0.50	0.17	1,400
Mechanical engineers	Michigan	7.53	1.78	29,330
Mining and geological engineers, including mining safety engineers	Wyoming	0.79	0.05	220
Nuclear engineers	Virginia	0.52	0.13	1,860
Petroleum engineers	Alaska	3.58	0.20	1,100

• Petroleum engineers accounted for more jobs per thousand in Alaska than in any other State. Alaska had over 3.5 petroleum engineers for every 1,000 jobs. Alaska also had the highest concentration of civil engineers and health and safety engineers.
• Michigan had the highest concentration of industrial engineers and mechanical engineers. Michigan employed over three times the number of industrial engineers and over four times the number of mechanical engineers per 1,000 jobs compared with the U.S. average.
• The highest concentration of marine engineers and naval architects was found in Virginia. Virginia employed over eight times the number of workers in this occupation per 1,000 jobs as the U.S. average, and accounted for 23 percent of U.S. employment in this occupation.
• Nuclear engineers were also most highly concentrated in Virginia, with four times as many nuclear engineers employed in Virginia per 1,000 jobs as the U.S. average.

Figure 29

Architecture and engineering occupations accounted for 13 percent of employment in the St. Mary’s County, MD, but only 0.4 percent of the total employment in the Merced, CA, metropolitan area.

• St. Mary’s County, MD, had a total of 5,060 architecture and engineering jobs. Three of the largest architecture and engineering occupations in the area were aerospace engineers (with employment of 850); electronics engineers, except computer (840); and electrical and electronic engineering technicians (560).
• Other areas with high concentrations of employment in architecture and engineering occupations were Huntsville, AL (85 employed per 1,000 jobs); Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, FL (66 per 1,000 jobs); Columbus, IN (61 per 1,000 jobs).
• Nationally, the largest architecture and engineering occupations were civil, mechanical, and industrial engineers. In contrast, some of the areas with high concentrations of architecture and engineering occupations had more employment in different types of engineers, such as computer engineers in the San Jose-Sunnyville-Santa Clara, CA, metropolitan area and aerospace engineers in St. Mary’s County, MD, and Huntsville, AL.

Figure 30

• The areas with the highest mean wages for architecture and engineering occupations included San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA, ($99,300), which also had one of the highest employment concentrations; Anchorage, AK ($95,330); and the northeastern Virginia nonmetropolitan area ($92,890).
• In the San Jose-Sunnyvale- Santa Clara, CA, metropolitan area, occupations with high wages included chemical engineers ($121,220); aerospace engineers ($120,460); computer hardware engineers ($119,880); and nuclear engineers ($115,020).

Figure 31

Employment declined in almost all occupational groups in the New Orleans metropolitan area between May 2005 and May 2009.

• The greatest employment declines were in office and administrative support occupations, which dropped by 24,130, from 105,580 jobs to 81,450.
• Other groups with large declines included food preparation and serving occupations and sales and related occupations.
• Personal care and service occupations had the largest percent decrease, dropping 38 percent, from 18,440 jobs to 11,430.
• Architecture and engineering occupations was the only occupational group with significant growth, as employment increased over 18 percent, from 8,960 jobs to 10,630.

Figure 32

Employment declined in about 65 percent of detailed occupations in the New Orleans metropolitan area between May 2005 and May 2009.

• General office clerks was the occupation with the largest decline, with employment declining by 6,150, from 13,130 jobs to 6,980.
• Merchandise display and window trimmers had the largest decline in percent of employment, falling over 80 percent, from 410 jobs to 80.
• The occupations with the largest declines were service-related occupations such as food service, transportation services and office and administrative services.
• Detailed occupations with increases in employment included construction-related occupations such as construction laborers and electricians, and petroleum-related occupations such as petroleum engineers and petroleum pump system operators, refinery operators, and gaugers.

Figure 33

Within the New York metropolitan area, the New York-White Plains-Wayne, NY-NJ, division had the highest wages overall and in 12 of the 22 occupational groups.

• The New York-White Plains- Wayne, NY-NJ, division had the lowest wages in four occupational groups including community and social services occupations; healthcare support occupations, production occupations; and protective service occupations.
• The Nassau-Suffolk, NY, metropolitan division had the lowest overall average wages, but had the highest wages for six groups, including healthcare support occupations; protective service occupations; education, library, and training occupations; and building and groundskeeping occupations.
• The Edison-New Brunswick, NJ, metropolitan division had the lowest average wages for 12 of the 22 major occupational groups and the highest average wages for architecture and engineering occupations and production occupations.
• The Newark-Union, NJ-PA, metropolitan division had the highest wages for computer and mathematical science occupations; life, physical, and social science occupations; and community and social services occupations.

Figure 34

Wages for financial analysts varied widely based on their geographical location within the New York metropolitan area.

• Financial analysts in the New York-Wayne-White Plains, NY-NJ, metropolitan division earned an average of $53.83 an hour, while those in Newark-Union, NJ-PA, Edison-New Brunswick, NJ, and Nassau-Suffolk, NY, earned $40.18, $38.03, and $37.40, respectively.
• The hourly average wage of $37.71 for musicians and singers in New York-White Plains, NY-NJ, metropolitan division was more than twice as high as the estimate of $15.06 in the Newark-Union, NJ-PA, metropolitan division.
• An hourly wage of $18.58 for driver/sales workers in Nassau-Suffolk, NY, metropolitan division was significantly higher than the other divisions of the New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-PA, metropolitan statistical area.
• Average hourly wages for stock clerks and order fillers were very similar among the four areas, ranging from $11.42 to $11.57.

Figure 35

Both Palm Coast, FL, a fast-growing metropolitan area, and Weirton-Steubenville, a slow-growing area, had below-average employment shares of most high-paying occupational groups.

• Palm Coast, FL, was one of the fastest growing metropolitan areas in recent years: between 2000 and 2009, its population increased by nearly 84 percent, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Weirton-Steubenville, WV-OH, had one of the most rapid population declines over the same period, with its population falling by more than 8 percent.
• Compared with the United States, both Palm Coast and Weirton-Steubenville had below-average employment shares of most of the highest paying occupational groups, including management, business and financial operations, computer and mathematical science, architecture and engineering, and legal occupations.
• Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance occupations made up 6.6 percent of employment in Palm Coast, double the U.S. employment share of 3.3 percent for this group. Production occupations made up over 10 percent of employment in Weirton-Steubenville, compared with less than 7 percent of U.S. employment.

Figure 36

• In both Palm Coast, FL, and Weirton-Steubenville, WV-OH, wages were below or similar to the corresponding U.S. averages for nearly all occupational groups. Production occupations in Weirton-Steubenville were the sole exception.
• Palm Coast had higher wages than Weirton-Steubenville for the majority of occupational groups. Mean wages in Palm Coast were at least $6.00 higher than in Weirton-Steubenville for legal, arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media; community and social services; and business and financial operations occupations.
• Mean wages were nearly $5.00 higher in Weirton-Steubenville than in Palm Coast for architecture and engineering occupations and installation, maintenance, and repair occupations.

Figure 37

Palm Coast, FL, had an above-average employment share of landscaping and groundskeeping workers, while Weirton-Steubenville, WV-OH, had above-average shares of several production occupations.

• As a share of total employment, Palm Coast, FL, had approximately 16 times as many real estate brokers and 5 times as many landscaping and groundskeeping workers as the United States as a whole. Palm Coast also had above-average employment shares of hairdressers, hairstylists, and cosmetologists; brickmasons and blockmasons; and travel agents.
• Security guards accounted for only about 2 out of every 1,000 jobs in Palm Coast, compared with 8 out of every 1,000 jobs in the United States. Employment shares in Palm Coast were less than half of those in the United States for computer support specialists; home health aides; heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers; and laborers and hand freight, stock, and material movers.

Figure 38

• Electrical and electronics repairers, powerhouse, substation, and relay made up nearly 4 jobs out of every 1,000 in Weirton- Steubenville, WV-OH, but less than one job out of every 5,000 in the United States as a whole. Weirton-Steubenville also had above-average employment shares of service station attendants and several production occupations, including water and liquid waste treatment plant and system operators; plating and coating machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic; and painting, coating, and decorating workers.
• Secondary school teachers, except special and vocational education, made up fewer than 2 jobs per 1,000 in Weirton- Steubenville, compared with about 8 jobs per 1,000 in the United States. Other occupations with below-average employment shares in Weirton-Steubenville included loan officers; customer service representatives; and two IT-related occupations, computer support specialists and computer software engineers, applications.

Figure 39

Nonmetropolitan areas had higher shares of employment in production occupations than metropolitan areas.

• As a share of total employment, metropolitan areas had more than twice as many legal jobs as nonmetropolitan areas, and more than three times as many computer and mathematical science jobs.
• Compared with nonmetropolitan areas, metropolitan areas also had higher shares of management; business and financial operations; architecture and engineering; and arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media occupations.
• Production occupations made up 10.6 percent of employment in nonmetropolitan areas, but only 6.3 percent of employment in metropolitan areas. Nonmetropolitan areas also had higher employment shares of farming, fishing, and forestry; construction and extraction; installation, maintenance, and repair; and transportation and material moving occupations.

Figure 40

Four occupations associated with finance and insurance had 96 percent or more of employment in metropolitan areas: actuaries; insurance appraisers, auto damage; financial analysts; and brokerage clerks.

• The New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-PA, metropolitan area had the highest employment of all four occupations, with nearly one out of every five financial analysts and one out of every four brokerage clerks located in this area.
• Five life, physical, and social science occupations were found almost entirely in metropolitan areas: political scientists; biochemists and biophysicists; medical scientists, except epidemiologists; sociologists; and industrial-organizational psychologists.
• Several occupations associated with air travel and public transportation were concentrated almost exclusively in metropolitan areas. Other occupations concentrated in metropolitan areas included several IT occupations, such as semiconductor processors and computer hardware engineers, as well as two personal care occupations, shampooers and manicurists and pedicurists.

Figure 41

Nonmetropolitan areas accounted for 14 percent of U.S. jobs in May 2009, but 50 percent or more of employment in the occupations in figure 41.

• More than three-quarters of shuttle car operators were employed in nonmetropolitan areas. Other mining occupations also were found predominantly in nonmetropolitan areas, such as loading machine operators, underground mining; continuous mining machine operators; and roof bolters, mining.
• Several logging occupations were concentrated in nonmetropolitan areas, including fallers, logging equipment operators, and log graders and scalers. Two occupations related to forestry—forest and conservation technicians and forest fire inspectors and prevention specialists— also were found mainly in nonmetropolitan areas.
• Other occupations with the majority of employment in nonmetropolitan areas included postmasters and mail superintendents; slaughterers and meatpackers; and farm equipment mechanics.

Figure 42

Wages for most occupations were higher in metropolitan areas than in nonmetropolitan areas, but the wage differences between metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas were particularly large for the 20 occupations shown in figure 42.

Occupations with the largest percentage wage differences between metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas, May 2009

Occupation	Mean hourly wage, metropolitan areas	Mean hourly wage, nonmetropolitan areas	Percentage difference between metropolitan and nonmetropolitan mean hourly wages
Actors	$29.52	$13.81	114
Broadcast news analysts	34.27	17.38	97
Producers and directors	42.31	23.02	84
Radio and television announcers	21.98	12.17	81
Film and video editors	30.99	17.95	73
Reporters and correspondents	22.21	13.23	68
Administrative law judges, adjudicators, and hearing officers	43.71	26.49	65
Writers and authors	31.84	19.63	62
Advertising and promotions managers	47.96	30.22	59
Art directors	44.52	28.08	59
Multi-media artists and animators	30.34	19.18	58
Artists and related workers, all other	28.69	18.14	58
Lawyers	63.15	40.32	57
Economists	47.09	30.27	56
Historians	28.45	18.79	51
Editors	28.72	19.34	49
Advertising sales agents	26.42	17.80	48
Police and sheriff's patrol officers	27.91	18.82	48
Financial managers	56.19	37.98	48
Camera operators, television, video, and motion picture	24.03	16.25	48

• In metropolitan areas, hourly mean wages were above the U.S. all-occupations average of $20.90 for all of the occupations shown, with the exception of radio and television announcers, which had an hourly mean similar to the U.S. average. In nonmetropolitan areas, 13 out of the 20 occupations had wages below the U.S. average.
• Actors had one of the largest wage differences between metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas: wages for this occupation were 114 percent higher in metropolitan areas than in nonmetropolitan areas. Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media occupations make up 11 of the 20 occupations shown in figure 42. Other occupations with large wage differences between metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas included administrative law judges, adjudicators, and hearing officers; lawyers; police and sheriff’s patrol officers; and two occupations related to advertising— advertising and promotions managers and advertising sales agents.

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Last Modified Date: November 22, 2010