Workers in the Scranton—Wilkes-Barre Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $17.73 in May 2010, roughly 17 percent below the nationwide average of $21.35, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Sheila Watkins, the Bureau’s regional commissioner, noted that, after testing for statistical significance, wages in the local area were significantly lower than their respective national averages in 18 of the 22 major occupational groups, including management and sales and related. (See table A and box note at end of release.)

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 7 of the 22 occupational groups, including transportation and material moving, production, and office and administrative support. Conversely, 13 groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including management, computer and mathematical, and business and financial operations.

One occupational group—transportation and material moving—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Scranton had 23,440 jobs in transportation and material moving, accounting for 9.5 percent of local area employment, significantly above the 6.7-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $14.51, measurably below the national wage of $15.70.

With employment of 6,600, hand laborers and freight, stock, and material movers was the largest occupation within the transportation and material moving group, followed by heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers (4,160). Among the higher-paying jobs were first-line supervisors of transportation and material-moving machine and vehicle operators, with a mean hourly wage of $27.15, and heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers, with a wage of $18.31. At the lower end of the wage scale were parking lot attendants ($9.47) and taxi drivers and chauffeurs ($10.52). (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/current/oes_42540.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 as it does nationally. In the Scranton area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in several of the occupations within the transportation and material moving group. For instance, industrial truck and tractor operators and hand packers and packagers, were employed at approximately twice the national rate in Scranton. On the other hand, driver/sales workers had a location quotient of 1.0 in Scranton, 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 Pennsylvania Center for Workforce Information and Analysis. The OES survey provides estimates of employment and hourly and annual wages for wage and salary workers in 22 major occupational groups and nearly 800 non-military detailed occupations for the nation, states, metropolitan statistical areas, metropolitan divisions, and nonmetropolitan areas.

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 also are surveyed, but their data are not included in this release. OES estimates are constructed from a sample of about 1.2 million establishments. Forms are mailed to approximately 200,000 establishments in May and November of each year for a 3-year period. The nationwide response rate for the May 2010 survey was 78.2 percent based on establishments and 74.4 percent based on employment. May 2010 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2010, November 2009, May 2009, November 2008, May 2008, and November 2007. The sample in the Scranton—Wilkes-Barre Metropolitan Statistical Area included 2,552 establishments with a response rate of 76 percent. For more information about OES concepts and methodology, go to www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.tn.htm.

The May 2010 OES estimates mark the first set of estimates based in part on data collected using the 2010 Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) system. Nearly all the occupations in this release are 2010 SOC occupations; however, some are not. The May 2012 OES data will reflect the full set of detailed occupations in the 2010 SOC. For a list of all occupations, including 2010 SOC occupations, and how data collected on two structures were combined, see the OES Frequently Asked Questions online at www.bls.gov/oes/oes_ques.htm#Ques41.

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 Scranton—Wilkes-Barre Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) includes Lackawanna, Luzerne, and Wyoming Counties in Pennsylvania.

Additional information

OES data are available on our regional web page at www.bls.gov/ro3/. If you have additional questions, you can contact the Mid-Atlantic Information Office at (215) 597-3282 from 8:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and 1:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. ET. Information in this release will be made available to sensory impaired individuals upon request. Voice phone:  202-691-5200; TDD message referral phone number: 1-800-877-8339.

Table 1. Employment and wage data from the Occupational Employment Statistics survey, by occupation, Scranton—Wilkes-Barre Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2010

Occupation	Employment		Mean wage
	Level(1)	Location quotient(2)	Hourly	Annual
Transportation and material moving occupations	23,440	1.4	$14.51	$30,180
First-line supervisors of helpers, laborers, and material movers, hand	380	1.2	23.69	49,270
First-line supervisors of transportation and material-moving machine and vehicle operators	430	1.1	27.15	56,470
Ambulance drivers and attendants, except emergency medical technicians	80	2.2	10.69	22,230
Bus drivers, transit and intercity	510	1.5	14.06	29,250
Bus drivers, school or special client	1,220	1.3	11.11	23,110
Driver/sales workers	750	1.0	12.19	25,360
Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers	4,160	1.5	18.31	38,080
Light truck or delivery services drivers	1,990	1.3	15.79	32,850
Taxi drivers and chauffeurs	550	1.7	10.52	21,870
Motor vehicle operators, all other	(3)	(3)	15.87	33,020
Parking lot attendants	110	0.5	9.47	19,690
Automotive and watercraft service attendants	(3)	(3)	8.80	18,300
Conveyor operators and tenders	60	0.8	14.91	31,010
Excavating and loading machine and dragline operators	(3)	(3)	14.14	29,420
Industrial truck and tractor operators	2,160	2.1	14.72	30,610
Cleaners of vehicles and equipment	350	0.6	10.92	22,720
Laborers and freight, stock, and material movers, hand	6,600	1.7	13.30	27,660
Machine feeders and offbearers	480	2.0	15.05	31,290
Packers and packagers, hand	2,580	2.0	11.19	23,270
Refuse and recyclable material collectors	350	1.4	12.08	25,140
Tank car, truck, and ship loaders	(3)	(3)	17.80	37,020
Footnotes: (1) 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. (2) 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. (3) Estimate not released.