General Information: (312) 353-1880 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact: Paul LaPorte Friday, March 31, 2006
Fax-on-Demand Document No. 9361
http://www.bls.gov/ro5
OCCUPATIONAL EMPLOYMENT AND WAGES, NOVEMBER 2004
GRAND RAPIDS-MUSKEGON-HOLLAND, MICHIGAN
Workers in the Grand Rapids-Muskegon-Holland metropolitan area 1/
had an average (mean) hourly wage of $17.60 per hour in November 2004
compared to the nationwide average of $18.00, according to the Bureau
of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor. Regional
Commissioner Jay A. Mousa noted that 6 of the 22 major occupational
groups in Grand Rapids recorded average hourly wages that were
significantly higher than their respective national averages
including community and social services, and production. Eight other
groups had wages that were significantly below their averages, among
them computer and mathematical, architecture and engineering, and
legal. (See table A. Also, see Technical Note, Estimation
Methodology section, for a listing of statistically significant
comparisons.)
With more than 551,000 employed in the Grand Rapids area,
production occupations accounted for 16 percent of the workforce,
appreciably above the national share of 7.9 percent.
Two other major occupational groups also had higher-than-average
concentrations in the Grand Rapids area-transportation and material
moving, and architecture and engineering. Twelve groups in Grand
Rapids had employment shares that were significantly below their
representation at the national level, among these office and
administrative support.
These statistics are from the Occupational Employment Statistics
(OES) survey, a federal-state cooperative program between BLS and
State Workforce Agencies. The OES survey provides estimates of
employment and hourly and annual wages for wage and salary workers in
22 major occupational groups and up to 801 detailed occupations for
the nation, the states and 334 metropolitan areas.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
1/ The Grand Rapids-Muskegon-Holland metropolitan area consists
of Allegan, Kent, Muskegon and Ottawa Counties in Michigan
Table A. Employment and wage data by occupation for the U.S. and
Grand Rapids-Muskegon-Holland, November 2004
----------------------------------------------------------------------
| Employment |
| share |
|(percent of | Mean
Major Occupational group | total) | hourly wage
|-------------------------------
| Grand | Grand
| U.S. Rapids | U.S. Rapids
----------------------------------------------------------------------
| |
Management | 4.7 4.4 | $41.87 $40.43
Business and financial operations | 4.1 3.7 | 27.46 24.81
Computer and mathematical | 2.3 1.5 | 31.91 27.92
Architecture and engineering | 1.8 2.2 | 30.32 26.67
Life, physical, and social science | .9 .7 | 27.67 25.47
Community and social services | 1.3 1.1 | 17.81 19.89
Legal | .8 .4 | 39.03 36.39
Education, training, and library | 6.2 5.4 | 20.58 21.39
Arts, design, entertainment, sports, | |
and media | 1.3 1.3 | 21.07 18.62
Healthcare practitioners and technical| 5.0 4.4 | 28.03 29.03
Healthcare support | 2.6 2.7 | 11.30 11.81
Protective service | 2.4 1.4 | 16.94 16.39
Food preparation and serving related | 8.2 7.9 | 8.47 8.13
Building and grounds cleaning | |
and maintenance | 3.3 3.1 | 10.42 10.88
Personal care and service | 2.4 1.7 | 10.62 9.96
Sales and related |10.6 10.5 | 15.52 16.05
Office and administrative support |17.5 14.6 | 14.13 14.30
Farming, fishing, and forestry | .3 .2 | 9.94 10.66
Construction and extraction | 4.9 4.5 | 18.21 18.18
Installation, maintenance, and repair | 4.1 4.2 | 18.09 18.93
Production | 7.9 16.0 | 14.18 15.18
Transportation and material moving | 7.4 8.2 | 13.58 14.03
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Management and legal occupations were the two highest-paying
occupational groups in the Grand Rapids area. Workers in management
averaged $40.43 per hour in Grand Rapids and those employed in the
legal profession averaged $36.39. Nationally, wages averaged $41.87
in management and $39.03 in the legal profession.
Within the management group, chief executives were among the
highest paid in the Grand Rapids area averaging $58.95 per hour.
Other highly-paid workers included managers in natural sciences
($54.83), construction ($50.30), marketing ($47.85), and sales
($43.62). Among the lower-paid managers were lodging ($19.83), food
service ($18.38), and preschool and childcare center/program
education administrators ($17.83.
(See end of news release for a link to detailed data tables.)
Among the better paid in the legal profession were judges,
magistrate judges, and magistrates earning $45.39 per hour and
lawyers averaging $41.97. Lawyers were also the largest group
within this profession accounting for 71 percent of all legal jobs.
At the other end of the wage spectrum were law clerks averaging
$18.08 per hour; however, this group represented just 3.5 percent of
all workers employed in legal occupations.
At the lower end of the wage scale in Grand Rapids were workers
in food preparation and serving related occupations averaging $8.13
per hour; nationwide, those employed in these jobs averaged $8.47.
In the Grand Rapids area, wages in this occupational group averaged
$15.91 for chefs and head cooks and $7.45 for dishwashers. Workers
in the personal care and service occupational group were also near
the bottom of the wage scale averaging $9.96 per hour, as were those
with jobs in farming, fishing and forestry earning $10.66.
Reflecting the relatively large amount of manufacturing
employment in Grand Rapids, production workers were the largest
occupational group in the area numbering 88,340 and comprising 16
percent of the local workforce, more than twice their representation
at the national level. Wages for production workers in Grand Rapids
($15.18 per hour) were above the national average ($14.18). Within
production, team assemblers accounted for one of the larger job
categories employing 13,490 and earning, on average, $13.69 per hour.
Metal and plastic patternmakers, and stationary engineers and boiler
operators were among the highest paid, averaging $28.27 and $25.64
per hour, respectively. Tailors, dressmakers, and custom sewers
($8.67 per hour) and photographic processing machine operators
($8.24) were among the lowest paid in the Grand Rapids area in the
production occupational group.
While production jobs had an above-average presence in Grand
Rapids when compared to their representation nationally, office and
administrative support positions accounted for a less-than average
share of the local workforce -- 14.6 percent versus 17.5 percent
nationwide. Office and administrative support workers averaged
$14.30 in Grand Rapids; nationwide, the average in this occupation
was $14.13. Office clerks comprised 11,090 of those employed in
office and administrative support in the Grand Rapids area; other
large worker groups included customer service representatives (8,220)
and bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks (7,130). Among the
better paid in this occupational group were workers involved with the
postal service - clerks ($22.59), mail carriers ($20.80) and mail
sorters, processors, and processing machine operators ($19.14).
Hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks ($8.62) and couriers and
messengers ($10.65) were among the lowest paid in Grand Rapids.
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. Data are
collected from panels of about 200,000 establishments each in May and
November. Estimates from the program use data collected over a 3-
year (six-panel) period and are based on a total sample of about 1.2
million establishments. The nationwide response rate for the November
2004 survey was 78.7 percent for establishments, covering 73.0
percent of weighted employment. The survey included establishments
sampled in the November 2004, May 2004, November 2003, May 2003, and
November 2002 semiannual panels and about half of the 2001 annual
panel. The sample in the Grand Rapids metropolitan area included
3,845 establishments with a response rate of 69 percent.
The occupational coding system
The OES survey uses the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB)
occupational classification system, the Standard Occupational
Classification (SOC) system. The SOC system is the first OMB-required
occupational classification system for federal agencies. The OES
survey categorizes workers in 1 of 801 detailed occupations.
Together, these detailed occupations comprise 23 major occupational
groups, one of which--military specific occupations--is not included
in the OES survey. The major groups are as follows:
Management occupations
Business and financial operations occupations
Computer and mathematical science occupations
Architecture and engineering occupations
Life, physical, and social science occupations
Community and social services occupations
Legal occupations
Education, training, and library occupations
Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media occupations
Healthcare practitioner and technical occupations
Healthcare support occupations
Protective service occupations
Food preparation and serving related occupations
Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance occupations
Personal care and service occupations
Sales and related occupations
Office and administrative support occupations
Farming, fishing, and forestry occupations
Construction and extraction occupations
Installation, maintenance, and repair occupations
Production occupations
Transportation and material moving occupations
Military specific occupations (not surveyed in OES)
For more information about the SOC system, please see the
Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Web site at
http://www.bls.gov/soc.
The industry coding system
The OES survey uses the North American Industry
Classification System (NAICS). For more information about
NAICS, see the BLS Web site at http://www.bls.gov/bls/naics.htm.
The OES survey includes establishments in NAICS sectors 11
(logging and agricultural support activities only), 21, 22, 23, 31-
33, 42, 44-45, 48-49, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 61, 62, 71, 72, 81
(except private households), state government, and local government.
Data for the United States Postal Service and the federal government
are universe counts obtained from the Postal Service and the Office
of Personnel Management, respectively. An establishment is defined
as an economic unit that processes goods or provides services, such
as a factory, mine, or store. The establishment is generally at a
single physical location and is engaged primarily in one type of
economic activity.
The OES survey covers all full- and part-time wage and salary
workers in nonfarm industries. The survey does not include the self-
employed owners and partners in unincorporated firms, household
workers, or unpaid family workers.
Survey sample
BLS funds the survey and provides the procedures and technical
support, while the State Workforce Agencies (SWAs) collect most of
the data. BLS produces cross-industry and industry-specific
estimates for the nation, states, and metropolitan statistical areas
(MSAs). Industry estimates are produced for the NAICS sector, 3-
digit, 4-digit, and selected 5-digit industry levels. BLS releases
all cross-industry and national estimates, and the SWAs release
industry estimates at the state and MSA levels.
State Unemployment Insurance (UI) files provide the universe
from which the OES survey draws its sample. The employment
benchmarks are obtained from reports submitted by employers to the UI
program. Supplemental sources are used for rail transportation (NAICS
4821) and Guam because they do not report to the UI program. The OES
survey sample is stratified by area, industry, and size class. Size
classes are defined based on number of employees in the establishment
as follows:
Size class Number of employees
-------------------------------------
1 1 to 4
2 5 to 9
3 10 to 19
4 20 to 49
5 50 to 99
6 100 to 249
7 250 and above
-------------------------------------
A census of federal government and the post office is taken
every panel. A census of state government and Hawaii's local
government is taken every November panel. Units in rail
transportation (NAICS 482) and hospitals (NAICS 622) are sampled with
certainty across a 3-year period. Establishments with 250 or more
employees also are sampled with virtual certainty across a 3-year
period; on average, one-sixth of these are sampled in each panel.
Concepts
Occupational employment is the estimate of total wage and salary
employment in an occupation across the industries surveyed. The OES
survey defines employment as the number of workers who can be
classified as full- or part-time employees, including workers on paid
vacations or other types of paid leave; workers on unpaid short-term
absences; salaried officers, executives, and staff members of
incorporated firms; employees temporarily assigned to other units;
and employees for whom the reporting unit is their permanent duty
station regardless of whether that unit prepares their paycheck.
The OES survey forms sent to larger establishments contain
between 50 and 225 SOC occupations selected on the basis of the
sampled establishment's industry classification. To reduce paperwork
and respondent burden, no survey form contains every SOC occupation.
Thus, data for specific occupations are collected primarily from
establishments in industries that are the predominant employers of
workers in those occupations. Each survey form is structured,
however, to allow a respondent to provide detailed occupational
information for each worker at the establishment; that is, unlisted
occupations can be added to the survey form. In most cases,
employers with 9 or fewer workers are sent a form with no occupations
listed, and are instructed to fill in the occupations for their
workers.
Wages for the OES survey are straight-time, gross pay, exclusive
of premium pay. Base rate, cost-of-living allowances, guaranteed
pay, hazardous-duty pay, incentive pay including commissions and
production bonuses, tips, and on-call pay are included. Excluded are
back pay, jury duty pay, overtime pay, severance pay, shift
differentials, non-production bonuses, employer cost for
supplementary benefits, and tuition reimbursements.
The OES survey collects wage data in 12 intervals.
Employers report the number of employees in an occupation for
each wage range. The wage intervals used for the November 2004
survey are as follows:
--------------------------------------------------------
| Wages
Interval |-----------------------------------------
| Hourly | Annual
--------------------------------------------------------
Range A | Under $6.75 | Under $14,040
Range B | $6.75 to $8.49 | $14,040 to $17,679
Range C | $8.50 to $10.74 | $17,680 to $22,359
Range D | $10.75 to $13.49 | $22,360 to $28,079
Range E | $13.50 to $16.99 | $28,080 to $35,359
Range F | $17.00 to $21.49 | $35,360 to $44,719
Range G | $21.50 to $27.24 | $44,720 to $56,679
Range H | $27.25 to $34.49 | $56,680 to $71,759
Range I | $34.50 to $43.74 | $71,760 to $90,999
Range J | $43.75 to $55.49 | $91,000 to $115,439
Range K | $55.50 to $69.99 | $115,440 to $145,599
Range L | $70.00 and over | $145,600 and over
---------------------------------------------------------
Mean hourly wage. The mean hourly wage rate for an occupation
is the total wages that all workers in the occupation earn in an
hour divided by the total employment of the occupation. To calculate
the mean hourly wage of each occupation, total weighted hourly wages
are summed across all intervals and divided by the occupation's
weighted survey employment. The mean wage for each interval is based
on occupational wage data collected by the BLS Office of
Compensation and Working Conditions for the National Compensation
Survey (NCS).
The mean hourly wage value for the highest wage interval, $70.00
and over, was computed separately for each panel or annual sample
(November 2004, May 2004, November 2003, May 2003, November 2002, and
2001). The average of these mean wage rates was used for all of the
$70.00 and over data in the November 2004 survey. The wage rates for
this interval do not go through any wage updating procedures.
Percentile wage. The p-th percentile wage range for an
occupation is the wage where p percent of all workers earn that
amount or less and where (100-p) percent of all workers earn that
amount or more. This statistic is calculated by uniformly
distributing the workers inside each wage interval, ranking the
workers from lowest paid to highest paid, and calculating the product
of the total employment for the occupation and the desired percentile
to determine the worker that earns the p-th percentile wage rate.
Annual wage. Many employees are paid at an hourly rate by their
employers and may work more than or less than 40 hours per week.
Annual wage estimates for most occupations in this release are
calculated by multiplying the mean hourly wage by a "year-round, full-
time" figure of 2,080 hours (52 weeks by 40 hours). Thus, annual wage
estimates may not represent the actual annual pay received by the
employee if they work more or less than 2,080 hours per year. Some
workers typically work less than full time, year round. For these
occupations, the OES survey collects and reports either the annual
salary or the hourly wage rate, depending on how the occupation is
typically paid, but not both. For example, teachers, flight
attendants, and pilots may be paid an annual salary, but do not work
the usual 2,080 hours per year. In this case, an annual salary is
reported. Other workers, such as entertainment workers are paid
hourly rates, but generally do not work full time, year round. For
these workers, only an hourly wage is reported.
Hourly versus annual wage reporting. For each occupation,
respondents are asked to report the number of employees paid within
specific wage intervals. The intervals are defined both as hourly
rates and the corresponding annual rates, where the annual rate for
an occupation is calculated by multiplying the hourly wage rate by a
typical work year of 2,080 hours. The responding establishment can
reference either the hourly or the annual rate for full-time workers,
but they are instructed to report the hourly rate for part-time
workers.
Estimation methodology
Each OES panel includes approximately 200,000 establishments.
While estimates can be made with data from one panel or one year,
the OES survey is designed to produce estimates using six panels (3
years) of data. The full six-panel sample of 1.2 million
establishments allows the production of estimates at detailed levels
of geography, industry, and occupation. Combining six panels of
data is also necessary to obtain the full complement of certainty
establishments. (Note: The first semiannual panel was in November
2002. Prior to that, about 400,000 establishments were surveyed
annually. Each earlier sample is a two-panel equivalent.)
Wage updating. Significant reductions in sampling errors are
obtained by combining six panels of data, particularly for small
geographic areas and occupations. Wages for the current panel need
no adjustment. However, wages in the five previous panels need to be
updated to the current panel's reference period.
The OES program uses the BLS Employment Cost Index (ECI) to
adjust survey data from prior panels before combining them with
the current panel's data. The wage updating procedure adjusts each
detailed occupation's wage rate, as measured in the earlier panel,
according to the average movement of its broader occupational
division. The procedure assumes that there are no major
differences by geography, industry, or detailed occupation within
the occupational division.
Imputation. Over 20 percent of establishments do not respond
for a given panel. A "nearest neighbor" hot deck imputation
procedure is used to impute occupational employment totals. A
variant of mean imputation is then used to impute a wage
distribution for each occupation. The variant of mean imputation
for wage distributions is also applied to establishments that
provide reports with occupational totals but partial or missing
wage data.
Weighting and benchmarking. The sample establishments in each
panel are weighted to represent all establishments that were part
of the in-scope frame from which the panel was selected. Based on
the sampled establishments, weights are adjusted when six panels
are combined. Weights are adjusted by benchmarking employment
totals from the OES survey to employment figures derived from the
BLS Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages.
November 2004 OES survey estimates. The November 2004 OES
survey estimates are based on all data collected from establishments
in the November 2004, May 2004, November 2003, May 2003, November
2002, and about half of the 2001 annual sample. During estimates
processing, OES employment data were benchmarked to the average
employment for November 2004 and May 2004 from the BLS Quarterly
Census of Employment and Wages.
Reliability of the estimates. Estimates calculated from a
sample survey are subject to two types of error: sampling and
nonsampling. Sampling error occurs when estimates are calculated
from a subset (i.e., sample) of the population instead of the full
population. When a sample of the population is surveyed, there is a
chance that the sample estimate of the characteristic of interest may
differ from the population value of that characteristic. Differences
between the sample estimate and the population value will vary
depending on the sample selected. This variability can be estimated
by calculating the standard error (SE) of the sample estimate. If we
were to repeat the sampling and estimation process countless times
using the same survey design, approximately 90 percent of the
intervals created by adding and subtracting 1.645 SEs from the sample
estimate would include the population value. These intervals are
called 90-percent confidence intervals. The OES survey, however,
usually uses the relative standard error (RSE) of a sample estimate
instead of its SE to measure sampling error. RSE is defined as the SE
of a sample estimate divided by the sample estimate itself. This
statistic provides the user with a measure of the relative precision
of the sample estimate. RSEs are calculated for both occupational
employment and mean wage rate estimates. Occupational employment
RSEs are calculated using a subsample, random group replication
technique called the jackknife. Mean wage rate RSEs are calculated
using a variance components model that accounts for both the observed
and unobserved components of the wage data. The variances of the
unobserved components are estimated using wage data from the BLS
National Compensation Survey. In general, estimates based on many
establishments have lower RSEs than estimates based on few
establishments. If the distributional assumptions of the models are
violated, the resulting confidence intervals may not reflect the
prescribed level of confidence.
Nonsampling error occurs for a variety of reasons, none of which
are directly connected to sampling. Examples of nonsampling error
include: nonresponse, data incorrectly reported by the respondent,
mistakes made in entering collected data into the database, and
mistakes made in editing and processing the collected data.
Results of significance testing. The OES significance tests in
this release compare wage and employment data for the 22 major
occupational groups in the Grand Rapids metropolitan area to their
respective national averages. Those occupations with wages or
employment shares above or below the national wage or share after
testing for significance at the 90 percent confidence interval are
identified in the table below. 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 our 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 effect the relative error of the data
being tested.
Employment and wage data by occupation for the U.S. and Grand Rapids-Muskegon-Holland, November 2004
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Employment share |
| (percent of total) | Mean hourly wage
Major occupational group |-----------------------------------------------------------------
| Grand Significant | Grand Significant
| U.S. Rapids difference 1/ | U.S. Rapids difference 1/
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| |
Management | 4.7 4.4 Yes | $41.87 $40.43 Yes
Business and financial operations | 4.1 3.7 Yes | 27.46 24.81 Yes
Computer and mathematical | 2.3 1.5 Yes | 31.91 27.92 Yes
Architecture and engineering | 1.8 2.2 Yes | 30.32 26.67 Yes
Life, physical, and social science | .9 .7 Yes | 27.67 25.47 Yes
Community and social services | 1.3 1.1 Yes | 17.81 19.89 Yes
Legal | .8 .4 Yes | 39.03 36.39 No
Education, training, and library | 6.2 5.4 No | 20.58 21.39 No
Arts, design, entertainment, sports, | |
and media | 1.3 1.3 No | 21.07 18.62 Yes
Healthcare practitioners and technical| 5.0 4.4 No | 28.03 29.03 No
Healthcare support | 2.6 2.7 No | 11.30 11.81 Yes
Protective service | 2.4 1.4 Yes | 16.94 16.39 No
Food preparation and serving related | 8.2 7.9 Yes | 8.47 8.13 Yes
Building and grounds cleaning | |
and maintenance | 3.3 3.1 No | 10.42 10.88 Yes
Personal care and service | 2.4 1.7 Yes | 10.62 9.96 Yes
Sales and related | 10.6 10.5 No | 15.52 16.05 No
Office and administrative support | 17.5 14.6 Yes | 14.13 14.30 No
Farming, fishing, and forestry | .3 .2 Yes | 9.94 10.66 No
Construction and extraction | 4.9 4.5 Yes | 18.21 18.18 No
Installation, maintenance, and repair | 4.1 4.2 No | 18.09 18.93 Yes
Production | 7.9 16.0 Yes | 14.18 15.18 Yes
Transportation and material moving | 7.4 8.2 Yes | 13.58 14.03 Yes
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1/ Statistical significance testing at the 90 percent confidence interval.
Additional information
The November 2004 OES national data by occupation is available
on the BLS Web site at http://www.bls.gov/oes. Users also may access
each occupation's definition and percentile wages. The November 2004
cross-industry data for states and metropolitan areas are available on
the BLS Website. Industry staffing patterns at the sector, 3-, 4-, and
selected5-digit NAICS levels also are also available from the Internet. These
data include industry-specific occupational employment and wage data.
OES information is also available through our regional web page
at http://www.bls.gov/ro5/home.htm and on our fax-on-demand system.
For a catalog of items available to be faxed to you, call our fax-on-
demand number at 312-353-1880, menu option 1. If you have additional
questions, you can contact an economist in the Midwest BLS
information office at 312-353-1880, menu option 0. 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.
*******************************************************************
To view detailed tables of occupational employment and wages in
the Grand Rapids area, go to: www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_24340.htm
*******************************************************************
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BLS Fax-on-Demand - Chicago (312) 353-1880 Document No. 9361
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Last Modified Date: June 9, 2006
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