Workers in the Madison Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $22.22 in May 2011, about 2 percent above the nationwide average of $21.74, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Charlene Peiffer noted that, after testing for statistical significance, wages in the local area were significantly higher than their respective national averages in 4 of the 22 major occupational groups, including construction and extraction; installation, maintenance, and repair; and production. Seven groups had significantly lower wages than their respective national averages, including legal; architecture and engineering; and management.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 5 of the 22 occupational groups, including business and financial operations; computer and mathematical; and life, physical, and social science occupations. Conversely, 10 groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including sales and related; transportation and material moving; and construction and extraction. (See table A and box note at end of release.)

One occupational group—life, physical, and social science—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Madison had 7,120 jobs in life, physical, and social science, accounting for 2.2 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 0.8-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $28.77, measurably below the national wage of $32.44.

With employment of 1,480, medical scientists, except epidemiologists was the largest occupation within the life, physical, and social science group, followed by environmental scientists and specialists, including health; and biological technicians, both with employment of 360. Among the higher paying jobs were economists and sociologists, with mean hourly wages of $40.48 and $40.00, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were forest and conservation technicians ($14.54) and agricultural and food science technicians ($15.59). (Detailed occupational data for life, physical, and social science are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_31540.htm)

Location quotients allow for the exploration of an area’s occupational make-up 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 Madison Metropolitan Statistical Area, above average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the life, physical, and social science group. For instance, medical scientists, except epidemiologists were employed at 6.0 times the national rate in Madison, and soil and plant scientists, at 5.7 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, chemical technicians had a location quotient of 1.0 in Madison, 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 Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development. 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 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 2011 survey was 77.3 percent based on establishments and 73.3 percent based on employment. May 2011 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2011, November 2010, May 2010, November 2009, May 2009, and November 2008. The sample in the Madison Metropolitan Statistical Area included 2,806 establishments with a response rate of 74 percent. For more information about OES concepts and methodology, go to www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.tn.htm.

The May 2011 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 Madison, Wis. Metropolitan Statistical Area  includes Columbia, Dane, and Iowa Counties.

Additional information

OES data are available on our regional web page at www.bls.gov/ro5/home.htm. If you have additional questions, contact the Chicago Economic Analysis and Information Unit at (312) 353-1880. 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, Madison Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2011

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual(4)
Life, Physical, and Social Science Occupations	7,120	2.6	$28.77	$59,840
Animal Scientists	100	18.4	33.20	69,060
Food Scientists and Technologists	80	2.5	34.31	71,360
Soil and Plant Scientists	170	5.7	25.52	53,080
Biochemists and Biophysicists	140	2.2	26.95	56,050
Microbiologists	250	5.5	26.85	55,840
Biological Scientists, All Other	280	3.4	28.94	60,200
Conservation Scientists	250	5.2	31.66	65,840
Foresters	40	1.9	24.13	50,190
Medical Scientists, Except Epidemiologists	1,480	6.0	25.45	52,940
Physicists	130	3.2	37.63	78,260
Atmospheric and Space Scientists	110	4.4	37.67	78,360
Chemists	330	1.6	28.56	59,400
Environmental Scientists and Specialists, Including Health	360	1.7	29.73	61,840
Geoscientists, Except Hydrologists and Geographers	90	1.0	37.45	77,900
Hydrologists	100	5.4	32.53	67,660
Physical Scientists, All Other	(5)	(5)	40.41	84,060
Economists	100	2.8	40.48	84,200
Clinical, Counseling, and School Psychologists	330	1.3	31.55	65,630
Sociologists	30	4.6	40.00	83,200
Urban and Regional Planners	140	1.4	34.78	72,330
Anthropologists and Archeologists	40	2.7	19.86	41,300
Social Scientists and Related Workers, All Other	210	2.6	28.70	59,700
Agricultural and Food Science Technicians	120	2.7	15.59	32,430
Biological Technicians	360	1.9	16.26	33,830
Chemical Technicians	150	1.0	18.33	38,130
Social Science Research Assistants	60	0.9	20.96	43,590
Environmental Science and Protection Technicians, Including Health	70	0.9	17.52	36,440
Forest and Conservation Technicians	70	0.9	14.54	30,240
Life, Physical, and Social Science Technicians, All Other	340	2.2	21.04	43,770
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in Madison, WI, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_31540.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: July 11, 2012