Workers in the Anchorage Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $25.43 in May 2012, about 16 percent above 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, wages in the local area were significantly higher than their respective national averages in 15 of the 22 major occupational groups, including architecture and engineering, transportation and material moving, and healthcare practitioners and technical. Four groups had significantly lower wages than their respective national averages, including computer and mathematical, and management.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 9 of the 22 occupational groups, including architecture and engineering, personal care and service, and construction and extraction. Conversely, eight groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including production, sales and related, and computer and mathematical. (See table A and box note at end of release.)

One occupational group—architecture and engineering—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Anchorage had 5,530 jobs in architecture and engineering, accounting for 3.2 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 1.8-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $47.51, measurably above the national wage of $37.98.

With employment of 1,020, civil engineers was the largest occupation within the architecture and engineering group, followed by petroleum engineers (580) and electrical engineers (480). Among the higher paying jobs were petroleum engineers and environmental engineers, with mean hourly wages of $77.54 and $55.59, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were surveying and mapping technicians ($23.72) and electrical and electronics drafters ($26.34). (Detailed occupational data for architecture and engineering are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/2012/may/oes_11260.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 Anchorage Metropolitan Statistical Area, above average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the architecture and engineering group. For instance, petroleum engineers were employed at 12.1 times the national rate in Anchorage, and surveyors, at 4.4 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, mechanical engineers had a location quotient of 1.1 in Anchorage, 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 Alaska Department of Labor & Workforce Development.

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 Anchorage 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 Anchorage Metropolitan Statistical Area included 2,084 establishments with a response rate of 77 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 Anchorage, Alaska Metropolitan Statistical Area  includes Anchorage Borough and Matanuska-Susitna Borough.

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.

Table 1. Employment and wage data from the Occupational Employment Statistics survey, by occupation, Anchorage Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2012

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual(4)
Architecture and Engineering Occupations	5,530	1.8	$47.51	$98,820
Architects, Except Landscape and Naval	190	1.7	40.20	83,620
Cartographers and Photogrammetrists	80	5.4	31.47	65,450
Surveyors	230	4.4	36.52	75,950
Chemical Engineers	80	1.9	54.99	114,380
Civil Engineers	1,020	3.0	45.56	94,760
Computer Hardware Engineers	30	0.3	37.83	78,690
Electrical Engineers	480	2.2	50.61	105,260
Electronics Engineers, Except Computer	120	0.7	51.16	106,410
Environmental Engineers	280	4.2	55.59	115,630
Health and Safety Engineers, Except Mining Safety Engineers and Inspectors	100	3.3	51.36	106,830
Industrial Engineers	80	0.3	54.60	113,570
Mechanical Engineers	350	1.1	48.96	101,830
Petroleum Engineers	580	12.1	77.54	161,270
Engineers, All Other	380	2.3	60.54	125,910
Architectural and Civil Drafters	210	1.9	34.07	70,860
Electrical and Electronics Drafters	40	1.1	26.34	54,790
Mechanical Drafters	110	1.3	36.23	75,370
Civil Engineering Technicians	190	2.0	30.39	63,210
Electrical and Electronics Engineering Technicians	280	1.5	35.86	74,580
Environmental Engineering Technicians	(5)	(5)	28.69	59,680
Mechanical Engineering Technicians	40	0.6	29.61	61,580
Engineering Technicians, Except Drafters, All Other	260	3.0	33.21	69,080
Surveying and Mapping Technicians	140	2.3	23.72	49,330
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in Anchorage, AK, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_11260.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: April 25, 2013

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