Workers in the Las Vegas-Paradise Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $19.90 in May 2012, about 10 percent below 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 9 of the 22 major occupational groups, including healthcare practitioners and technical, construction and extraction, and healthcare support. Seven groups had significantly lower wages than their respective national averages, including computer and mathematical, management, and business and financial operations.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 5 of the 22 occupational groups, including food preparation and serving related, personal care and service, and building and grounds cleaning and maintenance. Conversely, 13 groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including production; education, training, and library; and healthcare practitioners and technical. (See table A and box note at end of release.)

One occupational group—personal care and service—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Las Vegas-Paradise had 55,810 jobs in personal care and service, accounting for 6.8 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 2.9-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $12.33, measurably above the national wage of $11.80.

With employment of 19,050, gaming dealers was the largest occupation within the personal care and service group, followed by gaming supervisors (6,110) and personal care aides (5,670). Among the higher paying jobs were gaming supervisors and costume attendants, with mean hourly wages of $26.32 and $24.54, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were gaming dealers ($8.25) and manicurists and pedicurists ($9.22). (Detailed occupational data for personal care and service are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/2012/may/oes_29820.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 Las Vegas-Paradise Metropolitan Statistical Area, above average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the personal care and service group. For instance, gaming supervisors were employed at 39.2 times the national rate in Las Vegas, and gaming dealers, at 30.8 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, hairdressers, hairstylists, and cosmetologists had a location quotient of 1.0 in Las Vegas, 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 Nevada Department of Employment.

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 Las Vegas 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 Las Vegas-Paradise Metropolitan Statistical Area included 4,367 establishments with a response rate of 63 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 Las Vegas-Paradise, Nev. Metropolitan Statistical Area  includes Clark County.

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, Las Vegas-Paradise Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2012

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual(4)
Food Preparation and Serving Related Occupations	128,880	1.8	$12.27	$25,520
Chefs and Head Cooks	2,290	4.0	26.12	54,340
First-Line Supervisors of Food Preparation and Serving Workers	6,120	1.2	18.72	38,940
Cooks, Fast Food	4,500	1.4	9.88	20,560
Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria	670	0.3	14.85	30,890
Cooks, Restaurant	13,160	2.2	14.48	30,130
Cooks, Short Order	1,940	1.8	13.29	27,640
Cooks, All Other	50	0.4	16.84	35,030
Food Preparation Workers	6,860	1.4	13.93	28,970
Bartenders	10,630	3.3	12.58	26,160
Combined Food Preparation and Serving Workers, Including Fast Food	23,020	1.3	9.49	19,730
Counter Attendants, Cafeteria, Food Concession, and Coffee Shop	3,020	1.1	10.94	22,750
Waiters and Waitresses	31,290	2.2	11.09	23,070
Food Servers, Nonrestaurant	790	0.6	12.59	26,180
Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender Helpers	8,950	3.6	11.79	24,530
Dishwashers	8,530	2.7	12.16	25,280
Hosts and Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, and Coffee Shop	4,630	2.2	12.55	26,110
Food Preparation and Serving Related Workers, All Other	2,410	9.2	12.43	25,860
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in Las Vegas-Paradise, NV, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_29820.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.

 

Last Modified Date: May 9, 2013