Workers in the Oakland-Fremont-Hayward Metropolitan Division had an average (mean) hourly wage of $28.45 in May 2012, about 29 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 all of the 22 major occupational groups.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 5 of the 22 occupational groups, including management, architecture and engineering, and computer and mathematical. Conversely, 12 groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including production, transportation and material moving, and food preparation and serving related. (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. Oakland-Fremont-Hayward had 30,260 jobs in architecture and engineering, accounting for 3.1 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 1.8-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $46.61, measurably above the national wage of $37.98.

With employment of 4,240, civil engineers was the largest occupation within the architecture and engineering group, followed by industrial engineers (2,230) and electrical engineers (2,070). Among the higher paying jobs were nuclear engineers and chemical engineers, with mean hourly wages of $65.42 and $61.49, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were industrial engineering technicians ($27.81) and mechanical engineering technicians ($29.08). (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_36084.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 Oakland-Fremont-Hayward Metropolitan Division, above average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the architecture and engineering group. For instance, electro-mechanical technicians were employed at 4.3 times the national rate in Oakland, and civil engineers, at 2.2 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, mechanical engineers had a location quotient of 1.0 in Oakland, 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 California Employment Development Department.

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 Oakland metropolitan division 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 Oakland-Fremont-Hayward Metropolitan Division included 5,713 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.

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 Oakland-Fremont-Hayward, Calif. Metropolitan Division  includes Alameda and Contra Costa Counties.

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, Oakland-Fremont-Hayward Metropolitan Division, May 2012

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual(4)
Architecture and Engineering Occupations	30,260	1.7	$46.61	$96,950
Architects, Except Landscape and Naval	880	1.4	47.16	98,100
Landscape Architects	210	1.8	41.64	86,600
Cartographers and Photogrammetrists	120	1.4	34.76	72,300
Surveyors	330	1.1	46.09	95,860
Biomedical Engineers	360	2.6	47.09	97,940
Chemical Engineers	260	1.1	61.49	127,900
Civil Engineers	4,240	2.2	48.34	100,560
Computer Hardware Engineers	(5)	(5)	56.88	118,320
Electrical Engineers	2,070	1.7	53.31	110,880
Electronics Engineers, Except Computer	1,960	1.9	48.80	101,510
Environmental Engineers	770	2.0	49.29	102,520
Health and Safety Engineers, Except Mining Safety Engineers and Inspectors	410	2.3	39.33	81,810
Industrial Engineers	2,230	1.4	50.09	104,190
Materials Engineers	150	0.9	43.38	90,230
Mechanical Engineers	1,790	1.0	49.32	102,580
Mining and Geological Engineers, Including Mining Safety Engineers	40	0.8	57.61	119,820
Nuclear Engineers	(5)	(5)	65.42	136,070
Petroleum Engineers	190	0.7	58.92	122,560
Engineers, All Other	1,690	1.9	52.25	108,670
Architectural and Civil Drafters	910	1.5	30.35	63,120
Electrical and Electronics Drafters	440	2.1	34.02	70,770
Mechanical Drafters	240	0.5	36.45	75,810
Drafters, All Other	90	0.9	31.25	65,010
Civil Engineering Technicians	810	1.5	34.38	71,520
Electrical and Electronics Engineering Technicians	1,610	1.5	29.25	60,850
Electro-Mechanical Technicians	550	4.3	(5)	(5)
Environmental Engineering Technicians	200	1.5	33.34	69,350
Industrial Engineering Technicians	310	0.6	27.81	57,840
Mechanical Engineering Technicians	370	1.1	29.08	60,490
Engineering Technicians, Except Drafters, All Other	650	1.3	40.49	84,230
Surveying and Mapping Technicians	300	0.9	33.54	69,760
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in Oakland-Fremont-Hayward, CA Metropolitan Division, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_36084.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.