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News Release Information

22-1832-PHI
Wednesday, September 07, 2022

Contacts Technical information: Media contact:

Occupational Employment and Wages in Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton — May 2021

Workers in the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $25.74 in May 2021, about 8 percent below the nationwide average of $28.01, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Alexandra Hall Bovee noted that, after testing for statistical significance, wages in the local area were lower than their respective national averages in 14 of the 22 major occupational groups, including computer and mathematical; legal; and arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media. Three groups had significantly higher wages than their respective national averages: production; educational instruction and library; and installation, maintenance, and repair.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, Allentown area employment was more highly concentrated in 7 of the 22 occupational groups, including transportation and material moving, healthcare practitioners and technical, and production. Twelve groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including business and financial operations, computer and mathematical, and management. (See table A.)

Table A. Occupational employment and wages by major occupational group, United States and the Allentown metropolitan area, and measures of statistical significance, May 2021
Major occupational groupPercent of total employmentMean hourly wage
United StatesAllentownUnited StatesAllentownPercent difference (1)

Total, all occupations

100.0100.0$28.01$25.74*-8

Management

6.35.0*59.3156.88*-4

Business and financial operations

6.44.2*39.7236.71*-8

Computer and mathematical

3.31.9*48.0140.25*-16

Architecture and engineering

1.71.5*44.1040.18*-9

Life, physical, and social science

0.90.7*38.8132.24*-17

Community and social service

1.61.625.9424.45*-6

Legal

0.80.4*54.3846.67*-14

Educational instruction and library

5.86.1*29.8830.49*2

Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media

1.31.0*31.7824.62*-23

Healthcare practitioners and technical

6.28.0*43.8043.42-1

Healthcare support

4.75.3*16.0215.76*-2

Protective service

2.41.9*25.6825.47-1

Food preparation and serving related

8.07.2*14.1613.41*-5

Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance

2.92.916.2316.351

Personal care and service

1.82.2*16.1714.68*-9

Sales and related

9.48.6*22.1520.43*-8

Office and administrative support

13.012.920.8820.31*-3

Farming, fishing, and forestry

0.30.1*16.7017.072

Construction and extraction

4.22.9*26.8727.151

Installation, maintenance, and repair

4.04.1*25.6626.12*2

Production

6.07.2*20.7121.53*4

Transportation and material moving

9.014.3*19.8819.11*-4

Footnotes:
(1) A positive percent difference measures how much the mean wage in the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ Metropolitan Statistical Area is above the national mean wage, while a negative difference reflects a lower wage.
* The mean hourly wage or percent share of employment is significantly different from the national average of all areas at the 90-percent confidence level.

One occupational group—transportation and material moving—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Allentown had 49,700 jobs in transportation and material moving, accounting for 14.3 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 9.0-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $19.11, significantly below the national wage of $19.88.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the transportation and material moving group included laborers and freight, stock, and material movers, hand (14,620), stockers and order fillers (9,020), and heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers (6,410). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were transportation inspectors and first-line supervisors of transportation and material moving workers, except aircraft cargo handling supervisors, with mean hourly wages of $35.07 and $29.57, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were automotive and watercraft service attendants ($12.88) and ambulance drivers and attendants, except emergency medical technicians ($13.27). (Detailed data for the transportation and material moving occupations are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_10900.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 Allentown area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the transportation and material moving group. For instance, machine feeders and offbearers were employed at 7.4 times the national rate in Allentown, and industrial truck and tractor operators, at 3.1 times the U.S. average. Light truck drivers had a location quotient of 1.1 in Allentown, indicating that this particular occupation’s local and national employment shares were similar.

These statistics are from the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey, a federal-state cooperative program between BLS and State Workforce Agencies, in this case, the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry, and the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development.

Changes to the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) Data

With the May 2021 estimates release, the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) program has implemented a new model-based (MB3) estimation method. For more information, see the May 2021 Survey Methods and Reliability Statement at www.bls.gov/oes/methods_21.pdf and the Monthly Labor Review article at www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2019/article/model-based-estimates-for-the-occupational-employment-statistics-program.htm. OEWS estimates for the years 2015-19 were recalculated using the new estimation method and are available as research estimates at www.bls.gov/oes/oes-mb3-methods.htm.

The May 2021 OEWS estimates are also the first estimates based entirely on survey data collected using the 2018 Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) system. To improve data quality, the OEWS program aggregates some occupations to the SOC broad occupation level or as OEWS-specific combinations of 2018 SOC detailed occupations.


Technical Note

The Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey is a semiannual survey measuring occupational employment and wage rates for wage and salary workers in nonfarm establishments in the United States. The OEWS data available from BLS include cross-industry occupational employment and wage estimates for the nation; over 580 areas, including states and the District of Columbia, metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs), nonmetropolitan areas, and territories; national industry-specific estimates at the NAICS sector, 3-digit, most 4-digit, and selected 5- and 6-digit industry levels, and national estimates by ownership across all industries and for schools and hospitals. OEWS data are available at www.bls.gov/oes/tables.htm.

The OEWS survey is a cooperative effort between BLS and the State Workforce Agencies (SWAs). BLS funds the survey and provides the procedures and technical support, while the State Workforce Agencies collect most of the data. OEWS estimates are constructed from a sample of about 1.1 million establishments. Each year, two semiannual panels of approximately 179,000 to 187,000 sampled establishments are contacted, one panel in May and the other in November. Responses are obtained by Internet or other electronic means, mail, email, telephone, or personal visit. The May 2021 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2021, November 2020, May 2020, November 2019, May 2019, and November 2018. The unweighted sampled employment of 82 million across all six semiannual panels represents approximately 62 percent of total national employment. The overall national response rate for the six panels, based on the 50 states and the District of Columbia, is 67.2 percent based on establishments and 64.5 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The sample in the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ Metropolitan Statistical Area included 3,334 establishments with a response rate of 62 percent. For more information about OEWS concepts and methodology, go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_tec.htm.

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.

Metropolitan 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 Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Warren County, NJ; Carbon County, PA; Lehigh County, PA; and Northampton County, PA.

For more information

Answers to frequently asked questions about the OEWS data are available at www.bls.gov/oes/oes_ques.htm. Detailed information about the OEWS program is available at www.bls.gov/oes/oes_doc.htm.

Information in this release will be made available to individuals with sensory impairments upon request. Voice phone: (202) 691-5200; Telecommunications Relay Service: 7-1-1.

Table 1. Employment and wage data for transportation and material moving occupations, Allentown metropolitan area, May 2021
Occupation (1)EmploymentMean wages
Level (2)Location quotient (3)HourlyAnnual (4)

Transportation and material moving occupations

49,7001.6$19.11$39,750

First-line supervisors of transportation and material moving workers, except aircraft cargo handling supervisors

2,1201.629.5761,500

Ambulance drivers and attendants, except emergency medical technicians

401.513.2727,600

Driver/sales workers

1,3601.214.3729,890

Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers

6,4101.424.4250,790

Light truck drivers

2,7601.120.8443,340

Bus drivers, school

1,2101.419.8541,300

Bus drivers, transit and intercity

3701.021.5744,870

Shuttle drivers and chauffeurs

4100.913.8128,720

Motor vehicle operators, all other

1000.812.5826,170

Parking attendants

1500.714.0129,150

Automotive and watercraft service attendants

2901.012.8826,790

Transportation inspectors

601.135.0772,950

Crane and tower operators

700.625.9553,970

Industrial truck and tractor operators

5,7803.119.7141,000

Cleaners of vehicles and equipment

7800.914.5830,330

Laborers and freight, stock, and material movers, hand

14,6202.217.8737,160

Machine feeders and offbearers

1,1107.418.6938,880

Packers and packagers, hand

2,4001.715.4432,110

Stockers and order fillers

9,0201.515.9733,220

Refuse and recyclable material collectors

2600.818.2738,010

Footnotes:
(1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_10900.htm.
(2) Estimates for detailed occupations may not sum to the totals due to rounding, and because the totals may include occupations that are 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: Wednesday, September 07, 2022