Workers in the Lincoln Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $20.30 in May 2014, about 11 percent below the nationwide average of $22.71, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Regional Commissioner Charlene Peiffer noted that, after testing for statistical significance, wages in the local area were higher than their respective national averages in 1 of the 22 major occupational groups. Fifteen groups had significantly lower wages than their respective national averages, including computer and mathematical; legal; and life, physical, and social science.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 5 of the 22 occupational groups, including office and administrative support; transportation and material moving; and business and financial operations. Conversely, 10 groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including management; protective service; and sales and related. (See table A and box note at end of release.)

One occupational group—office and administrative support—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Lincoln had 29,640 jobs in office and administrative support, accounting for 17.5 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 16.0-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $15.26, significantly below the national wage of $17.08.

Some of the largest detailed occupations within the office and administrative support group included office clerks, general (4,410), customer service representatives (3,190), and secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive (2,830). Among the higher paying jobs were postal service mail carriers; and postal service mail sorters, processors, and processing machine operators, with mean hourly wages of $24.98 and $23.30, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks ($8.68) and stock clerks and order fillers ($10.74). (Detailed occupational data for office and administrative support are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/2014/may/oes_30700.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 Lincoln Metropolitan Statistical Area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in some of the occupations within the office and administrative support group. For instance, interviewers, except eligibility and loan were employed at 6.4 times the national rate in Lincoln, and insurance claims and policy processing clerks, at 2.3 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, first-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers had a location quotient of 1.0 in Lincoln, 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 Nebraska Department of Labor.

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. May 2014 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2014, November 2013, May 2013, November 2012, May 2012, and November 2011. The overall national response rate for the six panels is 74.3 percent based on establishments and 70.5 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The unweighted employment of sampled establishments across all six semiannual panels represents approximately 57.1 percent of total national employment. (Response rates are slightly lower for these estimates due to the federal shutdown in October 2013.) The sample in the Lincoln Metropolitan Statistical Area included 1,865 establishments with a response rate of 86 percent. For more information about OES concepts and methodology, go to www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.tn.htm.

The OES survey provides estimates of employment and hourly and annual wages for wage and salary workers in 22 major occupational groups and 821 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. OES data by state and metropolitan/nonmetropolitan area are available from www.bls.gov/oes/current/oessrcst.htm and www.bls.gov/oes/current/oessrcma.htm, respectively.

The May 2014 OES estimates are based on the 2010 Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) system and the 2012 North American Industry Classification System (NAICS). Information about the 2010 SOC is available on the BLS website at www.bls.gov/soc and information about the 2012 NAICS is available at www.bls.gov/bls/naics.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 Lincoln, Neb. Metropolitan Statistical Area  includes Lancaster and Seward Counties.

Additional information

OES data are available on our regional web page at www.bls.gov/regions/midwest. 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/2014/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: 800-877-8339.

Table 1. Employment and wage data from the Occupational Employment Statistics survey, by occupation, Lincoln Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2014

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Office and Administrative Support Occupations	29,640	1.1	$15.26	$31,750
First-Line Supervisors of Office and Administrative Support Workers	1,780	1.0	23.00	47,840
Switchboard Operators, Including Answering Service	170	1.3	12.02	25,000
Bill and Account Collectors	(5)	(5)	19.54	40,640
Billing and Posting Clerks	450	0.7	15.07	31,350
Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks	2,370	1.2	16.08	33,440
Payroll and Timekeeping Clerks	160	0.8	18.68	38,850
Procurement Clerks	130	1.5	16.12	33,530
Tellers	690	1.1	11.20	23,300
Brokerage Clerks	50	0.7	19.65	40,870
Court, Municipal, and License Clerks	100	0.7	17.88	37,200
Customer Service Representatives	3,190	1.0	14.67	30,520
Eligibility Interviewers, Government Programs	90	0.6	17.60	36,620
File Clerks	100	0.5	12.68	26,360
Hotel, Motel, and Resort Desk Clerks	240	0.8	8.68	18,050
Interviewers, Except Eligibility and Loan	1,540	6.4	12.74	26,510
Library Assistants, Clerical	60	0.5	12.50	25,990
Loan Interviewers and Clerks	270	1.0	19.65	40,870
New Accounts Clerks	150	2.3	15.26	31,730
Order Clerks	(5)	(5)	11.87	24,690
Human Resources Assistants, Except Payroll and Timekeeping	270	1.6	17.00	35,360
Receptionists and Information Clerks	1,050	0.9	12.79	26,590
Reservation and Transportation Ticket Agents and Travel Clerks	30	0.2	12.38	25,760
Couriers and Messengers	210	2.3	11.17	23,220
Police, Fire, and Ambulance Dispatchers	70	0.6	18.36	38,190
Dispatchers, Except Police, Fire, and Ambulance	200	0.8	19.29	40,110
Postal Service Clerks	60	0.7	22.81	47,450
Postal Service Mail Carriers	290	0.7	24.98	51,970
Postal Service Mail Sorters, Processors, and Processing Machine Operators	120	0.8	23.30	48,470
Production, Planning, and Expediting Clerks	320	0.9	21.64	45,010
Shipping, Receiving, and Traffic Clerks	340	0.4	15.40	32,030
Stock Clerks and Order Fillers	2,320	1.0	10.74	22,330
Weighers, Measurers, Checkers, and Samplers, Recordkeeping	130	1.6	14.81	30,800
Executive Secretaries and Executive Administrative Assistants	1,300	1.5	20.33	42,290
Legal Secretaries	190	0.7	18.26	37,970
Medical Secretaries	410	0.6	17.59	36,580
Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive	2,830	1.0	15.94	33,160
Computer Operators	200	2.8	15.06	31,320
Data Entry Keyers	310	1.2	13.00	27,050
Word Processors and Typists	60	0.6	15.99	33,250
Desktop Publishers	40	2.3	16.42	34,160
Insurance Claims and Policy Processing Clerks	720	2.3	17.42	36,240
Mail Clerks and Mail Machine Operators, Except Postal Service	210	1.7	12.91	26,860
Office Clerks, General	4,410	1.2	11.75	24,440
Office and Administrative Support Workers, All Other	280	1.0	18.33	38,130
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in Lincoln, NE, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_30700.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.