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News Release Information

17-536-CHI
Friday, June 23, 2017

Contacts Technical information: Media contact:
  • (312) 353-1138

Occupational Employment and Wages in Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington — May 2016

Workers in the Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $26.45 in May 2016, about 11 percent above the nationwide average of $23.86, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Assistant Commissioner for Regional Operations Charlene Peiffer noted that, after testing for statistical significance, wages in the local area were higher than their respective national averages in 12 of the 22 major occupational groups, including construction and extraction; healthcare practitioners and technical; and sales and related. Three groups had significantly lower wages than their respective national averages: arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media; architecture and engineering; and business and financial operations.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 8 of the 22 occupational groups, including business and financial operations; management; and personal care and service. Conversely, 12 groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including office and administrative support; food preparation and serving related; and transportation and material moving. (See table A and box note at end of release.)

Table A. Occupational employment and wages by major occupational group, United States and the Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington Metropolitan Statistical Area, and measures of statistical significance, May 2016
Major occupational groupPercent of total employmentMean hourly wage
United StatesMinneapolisUnited StatesMinneapolisPercent difference (1)

Total, all occupations

100.0100.0$23.86$26.45*11

Management

5.16.6*56.7459.27*4

Business and financial operations

5.27.0*36.0935.44*-2

Computer and mathematical

3.04.3*42.2541.72-1

Architecture and engineering

1.82.2*40.5338.84*-4

Life, physical, and social science

0.80.935.0634.980

Community and social service

1.41.8*22.6922.780

Legal

0.80.850.9551.611

Education, training, and library

6.25.7*26.2127.174

Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media

1.41.5*28.0725.92*-8

Healthcare practitioners and technical

5.95.5*38.0641.90*10

Healthcare support

2.92.6*14.6516.53*13

Protective service

2.41.5*22.0322.221

Food preparation and serving related

9.28.3*11.4711.68*2

Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance

3.22.8*13.4715.18*13

Personal care and service

3.24.7*12.7413.002

Sales and related

10.49.8*19.5022.99*18

Office and administrative support

15.714.6*17.9119.58*9

Farming, fishing, and forestry

0.30.1*13.3716.33*22

Construction and extraction

4.03.2*23.5128.87*23

Installation, maintenance, and repair

3.93.1*22.4523.93*7

Production

6.57.1*17.8818.72*5

Transportation and material moving

6.96.0*17.3418.74*8

Footnotes:
(1) A positive percent difference measures how much the mean wage in the Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington Metropolitan Statistical Area is above the national mean wage, while a negative difference reflects a lower wage.
* The percent share of employment or mean hourly wage for this area is significantly different from the national average of all areas at the 90-percent confidence level.
 

One occupational group—business and financial operations—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington had 134,070 jobs in business and financial operations, accounting for 7.0 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 5.2-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $35.44, significantly below the national wage of $36.09.

Some of the largest detailed occupations within the business and financial operations group included accountants and auditors (22,310), market research analysts and marketing specialists (11,640), and management analysts (11,150). Among the higher paying jobs were personal financial advisors and financial examiners, with mean hourly wages of $53.62 and $44.66, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were credit counselors ($23.73) and meeting, convention, and event planners ($25.70). (Detailed occupational data for business and financial operations are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/2016/may/oes_33460.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 Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington Metropolitan Statistical Area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in some of the occupations within the business and financial operations group. For instance, credit analysts in Minneapolis were employed at 3.0 times the national rate, and wholesale and retail buyers, except farm products, at 2.0 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, cost estimators in Minneapolis had a location quotient of 1.0, 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 Minnesota Department of Employment & Economic Development and the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development.

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. The OES data available from BLS include cross-industry occupational employment and wage estimates for the nation; over 650 areas, including states and the District of Columbia, metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs), metropolitan divisions, nonmetropolitan areas, and territories; national industry-specific estimates at the NAICS sector, 3-, 4-, and selected 5- and 6-digit industry levels, and national estimates by ownership across all industries and for schools and hospitals. OES data are available at www.bls.gov/oes/tables.htm.

OES estimates are constructed from a sample of about 1.2 million establishments. Each year, two semiannual panels of approximately 200,000 sampled establishments are contacted, one panel in May and the other in November. Responses are obtained by mail, Internet or other electronic means, email, telephone, or personal visit. The May 2016 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2016, November 2015, May 2015, November 2014, May 2014, and November 2013. The overall national response rate for the six panels, based on the 50 states and the District of Columbia, is 73 percent based on establishments and 69 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The unweighted employment of sampled establishments across all six semiannual panels represents approximately 58 percent of total national employment. The sample in the Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington Metropolitan Statistical Area included 8,637 establishments with a response rate of 73 percent. For more information about OES concepts and methodology, go to www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.tn.htm.

The May 2016 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.

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 Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, Minn.-Wis. Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Anoka, Carver, Chisago, Dakota, Hennepin, Isanti, Ramsey, Scott, Sherburne, Washington, and Wright Counties of Minnesota, and Pierce and St. Croix Counties of Wisconsin.

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/current/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, Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2016
Occupation (1)EmploymentMean wages
Level (2)Location quotient (3)HourlyAnnual (4)

Business and financial operations occupations

134,0701.4$35.44$73,710

Agents and business managers of artists, performers, and athletes

1801.042.4988,390

Buyers and purchasing agents, farm products

2001.332.4567,500

Wholesale and retail buyers, except farm products

2,9602.032.8468,310

Purchasing agents, except wholesale, retail, and farm products

4,8001.231.8966,340

Claims adjusters, examiners, and investigators

4,2301.128.9960,290

Insurance appraisers, auto damage

700.331.1864,860

Compliance officers

4,0201.135.8774,610

Cost estimators

3,0401.031.4765,460

Human resources specialists

10,0201.430.7964,030

Labor relations specialists

1,7701.631.8966,330

Logisticians

2,0801.134.6372,020

Management analysts

11,1501.343.3590,170

Meeting, convention, and event planners

1,1600.925.7053,450

Fundraisers

1,2101.329.9962,380

Compensation, benefits, and job analysis specialists

1,5501.437.3077,590

Training and development specialists

4,8501.331.0864,650

Market research analysts and marketing specialists

11,6401.534.2671,260

Business operations specialists, all other

20,3601.633.9370,580

Accountants and auditors

22,3101.334.8872,550

Appraisers and assessors of real estate

1,6202.035.1573,110

Budget analysts

3100.437.0677,090

Credit analysts

2,9703.040.5884,410

Financial analysts

5,7901.543.0689,560

Personal financial advisors

3,0901.153.62111,520

Insurance underwriters

1,5301.232.1266,820

Financial examiners

1,1701.744.6692,890

Credit counselors

5501.223.7349,350

Loan officers

5,1801.239.0681,250

Tax examiners and collectors, and revenue agents

8501.130.7463,930

Tax preparers

6000.627.4957,180

Financial specialists, all other

2,8101.734.1270,960

Footnotes:
(1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_33460.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: Friday, June 23, 2017