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News Release Information

18-423-CHI
Tuesday, May 22, 2018

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

Occupational Employment and Wages in Des Moines-West Des Moines — May 2017

Workers in the Des Moines-West Des Moines Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $24.33 in May 2017, not significantly different from the nationwide average of $24.34, 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 3 of the 22 major occupational groups. Eleven groups had significantly lower wages than their respective national averages, including legal; architecture and engineering; and arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 7 of the 22 occupational groups, including business and financial operations; office and administrative support; and management. Conversely, 12 groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including production; food preparation and serving related; and healthcare support. (See table A and box note at end of release.)

Table A. Occupational employment and wages by major occupational group, United States and the Des Moines-West Des Moines Metropolitan Statistical Area, and measures of statistical significance, May 2017
Major occupational groupPercent of total employmentMean hourly wage
United StatesDes MoinesUnited StatesDes MoinesPercent difference (1)

Total, all occupations

100.0100.0$24.34$24.330

Management

5.16.6*57.6552.74*-9

Business and financial operations

5.27.4*36.7034.16*-7

Computer and mathematical

3.04.1*43.1839.95*-7

Architecture and engineering

1.80.9*41.4434.58*-17

Life, physical, and social science

0.80.7*35.7633.19*-7

Community and social service

1.51.3*23.1023.321

Legal

0.80.8*51.6244.33*-14

Education, training, and library

6.15.926.6724.26*-9

Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media

1.41.6*28.3421.60*-24

Healthcare practitioners and technical

6.05.3*38.8337.61-3

Healthcare support

2.92.1*15.0516.11*7

Protective service

2.41.6*22.6920.62-9

Food preparation and serving related

9.38.2*11.8811.32*-5

Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance

3.13.013.9113.970

Personal care and service

3.63.1*13.1113.241

Sales and related

10.210.519.5619.600

Office and administrative support

15.417.0*18.2419.28*6

Farming, fishing, and forestry

0.30.1*13.8717.27*25

Construction and extraction

4.04.3*24.0122.92*-5

Installation, maintenance, and repair

3.93.5*23.0222.940

Production

6.35.3*18.3016.92*-8

Transportation and material moving

7.06.5*17.8218.081

Footnotes:
(1) A positive percent difference measures how much the mean wage in the Des Moines-West Des Moines 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. Des Moines-West Des Moines had 27,070 jobs in business and financial operations, accounting for 7.4 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 5.2-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $34.16, significantly below the national wage of $36.70.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the business and financial operations group included accountants and auditors (3,400), management analysts (3,100), and market research analysts and marketing specialists (2,050). Among the higher paying jobs in this group were personal financial advisors and financial analysts, with mean hourly wages of $44.14 and $40.09, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were credit counselors ($19.72) and meeting, convention, and event planners ($22.35). (Detailed data for business and financial operations occupations are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_19780.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 Des Moines-West Des Moines Metropolitan Statistical Area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the business and financial operations group. For instance, insurance underwriters were employed at 5.3 times the national rate in Des Moines, and claims adjusters, examiners, and investigators, at 2.6 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, compliance officers had a location quotient of 1.0 in Des Moines, 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 Iowa Department of Workforce Development.

Notes on Occupational Employment Statistics Data

With the release of the May 2017 estimates, the OES program has replaced 21 detailed occupations found in the 2010 Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) with 10 new aggregations of those occupations. In addition, selected 4- and 5-digit North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) industries previously published by OES will no longer be published separately. Some of the 4-digit NAICS industries that are no longer being published separately will instead be published as OES-specific industry aggregations. More information about the new occupational and industry aggregations is available at www.bls.gov/oes/changes_2017.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.


Technical Note

The Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) survey is a semiannual 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 2017 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2017, November 2016, May 2016, November 2015, May 2015, and November 2014. The overall national response rate for the six panels, based on the 50 states and the District of Columbia, is 72 percent based on establishments and 68 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The unweighted sample employment of 82 million across all six semiannual panels represents approximately 58 percent of total national employment. The sample in the Des Moines-West Des Moines Metropolitan Statistical Area included 3,069 establishments with a response rate of 72 percent. For more information about OES concepts and methodology, go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_tec.htm.

The May 2017 OES estimates are based on the 2010 Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) system and the 2017 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 2017 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 Des Moines-West Des Moines, Iowa Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Dallas, Guthrie, Madison, Polk, and Warren 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/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, Des Moines-West Des Moines Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2017
Occupation (1)EmploymentMean wages
Level (2)Location quotient (3)HourlyAnnual (4)

Business and financial operations occupations

27,0701.4$34.16$71,050

Buyers and purchasing agents

7400.729.2160,760

Claims adjusters, examiners, and investigators

1,8802.629.6461,640

Compliance officers

7601.031.1064,700

Cost estimators

5000.932.5867,770

Human resources specialists

1,5201.130.6063,650

Labor relations specialists

3201.636.1775,230

Logisticians

3700.930.9664,390

Management analysts

3,1001.938.7480,570

Meeting, convention, and event planners

2701.122.3546,490

Fundraisers

3001.623.2448,330

Compensation, benefits, and job analysis specialists

2301.131.9566,460

Training and development specialists

9901.430.4163,250

Market research analysts and marketing specialists

2,0501.432.4567,490

Business operations specialists, all other

2,8901.135.8574,570

Accountants and auditors

3,4001.134.5171,780

Appraisers and assessors of real estate

2301.5(5)(5)

Budget analysts

1301.036.5175,940

Credit analysts

7303.835.9674,790

Financial analysts

1,0201.440.0983,390

Personal financial advisors

8201.644.1491,820

Insurance underwriters

1,2205.334.9172,620

Credit counselors

4504.919.7241,020

Loan officers

1,6202.133.1368,910

Tax examiners and collectors, and revenue agents

1601.130.9264,320

Tax preparers

(5)(5)25.0252,040

Financial specialists, all other

6201.936.9676,870

Footnotes:
(1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_19780.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.

 

Last Modified Date: Tuesday, May 22, 2018