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News Release Information

15-1801-BOS
Monday, September 14, 2015

Contacts Technical information: Media contact:
  • (617) 565-4141

Occupational Employment and Wages in Worcester — May 2014

Workers in the Worcester Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $24.68 in May 2014, about 9 percent above the nationwide average of $22.71, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Regional Commissioner Deborah A. Brown 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 healthcare practitioners and technical; education, training, and library; and construction and extraction. Four groups had significantly lower wages than their respective national averages, including legal and architecture and engineering.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 6 of the 22 occupational groups, including healthcare practitioners and technical; community and social service; and education, training, and library. Conversely, 12 groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including sales and related; food preparation and serving related; and construction and extraction. (See table A and box note at end of release.)

Table A. Occupational employment and wages by major occupational group, United States and the Worcester Metropolitan Statistical Area, and measures of statistical significance, May 2014
Major occupational groupPercent of total employmentMean hourly wage
United StatesWorcesterUnited StatesWorcesterPercent difference (1)

Total, all occupations

100.0%100.0%$22.71$24.68*9

Management

5.05.9*54.0851.66*-4

Business and Financial Operations

5.15.034.8134.920

Computer and Mathematical

2.82.3*40.3743.49*8

Architecture and Engineering

1.81.5*39.1934.67*-12

Life, Physical, and Social Science

0.81.1*33.6931.84-5

Community and Social Services

1.43.0*21.7921.23-3

Legal

0.80.4*48.6141.05*-16

Education, Training, and Library

6.27.8*25.1028.91*15

Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media

1.31.0*26.8223.02*-14

Healthcare Practitioner and Technical

5.87.9*36.5442.97*18

Healthcare Support

2.93.7*13.8615.82*14

Protective Service

2.42.3*21.1423.5311

Food Preparation and Serving Related

9.17.9*10.5711.35*7

Building and Grounds Cleaning and Maintenance

3.22.8*12.6814.85*17

Personal Care and Service

3.13.012.0114.70*22

Sales and Related

10.59.1*18.5918.610

Office and Administrative Support

16.016.417.0818.40*8

Farming, Fishing, and Forestry

0.30.1*12.0915.58*29

Construction and Extraction

3.92.7*22.4025.90*16

Installation, Maintenance, and Repair

3.93.4*21.7422.99*6

Production

6.66.817.0618.61*9

Transportation and Material Moving

6.86.1*16.5717.244

Footnotes:
(1) A positive percent difference measures how much the mean wage in Worcester 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—healthcare practitioners and technical—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Worcester had 19,600 jobs in healthcare practitioners and technical, accounting for 7.9 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 5.8-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $42.97, significantly above the national wage of $36.54.

Some of the largest detailed occupations within the healthcare practitioners and technical group included registered nurses (6,670), licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses (1,670), and pharmacy technicians (620). Among the higher paying jobs were family and general practitioners and general dentists, with mean hourly wages of $103.02 and $94.14, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were psychiatric technicians ($13.54) and pharmacy technicians ($16.58). (Detailed occupational data for healthcare practitioners and technical are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/2014/may/oes_79600.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 Worcester Metropolitan Statistical Area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the healthcare practitioners and technical group. For instance, psychiatric technicians were employed at 4.4 times the national rate in Worcester, and veterinary technologists and technicians, at 2.7 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, pharmacists had a location quotient of 1.0 in Worcester, 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 Massachusetts Division of Unemployment Assistance.

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. 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 Worcester Metropolitan Statistical Area included 2,690 establishments with a response rate of 76 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 Worcester, MA-CT Metropolitan Statistical Area  includes Auburn town, MA, Barre town, MA, Boylston town, MA, Brookfield town, MA, Charlton town, MA, Clinton town, MA, Douglas town, MA, Dudley town, MA, East Brookfield town, MA, Grafton town, MA, Holden town, MA, Holland town, MA, Hubbardston town, Lancaster town, MA, Leicester town, MA, Millbury town, MA, New Braintree town, MA, North Brookfield town, MA, Northborough town, MA, Northbridge town, MA, Oakham town, MA, Oxford town, MA, Paxton town, MA, Princeton town, MA, Putnam town, CT, Rutland town, MA, Shrewsbury town, MA, Southbridge town, MA, Spencer town, MA, Sterling town, MA, Sturbridge town, MA, Sutton town, MA, Thompson town, CT, Uxbridge town, MA, Webster town, MA, West Boylston town, MA, West Brookfield town, MA, Westborough town, MA, Woodstock town, CT, and Worcester city, MA.

Additional information

OES data are available on our regional web page at www.bls.gov/regions/northeast. 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, Worcester Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2014
Occupation (1)EmploymentMean wages
Level (2)Location quotient (3)HourlyAnnual (4)

Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations

19,6001.4$42.97$89,370

Dentists, General

2101.194.14195,800

Dietitians and Nutritionists

1601.525.7453,530

Optometrists

500.763.96133,040

Pharmacists

5201.052.15108,470

Anesthesiologists

(5)(5)128.04266,320

Family and General Practitioners

2501.1103.02214,290

Obstetricians and Gynecologists

(5)(5)(7)(7)

Pediatricians, General

801.491.15189,580

Surgeons

901.2126.96264,070

Physicians and Surgeons, All Other

3600.671.64149,020

Physician Assistants

2301.346.2496,170

Occupational Therapists

4302.136.7476,410

Physical Therapists

5401.537.0477,030

Recreational Therapists

1404.115.1531,520

Respiratory Therapists

2401.133.9670,630

Speech-Language Pathologists

2801.235.7374,320

Therapists, All Other

703.131.3465,190

Veterinarians

2101.840.0283,250

Registered Nurses

6,6701.343.4490,350

Nurse Anesthetists

(5)(5)71.68149,100

Nurse Practitioners

3901.749.12102,160

Medical and Clinical Laboratory Technologists

5201.832.2867,140

Medical and Clinical Laboratory Technicians

4101.422.1946,160

Dental Hygienists

6001.636.0975,080

Cardiovascular Technologists and Technicians

700.731.5065,510

Diagnostic Medical Sonographers

600.531.3565,200

Radiologic Technologists

2800.839.1381,390

Magnetic Resonance Imaging Technologists

1402.340.8084,860

Emergency Medical Technicians and Paramedics

(5)(5)18.5838,650

Dietetic Technicians

1402.613.1027,250

Pharmacy Technicians

6200.916.5834,490

Psychiatric Technicians

5204.413.5428,160

Surgical Technologists

1701.024.6451,250

Veterinary Technologists and Technicians

4602.719.2940,110

Ophthalmic Medical Technicians

400.520.1341,880

Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses

1,6701.326.1454,360

Medical Records and Health Information Technicians

3501.021.9745,710

Opticians, Dispensing

1301.027.2556,690

Health Technologists and Technicians, All Other

1500.824.1650,240

Occupational Health and Safety Specialists

1000.830.9964,460

Athletic Trainers

701.7(5)45,140

Footnotes:
(1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in Worcester, MA-CT, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_79600.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.
(7) This wage is equal to or greater than $80.00 per hour or $166,400 per year.
 

 

Last Modified Date: Monday, September 14, 2015