Workers in the Nassau County-Suffolk County Metropolitan Division had an average (mean) hourly wage of $27.24 in May 2016, about 14 percent above the nationwide average of $23.86, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Chief Regional Economist Martin Kohli noted that, after testing for statistical significance, wages in the local area were higher than their respective national averages in 16 of the 22 major occupational groups, including management; healthcare practitioners and technical; and construction and extraction. No group had an hourly wage significantly lower than its respective national average.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 9 of the 22 occupational groups, including office and administrative support; education, training, and library; and personal care and service. Conversely, 12 groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including production; food preparation and serving related; and transportation and material moving. (See table A and box note at end of release.)

One occupational group—personal care and service—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Nassau County-Suffolk County had 56,030 jobs in personal care and service, accounting for 4.4 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 3.2-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $13.92, significantly above the national wage of $12.74.

Some of the largest detailed occupations within the personal care and service group included personal care aides (23,770); childcare workers (4,550); and hairdressers, hairstylists, and cosmetologists (4,180). Among the higher paying jobs were morticians, undertakers, and funeral directors and fitness trainers and aerobics instructors, with mean hourly wages of $36.60 and $26.78, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were manicurists and pedicurists ($9.76) and shampooers ($9.96). (Detailed occupational data for personal care and service are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/2016/may/oes_35004.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 Nassau County-Suffolk County Metropolitan Division, above-average concentrations of employment were found in some of the occupations within the personal care and service group. For instance, manicurists and pedicurists were employed at 4.7 times the national rate in Nassau County, and personal care aides, at 1.7 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, fitness trainers and aerobics instructors had a location quotient of 1.0 in Nassau County, 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 New York State 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. 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 Nassau County-Suffolk County Metropolitan Division included 6,299 establishments with a response rate of 75 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 Nassau County-Suffolk County, N.Y. Metropolitan Division includes Nassau and Suffolk Counties.

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/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, Nassau County-Suffolk County Metropolitan Division, May 2016

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Personal care and service occupations	56,030	1.4	$13.92	$28,950
First-line supervisors of personal service workers	2,340	1.3	22.14	46,060
Animal trainers	170	1.4	24.10	50,120
Nonfarm animal caretakers	2,780	1.6	13.29	27,650
Ushers, lobby attendants, and ticket takers	840	0.8	11.66	24,240
Amusement and recreation attendants	2,710	1.0	11.72	24,370
Locker room, coatroom, and dressing room attendants	210	1.3	13.85	28,810
Funeral attendants	280	0.9	12.62	26,250
Morticians, undertakers, and funeral directors	240	1.0	36.60	76,130
Barbers	(5)	(5)	10.71	22,270
Hairdressers, hairstylists, and cosmetologists	4,180	1.3	12.07	25,110
Manicurists and pedicurists	3,920	4.7	9.76	20,300
Shampooers	370	2.6	9.96	20,730
Skincare specialists	670	1.7	24.00	49,920
Baggage porters and bellhops	150	0.4	11.81	24,570
Concierges	330	1.1	15.47	32,180
Tour guides and escorts	40	0.1	21.73	45,210
Childcare workers	4,550	0.9	13.81	28,710
Personal care aides	23,770	1.7	12.70	26,410
Fitness trainers and aerobics instructors	2,370	1.0	26.78	55,710
Recreation workers	3,950	1.3	14.12	29,370
Residential advisors	630	0.6	17.39	36,170
Personal care and service workers, all other	270	0.5	13.03	27,100
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Nassau County-Suffolk County Metropolitan Division, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_35004.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.