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News Release Information

15-833-ATL
Tuesday, June 16, 2015

Contacts Technical information: Media contact:
  • (404) 893-4220

Occupational Employment and Wages in Birmingham-Hoover – May 2014

Workers in the Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $21.14 in May 2014, about 7 percent below the nationwide average of $22.71, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Regional Commissioner Janet S. Rankin 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. Sixteen groups had significantly lower wages than their respective national averages, including building and grounds cleaning and maintenance; computer and mathematical; and construction and extraction.

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

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

Total, all occupations

100.0%100.0%$22.71$21.14*-7

Management

5.04.2*54.0855.533

Business and financial operations

5.14.4*34.8131.81*-9

Computer and mathematical

2.82.640.3735.10*-13

Architecture and engineering

1.81.4*39.1936.28*-7

Life, physical, and social science

0.80.5*33.6927.18*-19

Community and social services

1.40.9*21.7920.35*-7

Legal

0.80.7*48.6144.40*-9

Education, training, and library

6.25.3*25.1024.47-3

Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media

1.31.1*26.8219.75*-26

Healthcare practitioner and technical

5.87.8*36.5431.65*-13

Healthcare support

2.92.813.8612.58*-9

Protective service

2.42.8*21.1417.25*-18

Food preparation and serving related

9.17.9*10.579.93*-6

Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance

3.22.7*12.6810.97*-13

Personal care and service

3.12.4*12.0110.58*-12

Sales and related

10.512.4*18.5918.29-2

Office and administrative support

16.017.2*17.0816.40*-4

Farming, fishing, and forestry

0.30.1*12.0914.49*20

Construction and extraction

3.94.4*22.4019.82*-12

Installation, maintenance, and repair

3.94.7*21.7421.20*-2

Production

6.66.717.0616.59-3

Transportation and material moving

6.87.016.5716.29-2

Footnotes:
(1) A positive percent difference measures how much the mean wage in Birmingham 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. Birmingham-Hoover had 38,460 jobs in healthcare practitioners and technical, accounting for 7.8 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 5.8-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $31.65, significantly below the national wage of $36.54.

Some of the largest detailed occupations within the healthcare practitioners and technical group included registered nurses (15,240), licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses (3,570), and pharmacy technicians (2,050). Among the higher paying jobs were family and general practitioners and pharmacists, with mean hourly wages of $86.19 and $53.74, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were pharmacy technicians ($12.47) and emergency medical technicians and paramedics ($13.39). (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_13820.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 Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Statistical Area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in some of the occupations within the healthcare practitioners and technical group. For instance, medical and clinical laboratory technologists were employed at 1.7 times the national rate in Birmingham, and registered nurses, at 1.6 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, physical therapists had a location quotient of 1.1 in Birmingham, 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 Alabama Department of Labor.

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 Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Statistical Area included 3,509 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 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 Birmingham-Hoover, Ala. Metropolitan Statistical Area  includes Bibb, Blount, Chilton, Jefferson, Shelby, St. Clair, and Walker Counties.

Additional information

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

Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations

38,4601.3$31.65$65,830

Chiropractors

500.527.9158,050

Dentists, General

2700.873.62153,120

Orthodontists

(5)(5)79.48165,320

Dietitians and Nutritionists

4201.921.6645,050

Optometrists

1000.844.0691,650

Pharmacists

1,6301.553.74111,790

Family and General Practitioners

1500.386.19179,280

Pediatricians, General

2001.891.23189,750

Psychiatrists

(5)(5)127.78265,770

Surgeons

(5)(5)82.13170,820

Physicians and Surgeons, All Other

1,1801.0113.33235,720

Physician Assistants

1400.441.7686,860

Occupational Therapists

5101.339.9683,110

Physical Therapists

8201.141.0385,340

Radiation Therapists

701.236.8476,630

Recreational Therapists

500.719.8841,360

Respiratory Therapists

7201.722.8047,410

Speech-Language Pathologists

3800.834.7372,240

Veterinarians

2401.137.1077,160

Registered Nurses

15,2401.628.1658,580

Nurse Anesthetists

4003.073.59153,060

Nurse Practitioners

4701.145.5394,700

Audiologists

701.629.0160,340

Medical and Clinical Laboratory Technologists

1,0201.726.7555,640

Medical and Clinical Laboratory Technicians

7801.317.9737,380

Dental Hygienists

5100.722.0845,920

Cardiovascular Technologists and Technicians

3001.623.3048,470

Diagnostic Medical Sonographers

2601.228.4659,200

Nuclear Medicine Technologists

1201.631.3365,160

Radiologic Technologists

9401.323.6749,230

Magnetic Resonance Imaging Technologists

1901.628.3158,890

Emergency Medical Technicians and Paramedics

7300.913.3927,850

Dietetic Technicians

300.319.5340,630

Pharmacy Technicians

2,0501.512.4725,940

Psychiatric Technicians

4101.713.7228,540

Respiratory Therapy Technicians

(5)(5)19.6340,830

Surgical Technologists

5601.616.2933,880

Veterinary Technologists and Technicians

1900.615.7132,690

Ophthalmic Medical Technicians

(5)(5)17.0335,420

Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses

3,5701.418.1337,700

Medical Records and Health Information Technicians

8001.216.2033,690

Opticians, Dispensing

2801.114.7030,570

Orthotists and Prosthetists

(5)(5)39.3681,860

Health Technologists and Technicians, All Other

2500.722.3846,550

Occupational Health and Safety Specialists

2000.835.9274,700

Athletic Trainers

(5)(5)(5)38,930

Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Workers, All Other

2902.017.9137,250

Footnotes:
(1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in Birmingham-Hoover, AL, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_13820.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, June 16, 2015