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News Release Information

15-1130-ATL
Thursday, June 25, 2015

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

Occupational Employment and Wages in Winston-Salem – May 2014

Workers in the Winston-Salem Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $20.92 in May 2014, about 8 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 2 of the 22 major occupational groups. Eighteen groups had significantly lower wages than their respective national averages, including arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media; construction and extraction; and computer and mathematical.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 4 of the 22 occupational groups, including healthcare practitioners and technical; and transportation and material moving. Conversely, 14 groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including computer and mathematical; construction and extraction; and personal care and service. (See table A and box note at end of release.)

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

Total, all occupations

100.0%100.0%$22.71$20.92*-8

Management

5.04.5*54.0856.88*5

Business and financial operations

5.14.8*34.8133.71*-3

Computer and mathematical

2.81.7*40.3735.18*-13

Architecture and engineering

1.81.0*39.1934.20*-13

Life, physical, and social science

0.80.6*33.6930.31*-10

Community and social services

1.41.1*21.7919.83*-9

Legal

0.81.048.6141.78*-14

Education, training, and library

6.26.525.1026.074

Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media

1.31.1*26.8221.33*-20

Healthcare practitioner and technical

5.89.2*36.5432.34*-11

Healthcare support

2.94.4*13.8612.12*-13

Protective service

2.42.0*21.1416.11*-24

Food preparation and serving related

9.19.110.579.68*-8

Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance

3.23.312.6810.20*-20

Personal care and service

3.12.2*12.0111.63-3

Sales and related

10.59.7*18.5916.75*-10

Office and administrative support

16.015.4*17.0816.26*-5

Farming, fishing, and forestry

0.3(2)*12.0915.93*32

Construction and extraction

3.92.9*22.4018.23*-19

Installation, maintenance, and repair

3.93.6*21.7419.98*-8

Production

6.67.8*17.0616.12*-6

Transportation and material moving

6.88.2*16.5714.32*-14

Footnotes:
(1) A positive percent difference measures how much the mean wage in Winston is above the national mean wage, while a negative difference reflects a lower wage.
(2) Indicates a value of less than 0.05 percent
* 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. Winston-Salem had 19,330 jobs in healthcare practitioners and technical, accounting for 9.2 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 5.8-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $32.34, significantly below the national wage of $36.54.

Some of the largest detailed occupations within the healthcare practitioners and technical group included registered nurses (8,110), licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses (1,170), and pharmacy technicians (630). Among the higher paying jobs were nurse anesthetists and pharmacists, with mean hourly wages of $77.21 and $60.06, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were emergency medical technicians and paramedics ($14.26) and pharmacy technicians ($14.49). (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_49180.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 Winston-Salem Metropolitan Statistical Area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the healthcare practitioners and technical group. For instance, physician assistants were employed at 2.5 times the national rate in Winston, and medical and clinical laboratory technicians, at 2.2 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, license practical and licensed vocational nurses had a location quotient of 1.1 in Winston, 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 North Carolina Department of Commerce.

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 Winston-Salem Metropolitan Statistical Area included 2,123 establishments with a response rate of 89 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 Winston-Salem, N.C. Metropolitan Statistical Area  includes Davie, Forsyth, Stokes, and Yadkin 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, Winston-Salem Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2014
Occupation (1)EmploymentMean wages
Level (2)Location quotient (3)HourlyAnnual (4)

Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations

19,3301.6$32.34$67,260

Dentists, General

1400.999.23206,400

Dietitians and Nutritionists

1201.425.0752,150

Optometrists

501.138.0179,050

Pharmacists

6001.360.06124,920

Family and General Practitioners

1901.078.49163,260

Surgeons

801.3(5)(5)

Physicians and Surgeons, All Other

1,2102.547.7899,390

Physician Assistants

3502.544.7193,000

Occupational Therapists

2301.332.9768,580

Physical Therapists

3001.039.3481,830

Radiation Therapists

803.040.2383,680

Recreational Therapists

401.622.0045,750

Respiratory Therapists

3902.125.7453,540

Speech-Language Pathologists

2801.431.3565,210

Veterinarians

1101.148.0699,960

Registered Nurses

8,1102.029.3361,000

Nurse Anesthetists

2203.977.21160,590

Nurse Practitioners

2601.446.5996,900

Audiologists

402.237.5678,120

Medical and Clinical Laboratory Technologists

4101.729.7861,940

Medical and Clinical Laboratory Technicians

5302.219.7641,110

Dental Hygienists

3501.132.3567,290

Cardiovascular Technologists and Technicians

1101.433.1268,890

Diagnostic Medical Sonographers

1801.933.1468,930

Nuclear Medicine Technologists

401.334.6171,980

Radiologic Technologists

6002.028.6359,560

Magnetic Resonance Imaging Technologists

901.730.5663,570

Emergency Medical Technicians and Paramedics

5301.514.2629,670

Pharmacy Technicians

6301.114.4930,150

Surgical Technologists

2501.618.8239,150

Veterinary Technologists and Technicians

1901.314.0229,160

Ophthalmic Medical Technicians

300.519.7040,980

Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses

1,1701.119.8641,310

Medical Records and Health Information Technicians

3901.417.5336,460

Opticians, Dispensing

600.519.4740,510

Orthotists and Prosthetists

705.9(6)(6)

Health Technologists and Technicians, All Other

3002.018.9139,330

Occupational Health and Safety Specialists

1201.2(6)(6)

Athletic Trainers

300.9(7)39,140

Footnotes:
(1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in Winston-Salem, NC, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_49180.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) This wage is equal to or greater than $90.00 per hour or $187,199 per year.
(6) Estimate not released.
(7) Wages for some occupations that do not generally work year-round, full time, are reported either as hourly wages or annual salaries depending on how they are typically paid.
 

 

Last Modified Date: Thursday, June 25, 2015