Workers in the Jacksonville Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $20.89 in May 2015, about 10 percent below the nationwide average of $23.23, 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 lower than their respective national averages in 15 of the 22 major occupational groups, including construction and extraction; legal; and arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media. One group had a significantly higher wage 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; business and financial operations; and sales and related. Conversely, nine groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including production; management; and education, training, and library. (See table A and box note at end of release.)

One occupational group—office and administrative support—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Jacksonville had 115,540 jobs in office and administrative support, accounting for 18.6 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 15.8-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $16.28, significantly below the national wage of $17.47.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the office and administrative support group included customer service representatives (20,150), secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive (12,210), and general office clerks (11,840). Among the higher paying jobs were first-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers and executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants, with mean hourly wages of $26.09 and $22.91, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks ($9.87) and clerical library assistants ($11.22). (Detailed occupational data for office and administrative support are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/2015/may/oes_27260.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 Jacksonville Metropolitan Statistical Area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in some of the occupations within the office and administrative support group. For instance, loan interviewers and clerks were employed at 3.7 times the national rate in Jacksonville, and file clerks, at 2.1 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks had a location quotient of 1.0 in Jacksonville, 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 Florida Department of Economic Opportunity.

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 program produces employment and wage estimates for over 800 occupations for all industries combined in the nation; the 50 states and the District of Columbia; 432 metropolitan areas and divisions; 167 nonmetropolitan areas; and Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. National estimates are also available by industry for NAICS sectors, 3-, 4-, and selected 5- and 6-digit industries, and 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. Forms are mailed to approximately 200,000 sampled establishments in May and November each year. May 2015 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2015, November 2014, May 2014, November 2013, May 2013, and November 2012. The overall national response rate for the six panels is 73.5 percent based on establishments and 69.6 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The unweighted employment of sampled establishments across all six semiannual panels represents approximately 57.9 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 Jacksonville Metropolitan Statistical Area included 3,829 establishments with a response rate of 74 percent. For more information about OES concepts and methodology, go to www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.tn.htm.

The May 2015 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 Jacksonville, Fla. Metropolitan Statistical Area  includes Baker, Clay, Duval, Nassau, and St. Johns 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/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, Jacksonville Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2015

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Office and Administrative Support Occupations	115,540	1.2	$16.28	$33,860
First-Line Supervisors of Office and Administrative Support Workers	7,280	1.1	26.09	54,270
Switchboard Operators, Including Answering Service	450	1.0	11.50	23,930
Bill and Account Collectors	3,130	2.2	15.82	32,910
Billing and Posting Clerks	3,050	1.4	15.82	32,910
Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks	6,870	1.0	17.56	36,530
Payroll and Timekeeping Clerks	510	0.7	18.52	38,530
Procurement Clerks	260	0.8	20.24	42,110
Tellers	3,000	1.3	14.78	30,740
Financial Clerks, All Other	490	3.1	18.27	38,010
Brokerage Clerks	380	1.5	24.80	51,590
Correspondence Clerks	(5)	(5)	16.30	33,910
Court, Municipal, and License Clerks	190	0.3	17.31	36,010
Credit Authorizers, Checkers, and Clerks	380	2.0	15.37	31,980
Customer Service Representatives	20,150	1.7	14.87	30,930
Eligibility Interviewers, Government Programs	850	1.4	21.30	44,310
File Clerks	1,320	2.1	13.22	27,490
Hotel, Motel, and Resort Desk Clerks	1,470	1.3	9.87	20,540
Interviewers, Except Eligibility and Loan	630	0.8	15.46	32,160
Library Assistants, Clerical	370	0.8	11.22	23,340
Loan Interviewers and Clerks	3,600	3.7	20.28	42,190
New Accounts Clerks	100	0.4	18.11	37,660
Order Clerks	460	0.5	14.56	30,280
Human Resources Assistants, Except Payroll and Timekeeping	600	1.0	17.11	35,590
Receptionists and Information Clerks	5,390	1.2	12.95	26,940
Reservation and Transportation Ticket Agents and Travel Clerks	440	0.7	15.99	33,260
Information and Record Clerks, All Other	1,470	1.8	16.53	34,380
Cargo and Freight Agents	580	1.6	21.61	44,950
Couriers and Messengers	180	0.6	12.61	26,230
Police, Fire, and Ambulance Dispatchers	410	1.0	16.74	34,830
Dispatchers, Except Police, Fire, and Ambulance	1,180	1.3	17.68	36,780
Meter Readers, Utilities	70	0.4	16.17	33,630
Postal Service Clerks	200	0.6	25.32	52,670
Postal Service Mail Carriers	1,160	0.8	25.49	53,020
Postal Service Mail Sorters, Processors, and Processing Machine Operators	1,110	2.2	25.07	52,140
Production, Planning, and Expediting Clerks	980	0.7	22.77	47,350
Shipping, Receiving, and Traffic Clerks	2,470	0.8	15.54	32,330
Stock Clerks and Order Fillers	8,430	1.0	12.13	25,240
Weighers, Measurers, Checkers, and Samplers, Recordkeeping	370	1.2	15.39	32,020
Executive Secretaries and Executive Administrative Assistants	3,040	1.0	22.91	47,660
Legal Secretaries	770	0.8	18.90	39,320
Medical Secretaries	1,430	0.6	16.09	33,460
Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive	12,210	1.2	15.14	31,490
Computer Operators	200	0.9	21.71	45,150
Data Entry Keyers	1,680	1.9	13.86	28,830
Word Processors and Typists	200	0.6	15.00	31,210
Insurance Claims and Policy Processing Clerks	2,590	2.2	16.46	34,230
Mail Clerks and Mail Machine Operators, Except Postal Service	300	0.7	13.93	28,980
Office Clerks, General	11,840	0.9	13.52	28,130
Office Machine Operators, Except Computer	320	1.1	12.56	26,120
Statistical Assistants	(5)	(5)	23.61	49,110
Office and Administrative Support Workers, All Other	840	0.8	16.04	33,370
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in Jacksonville, FL, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_27260.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.