Workers in the Cape Coral-Fort Myers Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $19.89 in May 2017, about 18 percent below the nationwide average of $24.34, 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 16 of the 22 major occupational groups, including computer and mathematical; architecture and engineering; and construction and extraction. One group—farming, fishing, and forestry—had a significantly higher wage than its respective national average.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 7 of the 22 occupational groups, including sales and related; construction and extraction; and food preparation and serving related. Conversely, 12 groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including production; computer and mathematical; and business and financial operations. (See table A and box note at end of release.)

One occupational group—sales and related—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Cape Coral-Fort Myers had 37,230 jobs in sales and related occupations, accounting for 14.4 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 10.2-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $17.29, significantly below the national wage of $19.56.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the sales and related group included retail salespersons (12,800), cashiers (9,000), and first-line supervisors of retail sales workers (3,190). Among the higher paying jobs in this group were securities, commodities, and financial services sales agents; and first-line supervisors of non-retail sales workers, with mean hourly wages of $35.34 and $35.04, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were cashiers ($10.38) and retail salespersons ($12.59). (Detailed data for sales and related occupations are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available, go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_15980.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 Cape Coral-Fort Myers Metropolitan Statistical Area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in some of the occupations within the sales and related group. For instance, real estate sales agents were employed at 2.4 times the national rate in Cape Coral, and retail salespersons, at 1.6 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, wholesale and manufacturing sales representatives, except technical and scientific products, had a location quotient of 1.1 in Cape Coral, 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 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 2017 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2017, November 2016, May 2016, November 2015, May 2015, and November 2014. The overall national response rate for the six panels, based on the 50 states and the District of Columbia, is 72 percent based on establishments and 68 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The unweighted sample employment of 82 million across all six semiannual panels represents approximately 58 percent of total national employment. The sample in the Cape Coral-Fort Myers Metropolitan Statistical Area included 2,307 establishments with a response rate of 77 percent. For more information about OES concepts and methodology, go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_tec.htm.

The May 2017 OES estimates are based on the 2010 Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) system and the 2017 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 2017 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 Cape Coral-Fort Myers Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Lee County in Florida.

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, Cape Coral-Fort Myers Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2017

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Sales and related occupations	37,230	1.4	$17.29	$35,950
First-line supervisors of retail sales workers	3,190	1.5	21.69	45,120
First-line supervisors of non-retail sales workers	640	1.4	35.04	72,880
Cashiers	9,000	1.4	10.38	21,590
Counter and rental clerks	1,150	1.4	13.59	28,270
Parts salespersons	520	1.1	14.98	31,160
Retail salespersons	12,800	1.6	12.59	26,180
Advertising sales agents	350	1.4	30.68	63,800
Insurance sales agents	1,000	1.4	26.17	54,430
Securities, commodities, and financial services sales agents	630	0.9	35.34	73,510
Travel agents	110	0.9	18.28	38,030
Sales representatives, services, all other	2,180	1.2	29.35	61,050
Sales representatives, wholesale and manufacturing, technical and scientific products	310	0.5	46.26	96,210
Sales representatives, wholesale and manufacturing, except technical and scientific products	2,640	1.1	30.54	63,520
Demonstrators and product promoters	200	1.3	14.08	29,290
Real estate brokers	(5)	(5)	47.98	99,790
Real estate sales agents	630	2.4	31.85	66,260
Telemarketers	(5)	(5)	12.93	26,890
Sales and related workers, all other	150	0.9	14.58	30,330
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Cape Coral-Fort Myers Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_15980.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.