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News Release Information

14-1520-DAL
Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Contacts Technical information: Media contact:
  • (972) 850-4800

Occupational Employment and Wages in Beaumont-Port Arthur, May 2013

Workers in the Beaumont-Port Arthur Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $20.34 in May 2013, 9 percent below the nationwide average of $22.33, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Regional Commissioner Stanley W. Suchman noted that, after testing for statistical significance, wages in the local area were significantly higher than their respective national averages in 4 of the 22 major occupational groups, including architecture and engineering, and production. Fourteen groups had measurably lower wages than their respective national averages, including computer and mathematical; education training and library; and legal.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 5 of the 22 occupational groups, including installation, maintenance, and repair; production; and construction and extraction. Conversely, 13 groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including business and financial operations; computer and mathematical; and office and administrative support. (See table A and box note at end of release.)

 

Table A. Occupational employment and wages by major occupational group, United States and the Beaumont-Port Arthur Metropolitan Statistical Area, and measures of statistical significance, May 2013
Major occupational groupPercent of total employmentMean hourly wage
United StatesBeaumont-
Port Arthur
 United StatesBeaumont-
Port Arthur
 Percent
difference(1)

Total, all occupations

100.0%100.0% $22.33$20.34*-9

Management

4.93.7*53.1546.94*-12

Business and financial operations

5.02.4*34.1432.46*-5

Computer and mathematical

2.80.9*39.4333.18*-16

Architecture and engineering

1.82.5*38.5144.11*15

Life, physical, and social science

0.90.6*33.3731.92 -4

Community and social service

1.40.8*21.5019.99*-7

Legal

0.80.5*47.8936.09*-25

Education, training, and library

6.35.6*24.7620.77*-16

Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media

1.30.6*26.7219.59*-27

Healthcare practitioners and technical

5.85.1*35.9330.84*-14

Healthcare support

3.02.2*13.6112.28*-10

Protective service

2.53.2*20.9219.99 -4

Food preparation and serving related

9.09.0 10.389.04*-13

Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance

3.22.7*12.5110.86*-13

Personal care and service

3.0NA 11.889.03*-24

Sales and related

10.610.5 18.3715.98*-13

Office and administrative support

16.214.4*16.7815.33*-9

Farming, fishing, and forestry

0.30.0*11.7019.43*66

Construction and extraction

3.89.1*21.9421.95 0

Installation, maintenance, and repair

3.95.3*21.3522.88*7

Production

6.610.1*16.7924.23*44

Transportation and material moving

6.86.5 16.2815.92 -2

(1) A positive percent difference measures how much the mean wage in Beaumont-Port Arthur 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.
NA: estimate is not available.

One occupational group–production–was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Beaumont-Port Arthur had 15,770 jobs in production, accounting for 10.1 percent of local area employment, significantly higher from the national share of 6.6 percent. The local average hourly wage for this occupational group was $24.23, 44 percent above the national average of $16.79.

With employment of 1,990, the occupation of petroleum pump system operators, refinery operators, and gaugers was among the largest within the production group, as were welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers (1,850) and first-line supervisors of production and operating workers (1,780). Among the higher paying non-supervisory jobs were petroleum pump system operators, refinery operators, and gaugers, as well as chemical equipment operators and tenders, with mean hourly wages of $31.96 and $30.78, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were laundry and dry-cleaning workers ($11.79) and production workers’ helpers ($14.78). (Detailed occupational data for production workers are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of all occupations see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_13140.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 Beaumont metropolitan area, above average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the production group. For instance, local petroleum pump system operators, refinery operators, and gaugers were employed at 40.8 times the U.S. average, the highest location quotient for this job among all U.S. metropolitan areas, while metal and plastic layout workers were employed at 23.0 times the national rate, the third highest ratio in the country. On the other hand, laundry and dry-cleaning workers had a location quotient of 0.9 in Beaumont, 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 Texas Workforce Commission.

Note

OES wage and employment data for the 22 major occupational groups in the Beaumont-Port Arthur Metropolitan Statistical Area were compared to their respective national averages based on statistical significance testing. Only those occupations with wages or employment shares above or below the national wage or share after testing for significance at the 90-percent confidence level meet the criteria.

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 for a 3-year period. May 2013 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected in May 2013, November 2012, May 2012, November 2011, May 2011, and November 2010. The overall national response rate for the six panels is 75.3 percent based on establishments and 71.6 percent based on employment. The sample in the Beaumont-Port Arthur Metropolitan Statistical Area included 1,841 establishments with a response rate of 71 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 2013 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 Beaumont-Port Arthur Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) includes Hardin, Jefferson, and Orange Counties in Texas.

Additional information

OES data are available on our regional web page at www.bls.gov/regions/southwest/home.htm. 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/2013/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: 1-800-877-8339.


Table 1. Employment and wage data from the Occupational Employment Statistics survey, by occupation, Beaumont-Port Arthur Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2013
Occupation(1)EmploymentMean wages
Level(2)Location
quotient(3)
HourlyAnnual(4)

Production occupations

15,7701.5$24.23$50,400

First-line supervisors of production and operating workers

1,7802.640.7084,650

Electrical and electronic equipment assemblers

(5)(5)15.1031,410

Structural metal fabricators and fitters

2402.620.4242,470

Fiberglass laminators and fabricators

(5)(5)13.1927,440

Team assemblers

(5)(5)15.7732,790

Assemblers and fabricators, all other

1300.412.0024,960

Bakers

(5)(5)10.2921,400

Butchers and meat cutters

1100.713.6928,470

Food processing workers, all other

400.910.4721,780

Forging machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic

401.622.2346,230

Cutting, punching, and press machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic

1100.516.8134,970

Grinding, lapping, polishing, and buffing machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic

801.017.1935,750

Machinists

7001.522.4246,630

Welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers

1,8504.520.4342,490

Heat treating equipment setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic

602.521.8145,370

Layout workers, metal and plastic

36023.021.8545,440

Plating and coating machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal & plastic

(5)(5)16.3634,020

Metal workers and plastic workers, all other

301.217.6836,770

Printing press operators

400.213.7828,670

Laundry and dry-cleaning workers

2000.911.7924,530

Pressers, textile, garment, and related materials

600.98.8418,390

Cabinetmakers and bench carpenters

(5)(5)15.9833,240

Sawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, wood

801.711.9924,940

Power distributors and dispatchers

402.841.3786,040

Power plant operators

300.724.9751,940

Water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators

1601.219.3440,240

Chemical plant and system operators

89019.631.2565,000

Gas plant operators

704.633.6569,980

Petroleum pump system operators, refinery operators, and gaugers

1,99040.831.9666,480

Plant and system operators, all other

805.735.0172,830

Chemical equipment operators and tenders

96013.530.7864,030

Separating, filtering, clarifying, precipitating, and still machine setters, operators, and tenders

801.629.3661,060

Crushing, grinding, and polishing machine setters, operators, and tenders

(5)(5)12.9827,000

Mixing and blending machine setters, operators, and tenders

1701.321.7145,150

Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers

1,0001.825.5753,180

Dental laboratory technicians

400.815.0431,280

Ophthalmic laboratory technicians

401.016.1733,630

Packaging and filling machine operators and tenders

(5)(5)16.2833,850

Coating, painting, and spraying machine setters, operators, and tenders

4104.015.8532,960

Painters, transportation equipment

1102.019.9041,400

Photographic process workers and processing machine operators

(5)(5)8.6918,080

Helpers-production workers

9401.914.7830,750

Production workers, all other

(5)(5)10.0720,950

(1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Beaumont-Port Arthur MSA, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_13140.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) Estimates not released.

 

Last Modified Date: Tuesday, August 26, 2014