Workers in the McAllen-Edinburg-Mission Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $15.92 in May 2013, nearly 30 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 lower than their respective national averages in 19 of the 22 major occupational groups, including computer and mathematical; construction and extraction; and personal care and service. Local wages were not statistically different from their respective national averages in three groups, community and social service; protective service; and legal.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 5 of the 22 occupational groups, including personal care and service; education, training, and library; and sales and related. Conversely, 13 groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including production; business and financial; and computer and mathematical. (See table A and box note at end of release.)

Table A. Occupational employment and wages by major occupational group, United States and the McAllen-Edinburg-Mission Metropolitan Statistical Area, and measures of statistical significance, May 2013

Major occupational group	Percent of total employment			Mean hourly wage
	United States	McAllen-Edinburg- Mission		United States	McAllen-Edinburg- Mission		Percent difference(1)
Total, all occupations	100.0%	100.0%		$22.33	$15.92	*	-29
Management	4.9	3.1	*	53.15	39.74	*	-25
Business and financial operations	5.0	2.2	*	34.14	27.21	*	-20
Computer and mathematical	2.8	0.7	*	39.43	26.06	*	-34
Architecture and engineering	1.8	0.5	*	38.51	28.64	*	-26
Life, physical, and social science	0.9	0.3	*	33.37	28.02	*	-16
Community and social service	1.4	1.1	*	21.50	21.28		-1
Legal	0.8	0.3	*	47.89	39.22		-18
Education, training, and library	6.3	10.4	*	24.76	21.40	*	-14
Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media	1.3	0.7	*	26.72	18.73	*	-30
Healthcare practitioners and technical	5.8	6.1		35.93	33.07	*	-8
Healthcare support	3.0	4.0	*	13.61	10.50	*	-23
Protective service	2.5	2.6		20.92	19.87		-5
Food preparation and serving related	9.0	8.8		10.38	9.27	*	-11
Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance	3.2	2.7	*	12.51	10.01	*	-20
Personal care and service	3.0	11.0	*	11.88	8.46	*	-29
Sales and related	10.6	12.6	*	18.37	13.09	*	-29
Office and administrative support	16.2	16.6		16.78	12.71	*	-24
Farming, fishing, and forestry	0.3	0.8	*	11.70	9.68	*	-17
Construction and extraction	3.8	3.1	*	21.94	14.65	*	-33
Installation, maintenance, and repair	3.9	3.2	*	21.35	16.10	*	-25
Production	6.6	2.9	*	16.79	13.44	*	-20
Transportation and material moving	6.8	6.3	*	16.28	12.57	*	-23
(1) A positive percent difference measures how much the mean wage in McAllen-Edinburg-Mission 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 support–illustrates the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. McAllen had 9,450 jobs in healthcare support, accounting for 4.0 percent of local employment, significantly above the 3.0-percent national share. However, the local wage for this occupational group was significantly below the U.S. average. At $10.50 an hour, the mean wage for McAllen healthcare support workers was 23 percent below the $13.61 national average.

With employment of 3,800, home health aides was one of the largest occupations within the healthcare support group, as were medical assistants (1,970) and nursing assistants (1,760). Among the higher paying jobs were physical therapist assistants, as well as occupational therapy assistants, with mean hourly wages of $32.21 and $31.85, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were home health aides ($8.36) and nursing assistants ($9.83). (Detailed data for healthcare support are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of all detailed occupations see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_32580.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 McAllen metropolitan area above average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the healthcare support group. For instance, medical assistants were employed at 2.0 times the national rate in McAllen, and home health aides at 2.7 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, dental assistants had a location quotient of 1.1 in McAllen, 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.

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 McAllen-Edinburg-Mission Metropolitan Statistical Area included 2,049 establishments with a response rate of 61 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 McAllen-Edinburg-Mission Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) includes Hidalgo County 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, McAllen-Edinburg-Mission Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2013

Occupation(1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level(2)	Location quotient(3)	Hourly	Annual(4)
Healthcare support occupations	9,450	1.4	$10.50	$21,850
Home health aides	3,800	2.7	8.36	17,380
Psychiatric aides	(5)	(5)	10.04	20,890
Nursing assistants	1,760	0.7	9.83	20,440
Orderlies	60	0.7	10.61	22,060
Occupational therapy assistants	120	2.2	31.85	66,250
Physical therapist assistants	150	1.2	32.21	67,000
Physical therapist aides	140	1.6	9.92	20,630
Dental assistants	610	1.1	12.00	24,970
Medical assistants	1,970	2.0	9.95	20,690
Medical equipment preparers	40	0.5	12.70	26,410
Medical transcriptionists	90	0.8	15.39	32,020
Pharmacy aides	40	0.6	11.64	24,210
Phlebotomists	240	1.3	12.86	26,750
Healthcare support workers, all other	230	1.3	21.12	43,920
(1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the McAllen-Edinburg-Mission MSA, see see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_32580.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.