Workers in the Corpus Christi Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $19.42 in May 2014, about 14 percent below the nationwide average of $22.71, 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 higher than their respective national averages in 2 of the 22 major occupational groups, including production, while 14 groups had significantly lower wages including personal care and service; computer and mathematical; and healthcare support. Wage levels in six occupational groups were not statistically different from their respective national averages.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, Corpus Christi employment was more highly concentrated in 5 of the 22 occupational groups, including construction and extraction; installation, maintenance and repair; and food preparation and serving related. Conversely, 10 groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including computer and mathematical; business and financial operations; 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 Corpus Christi Metropolitan Statistical Area, and measures of statistical significance, May 2014

Major occupational group	Percent of total employment			Mean hourly wage
	United States	Corpus Christi		United States	Corpus Christi		Percent difference(1)
Total, all occupations	100.0%	100.0%		$22.71	$19.42	*	-14
Management	5.0	3.6	*	54.08	45.45	*	-16
Business and financial operations	5.1	3.1	*	34.81	30.36	*	-13
Computer and mathematical	2.8	0.8	*	40.37	32.25	*	-20
Architecture and engineering	1.8	1.4	*	39.19	39.66		1
Life, physical, and social science	0.8	0.8		33.69	28.79	*	-15
Community and social service	1.4	1.0	*	21.79	20.97		-4
Legal	0.8	0.5	*	48.61	45.11		-7
Education, training, and library	6.2	6.2		25.10	23.04	*	-8
Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media	1.3	0.6	*	26.82	20.31	*	-24
Healthcare practitioners and technical	5.8	5.5		36.54	33.44	*	-8
Healthcare support	2.9	4.0	*	13.86	11.56	*	-17
Protective service	2.4	2.2		21.14	21.19		0
Food preparation and serving related	9.1	11.3	*	10.57	9.68	*	-8
Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance	3.2	3.1		12.68	10.38	*	-18
Personal care and service	3.1	4.0	*	12.01	9.24	*	-23
Sales and related	10.5	10.3		18.59	16.48	*	-11
Office and administrative support	16.0	14.3	*	17.08	14.78	*	-13
Farming, fishing, and forestry	0.3	0.2	*	12.09	15.96	*	32
Construction and extraction	3.9	8.3	*	22.40	20.55	*	-8
Installation, maintenance, and repair	3.9	6.5	*	21.74	21.45		-1
Production	6.6	5.4	*	17.06	20.99	*	23
Transportation and material moving	6.8	6.8		16.57	16.32		-2
(1) A positive percent difference measures how much the mean wage in Corpus Christi is above the national mean wage, while a negative difference reflects a lower wage.
Note: * 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 – construction and extraction – was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Corpus Christi had 15,480 jobs in construction and extraction, accounting for 8.3 percent of local area employment, more than double the national share of 3.9 percent. However, the local wage for this occupational group was measurably lower than the U.S. average. At $20.55 an hour, the mean wage for Corpus Christi construction and extraction workers was about 8 percent below the $22.40 national average.

With employment of 2,520, construction laborers was chosen to illustrate the largest occupations within the construction and extraction group, as were first-line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers (1,620), and oil and gas roustabouts (1,450). Among the higher paying jobs were oil, gas, and mining service unit operators, as well as first-line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers, with mean hourly wages of $33.02 and $30.48, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were construction laborers ($13.53) and carpenters ($17.03). (Detailed occupational data for construction and extraction are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of all detailed occupations, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_18580.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 Corpus Christi metropolitan area, above average concentrations of employment were found in many of the detailed occupations within the construction and extraction group. For instance, oil, gas, and mining service unit operators were employed at 15.0 times the national rate in Corpus Christi, and oil and gas roustabouts, at 14.3 times the U.S. average. Both location quotients were among the highest in all metropolitan areas for these particular occupations. On the other hand, carpenters had a location quotient of 1.1 in Corpus Christi, indicating that this 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. 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 Corpus Christi Metropolitan Statistical Area included 1,990 establishments with a response rate of 68 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 Corpus Christi Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) includes Aransas, Nueces and San Patricio Counties in Texas.

Additional information

OES data are available on our regional web page at www.bls.gov/regions/southwest. 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, Corpus Christi Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2014

Occupation(1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level(2)	Location quotient(3)	Hourly	Annual(4)
Construction and extraction occupations	15,480	2.1	$20.55	$42,750
First-line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers	1,620	2.4	30.48	63,400
Boilermakers	110	4.5	27.26	56,700
Carpenters	930	1.1	17.03	35,420
Cement masons and concrete finishers	230	1.1	15.37	31,960
Construction laborers	2,520	2.1	13.53	28,140
Paving, surfacing, and tamping equipment operators	(5)	(5)	17.81	37,050
Pile-driver operators	(5)	(5)	25.96	53,990
Operating engineers and other construction equipment operators	920	1.9	17.66	36,730
Electricians	1,020	1.3	21.50	44,720
Insulation workers, floor, ceiling, and wall	150	4.5	15.36	31,940
Painters, construction and maintenance	500	1.8	18.60	38,680
Pipelayers	40	0.7	15.62	32,480
Plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters	480	0.9	22.87	47,560
Roofers	70	0.5	12.28	25,530
Sheet metal workers	620	3.4	24.35	50,650
Structural iron and steel workers	(5)	(5)	20.96	43,590
Helpers-carpenters	(5)	(5)	13.95	29,020
Helpers-electricians	(5)	(5)	14.02	29,150
Helpers-painters, paperhangers, plasterers, and stucco masons	90	5.6	13.53	28,150
Helpers-pipelayers, plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters	150	2.1	12.69	26,390
Helpers, construction trades, all other	350	13.3	15.48	32,190
Construction and building inspectors	130	1.1	25.82	53,710
Elevator installers and repairers	90	3.3	36.31	75,520
Hazardous materials removal workers	(5)	(5)	17.83	37,090
Highway maintenance workers	160	0.8	16.18	33,660
Derrick operators, oil and gas	150	5.3	22.39	46,570
Rotary drill operators, oil and gas	340	9.3	26.50	55,120
Service unit operators, oil, gas, and mining	1,280	15.0	33.02	68,690
Earth drillers, except oil and gas	(5)	(5)	14.14	29,400
Roustabouts, oil and gas	1,450	14.3	17.31	36,010
Helpers-extraction workers	220	6.5	18.46	38,400
(1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Corpus Christi MSA, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_18580.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.