Workers in the Corpus Christi Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $21.06 in May 2016, about 12 percent below the nationwide average of $23.86, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Assistant Commissioner for Regional Operations Stanley W. Suchman noted that, after testing for statistical significance, wages in the local area were lower than their respective national averages in 13 of the 22 major occupational groups, including personal care and service; computer and mathematical; and building and grounds cleaning and maintenance. Two groups had significantly higher wages than their respective national averages: production; and architecture and engineering. Local wages in the six remaining groups were not statistically different from their respective national averages.

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

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 10,990 jobs in construction and extraction, accounting for 5.9 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 4.0-percent share nationally. However, the average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $21.94, significantly below the national wage of $23.51.

Some of the largest detailed occupations within the construction and extraction group included construction laborers (2,120), first-line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers (1,090), and electricians (790). Among the higher-paying jobs were oil, gas, and mining service unit operators, and first-line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers, with mean hourly wages of $40.83 and $35.87, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were construction laborers ($14.90), as well as cement masons and concrete finishers ($16.19). (Detailed occupational data for construction and extraction are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/2016/may/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 Statistical Area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the construction and extraction group. For instance, oil, gas, and mining service unit operators, were employed at 10.3 times the national rate in Corpus Christi. A similarly high rate was registered for oil and gas roustabouts, who were employed at 8.0 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, electricians had a location quotient of 1.0 in Corpus Christi, 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. 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 2016 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2016, November 2015, May 2015, November 2014, May 2014, and November 2013. The overall national response rate for the six panels, based on the 50 states and the District of Columbia, is 73 percent based on establishments and 69 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The unweighted employment of sampled establishments across all six semiannual panels represents approximately 58 percent of total national employment. The sample in the Corpus Christi Metropolitan Statistical Area included 2,036 establishments with a response rate of 65 percent. For more information about OES concepts and methodology, go to www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.tn.htm.

The May 2016 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 Corpus Christi Metropolitan Statistical Area 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, TX Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2016

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Construction and extraction occupations	10,990	1.5	$21.94	$45,630
First-line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers	1,090	1.5	35.87	74,610
Boilermakers	80	3.7	32.89	68,410
Brickmasons and blockmasons	80	0.9	17.35	36,090
Carpenters	690	0.8	19.22	39,970
Cement masons and concrete finishers	270	1.2	16.19	33,670
Construction laborers	2,120	1.8	14.90	31,000
Paving, surfacing, and tamping equipment operators	220	3.2	17.81	37,040
Pile-driver operators	(5)	(5)	34.91	72,600
Operating engineers and other construction equipment operators	690	1.5	18.54	38,560
Electricians	790	1.0	24.04	49,990
Glaziers	(5)	(5)	18.31	38,090
Insulation workers, floor, ceiling, and wall	110	2.8	16.87	35,090
Insulation workers, mechanical	(5)	(5)	20.50	42,650
Painters, construction and maintenance	480	1.7	20.41	42,450
Pipelayers	150	2.8	21.77	45,280
Plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters	530	1.0	21.68	45,090
Roofers	100	0.6	12.50	26,000
Sheet metal workers	350	2.0	27.70	57,620
Structural iron and steel workers	(5)	(5)	18.87	39,250
Helpers--carpenters	(5)	(5)	15.10	31,420
Helpers--electricians	(5)	(5)	14.57	30,300
Helpers--pipelayers, plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters	130	1.8	14.27	29,670
Helpers, construction trades, all other	(5)	(5)	17.50	36,400
Construction and building inspectors	120	1.0	28.30	58,870
Fence erectors	120	4.3	16.91	35,170
Hazardous materials removal workers	250	4.3	17.76	36,940
Highway maintenance workers	100	0.5	15.12	31,450
Septic tank servicers and sewer pipe cleaners	80	2.4	14.58	30,330
Derrick operators, oil and gas	(5)	(5)	22.40	46,600
Rotary drill operators, oil and gas	(5)	(5)	26.28	54,670
Service unit operators, oil, gas, and mining	590	10.3	40.83	84,920
Roustabouts, oil and gas	540	8.0	18.00	37,440
Helpers--extraction workers	(5)	(5)	19.80	41,190
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Corpus Christi, TX Metropolitan Statistical Area 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) Estimate not released.