Workers in the El Paso, TX Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $19.45 in May 2019, about 24 percent below the nationwide average of $25.72, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Acting Regional Commissioner Susan Mendez noted that, after testing for statistical significance, 18 of the 22 major occupational groups had average wages in the local area that were significantly lower than their respective national averages, including construction and extraction, healthcare support, and sales and related. No local group had wages that were significantly above their respective national average.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, El Paso area employment was more highly concentrated in 7 of the 22 occupational groups including office and administrative support, healthcare support, and educational instruction and library. Thirteen groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including business and financial operations, management, and computer and mathematical. (See table A and box note at end of release.)

One occupational group–educational instruction and library–was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. El Paso had 23,690 jobs in educational instruction and library occupations, accounting for 7.5 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 6.1-percent national share. The local average hourly wage for this occupational group was $27.97, compared to the national average of $27.75.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the educational instruction and library group included secondary school teachers, except special and career/technical education (3,490), short-term substitute teachers (3,470), and elementary school teachers, except special education (3,430). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were instructional coordinators, as well as librarians and media collections specialists, with mean annual wages of $73,890 and $70,200, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were short-term substitute teachers ($23,100) and teaching assistants, except postsecondary ($27,850). (Detailed data for the educational instruction and library occupations are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_21340.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 El Paso area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in some of the detailed occupations within the educational instruction and library group. For instance, short-term substitute teachers were employed at 2.8 times the national rate in the El Paso area, and secondary school career/technical education teachers, at 2.7 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, elementary school teachers, except special education, had a location quotient of 1.1 in the greater El Paso area, 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 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 580 areas, including states and the District of Columbia, metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs), nonmetropolitan areas, and territories; national industry-specific estimates at the NAICS sector, 3-digit, most 4-digit, 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.

The OES survey is a cooperative effort between BLS and the State Workforce Agencies (SWAs). BLS funds the survey and provides the procedures and technical support, while the State Workforce Agencies collect most of the data. OES estimates are constructed from a sample of about 1.1 million establishments. Each year, two semiannual panels of approximately 180,000 to 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 2019 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2019, November 2018, May 2018, November 2017, May 2017, and November 2016. The unweighted sampled employment of 83 million across all six semiannual panels represents approximately 57 percent of total national employment. The overall national response rate for the six panels, based on the 50 states and the District of Columbia, is 71 percent based on establishments and 68 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The sample in the El Paso, TX Metropolitan Statistical Area included 2,330 establishments with a response rate of 53 percent. For more information about OES concepts and methodology, go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_tec.htm.

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.

The May 2019 OES estimates are the first set of OES estimates to be based in part on survey data collected using the 2018 SOC. These estimates use a hybrid of the 2010 and 2018 SOC systems. More information on the hybrid classification system is available at www.bls.gov/oes/soc_2018.htm.

The May 2019 OES estimates are based on the 2017 North American Industry Classification System (NAICS). More 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 El Paso, TX Metropolitan Statistical Area includes El Paso and Hudspeth Counties in Texas.

For more information

Answers to frequently asked questions about the OES data are available at www.bls.gov/oes/oes_ques.htm. Detailed information about the OES program is available at www.bls.gov/oes/oes_doc.htm.

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 for educational instruction and library occupations, El Paso, TX Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2019

Occupation(1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level(2)	Location quotient(3)	Hourly	Annual(4)
Educational instruction and library occupations	23,690	1.2	$27.97	$58,180
Business teachers, postsecondary	30	0.2	(5)	49,640
Computer science teachers, postsecondary	30	0.5	(5)	47,790
Engineering teachers, postsecondary	30	0.4	(5)	49,830
Biological science teachers, postsecondary	100	0.9	(5)	37,320
Nursing instructors and teachers, postsecondary	70	0.6	(5)	48,420
Education teachers, postsecondary	50	0.4	(5)	53,860
Art, drama, and music teachers, postsecondary	100	0.5	(5)	57,980
English language and literature teachers, postsecondary	200	1.4	(5)	49,480
Career/technical education teachers, postsecondary	260	1.1	23.32	48,490
Postsecondary teachers, all other	90	0.2	(5)	40,100
Preschool teachers, except special education	800	0.9	21.70	45,140
Kindergarten teachers, except special education	450	1.7	(5)	67,210
Elementary school teachers, except special education	3,430	1.1	(5)	65,480
Middle school teachers, except special and career/technical education	1,590	1.2	(5)	67,560
Secondary school teachers, except special and career/technical education	3,490	1.6	(5)	67,060
Career/technical education teachers, secondary school	430	2.7	(5)	69,500
Special education teachers, kindergarten and elementary school	290	0.7	(5)	62,390
Special education teachers, middle school	130	0.7	(5)	63,040
Special education teachers, secondary school	320	1.0	(5)	62,160
Special education teachers, all other	100	1.3	(5)	52,660
Adult basic education, adult secondary education, and english as a second language instructors	90	0.8	27.58	57,370
Self-enrichment teachers	270	0.5	17.51	36,420
Substitute teachers, short-term	3,470	2.8	11.11	23,100
Tutors and teachers and instructors, all other	1,540	2.3	(5)	35,590
Librarians and media collections specialists	340	1.2	33.75	70,200
Library technicians	110	0.6	14.48	30,120
Instructional coordinators	600	1.6	35.52	73,890
Teaching assistants, postsecondary	180	0.6	(5)	24,390
Teaching assistants, except postsecondary	2,650	0.9	(5)	27,850
Educational instruction and library workers, all other	260	0.9	12.65	26,310
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the El Paso, TX Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_21340.htm. (2) Estimates for detailed occupations may not sum to the totals due to rounding, and because the totals may include occupations that 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) Wages for some occupations that do not generally work year-round, full time, are reported either as hourly wages or annual salaries depending on how they are typically paid.