Workers in the Bellingham Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $21.08 in May 2013, about 6 percent below the nationwide average of $22.33, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Regional Commissioner Richard J. Holden noted that, after testing for statistical significance, wages in the local area were significantly higher than their respective national averages in 10 of the 22 major occupational groups, including protective service; installation, maintenance, and repair; and construction and extraction. Seven groups had significantly lower wages than their respective national averages, including legal; management; and arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 5 of the 22 occupational groups, including sales and related, construction and extraction, and food preparation and serving related. Conversely, six groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including office and administrative support, business and financial operations, 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 Bellingham Metropolitan Statistical Area, and measures of statistical significance, May 2013

Major occupational group	Percent of total employment		Mean hourly wage
	United States	Bellingham	United States	Bellingham	Percent difference (1)
Total, all occupations	100.0%	100.0%	$22.33	$21.08*	-6
Management	4.9	4.1*	53.15	44.96*	-15
Business and financial operations	5.0	3.9*	34.14	30.99*	-9
Computer and mathematical	2.8	1.7*	39.43	34.30*	-13
Architecture and engineering	1.8	1.7	38.51	39.44	2
Life, physical, and social science	0.9	0.8	33.37	32.01	-4
Community and social services	1.4	1.8	21.50	20.08*	-7
Legal	0.8	0.3*	47.89	35.52*	-26
Education, training, and library	6.3	7.0	24.76	23.70	-4
Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media	1.3	1.5	26.72	20.82*	-22
Healthcare practitioner and technical	5.8	4.6	35.93	35.20	-2
Healthcare support	3.0	2.8	13.61	15.06*	11
Protective service	2.5	2.1*	20.92	29.66*	42
Food preparation and serving related	9.0	10.2*	10.38	12.01*	16
Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance	3.2	3.9*	12.51	13.80*	10
Personal care and service	3.0	2.7	11.88	12.75*	7
Sales and related	10.6	12.6*	18.37	16.06*	-13
Office and administrative support	16.2	14.9*	16.78	16.97	1
Farming, fishing, and forestry	0.3	0.4*	11.70	17.86*	53
Construction and extraction	3.8	5.2*	21.94	23.67*	8
Installation, maintenance, and repair	3.9	4.1	21.35	23.63*	11
Production	6.6	7.3	16.79	18.20*	8
Transportation and material moving	6.8	6.2	16.28	17.50*	7
Footnotes: (1) A positive percent difference measures how much the mean wage in Bellingham 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—construction and extraction—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Bellingham had 4,010 jobs in construction and extraction, accounting for 5.2 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 3.8-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $23.67, measurably above the national wage of $21.94.

Some of the largest detailed occupations within the construction and extraction group included carpenters (760), construction laborers (650), and first-line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers (370). Among the higher paying jobs were pipelayers, and operating engineers and other construction equipment operators, with mean hourly wages of $30.60 and $30.53, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were sheet metal workers ($15.55) and construction and maintenance painters ($17.21). (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/2013/may/oes_13380.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 Bellingham Metropolitan Statistical Area, above average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the construction and extraction group. For instance, carpenters were employed at 2.3 times the national rate in Bellingham, and construction and maintenance painters, at 2.2 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, electricians had a location quotient of 0.8 in Bellingham, 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 Washington Employment Security Department.

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 Bellingham Metropolitan Statistical Area included 1,407 establishments with a response rate of 76 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 Bellingham, Wash. Metropolitan Statistical Area  includes Whatcom County.

Additional information

OES data are available on our regional web page at www.bls.gov/regions/west/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, Bellingham Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2013

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual(4)
Construction and Extraction Occupations	4,010	1.4	$23.67	$49,230
First-Line Supervisors of Construction Trades and Extraction Workers	370	1.4	28.73	59,750
Carpenters	760	2.3	20.89	43,440
Cement Masons and Concrete Finishers	90	1.1	26.58	55,290
Construction Laborers	650	1.4	21.81	45,370
Operating Engineers and Other Construction Equipment Operators	320	1.7	30.53	63,500
Drywall and Ceiling Tile Installers	70	1.6	26.51	55,150
Tapers	60	6.8	23.47	48,820
Electricians	260	0.8	28.02	58,290
Painters, Construction and Maintenance	250	2.2	17.21	35,800
Pipelayers	40	1.8	30.60	63,640
Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters	310	1.5	28.15	58,550
Roofers	160	2.9	22.00	45,750
Sheet Metal Workers	(5)	(5)	15.55	32,350
Structural Iron and Steel Workers	70	2.2	20.80	43,270
Construction and Building Inspectors	80	1.6	27.16	56,500
Highway Maintenance Workers	100	1.2	22.18	46,130
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in Bellingham, WA, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_13380.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.