Workers in the Merced Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $19.70 in May 2014, about 13 percent below the nationwide average of $22.71, 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 higher than their respective national averages in 5 of the 22 major occupational groups, including protective service; healthcare practitioners and technical; and community and social service. Nine groups had significantly lower wages than their respective national averages, including legal; computer and mathematical; and management.

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

One occupational group—transportation and material moving—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Merced had 5,200 jobs in transportation and material moving, accounting for 8.2 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 6.8-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $15.73, compared to the national wage of $16.57.

Some of the largest detailed occupations within the transportation and material moving group included heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers (1,120), packers and packagers by hand (1,060), and laborers and freight, stock, and material movers by hand (810). Among the higher paying jobs were refuse and recyclable material collectors, and first-line supervisors of transportation and material-moving machine and vehicle operators, with mean hourly wages of $28.60 and $24.48, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were packers and packagers by hand ($10.19) and automotive and watercraft service attendants ($10.46). (Detailed occupational data for transportation and material moving are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/2014/may/oes_32900.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 Merced Metropolitan Statistical Area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the transportation and material moving group. For instance, packers and packagers by hand were employed at 3.2 times the national rate in Merced, and industrial truck and tractor operators, at 2.2 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, light truck or delivery services drivers had a location quotient of 0.9 in Merced, 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 California Employment Development 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. 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 Merced Metropolitan Statistical Area included 846 establishments with a response rate of 77 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 Merced, Calif. Metropolitan Statistical Area  includes Merced County.

Additional information

OES data are available on our regional web page at www.bls.gov/regions/west. 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/2014/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: 800-877-8339.

Table 1. Employment and wage data from the Occupational Employment Statistics survey, by occupation, Merced Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2014

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Transportation and Material Moving Occupations	5,200	1.2	$15.73	$32,720
First-Line Supervisors of Helpers, Laborers, and Material Movers, Hand	80	1.0	23.65	49,190
First-Line Supervisors of Transportation and Material-Moving Machine and Vehicle Operators	120	1.3	24.48	50,930
Bus Drivers, School or Special Client	300	1.3	15.29	31,790
Driver/Sales Workers	190	1.0	14.45	30,060
Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers	1,120	1.5	22.07	45,900
Light Truck or Delivery Services Drivers	340	0.9	16.47	34,260
Automotive and Watercraft Service Attendants	110	2.2	10.46	21,760
Conveyor Operators and Tenders	40	2.1	13.80	28,710
Industrial Truck and Tractor Operators	550	2.2	17.76	36,950
Cleaners of Vehicles and Equipment	180	1.2	11.70	24,330
Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand	810	0.7	12.29	25,560
Machine Feeders and Offbearers	(5)	(5)	14.06	29,250
Packers and Packagers, Hand	1,060	3.2	10.19	21,190
Refuse and Recyclable Material Collectors	40	0.7	28.60	59,480
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in Merced, CA, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_32900.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.