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News Release Information

15-813-SAN
Thursday, April 30, 2015

Contacts Technical information: Media contact:
  • (415) 625-2270

Occupational Employment and Wages in Tacoma, May 2014

Workers in the Tacoma Metropolitan Division had an average (mean) hourly wage of $22.87 in May 2014, about 1 percent above 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 12 of the 22 major occupational groups, including protective service; healthcare practitioners and technical; 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 7 of the 22 occupational groups, including transportation and material moving; construction and extraction; and installation, maintenance, and repair. Conversely, nine groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including production; computer and mathematical; and management. (See table A and box note at end of release.)

Table A. Occupational employment and wages by major occupational group, United States and the Tacoma Metropolitan Division, and measures of statistical significance, May 2014
Major occupational group Percent of total employment Mean hourly wage
United States Tacoma United States Tacoma Percent difference (1)

Total, all occupations

100.0% 100.0% $22.71 $22.87 1

Management

5.0 3.9* 54.08 50.03* -7

Business and financial operations

5.1 4.4* 34.81 31.49* -10

Computer and mathematical

2.8 1.5* 40.37 36.84* -9

Architecture and engineering

1.8 1.1* 39.19 39.01 0

Life, physical, and social science

0.8 0.6* 33.69 33.31 -1

Community and social services

1.4 2.2* 21.79 20.79 -5

Legal

0.8 0.7 48.61 37.35* -23

Education, training, and library

6.2 6.8* 25.10 24.04* -4

Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media

1.3 0.9* 26.82 23.04* -14

Healthcare practitioner and technical

5.8 6.7* 36.54 40.27* 10

Healthcare support

2.9 3.0 13.86 16.78* 21

Protective service

2.4 2.4 21.14 26.02* 23

Food preparation and serving related

9.1 9.9* 10.57 12.02* 14

Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance

3.2 3.0* 12.68 14.40* 14

Personal care and service

3.1 3.1 12.01 13.58* 13

Sales and related

10.5 10.8 18.59 17.50* -6

Office and administrative support

16.0 15.6 17.08 18.30* 7

Farming, fishing, and forestry

0.3 0.2* 12.09 17.08* 41

Construction and extraction

3.9 5.0* 22.40 25.94* 16

Installation, maintenance, and repair

3.9 5.0* 21.74 24.74* 14

Production

6.6 4.9* 17.06 20.23* 19

Transportation and material moving

6.8 8.2* 16.57 19.42* 17

Footnotes:
(1) A positive percent difference measures how much the mean wage in Tacoma 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—transportation and material moving—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Tacoma had 22,150 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 $19.42, significantly above the national wage of $16.57.

Some of the largest detailed occupations within the transportation and material moving group included laborers and freight, stock, and material movers by hand (5,840), heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers (4,380), and industrial truck and tractor operators (2,010). Among the higher paying jobs were crane and tower operators, and first-line supervisors of transportation and material-moving machine and vehicle operators, with mean hourly wages of $38.37 and $33.76, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were parking lot attendants ($11.41) and packers and packagers by hand ($12.44). (Detailed occupational data for transportation and material moving are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to https://www.bls.gov/oes/tables.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 Tacoma Metropolitan Division, above-average concentrations of employment were found in some of the occupations within the transportation and material moving group. For instance, industrial truck and tractor operators were employed at 1.9 times the national rate in Tacoma, and first-line supervisors of transportation and material-moving machine and vehicle operators, at 1.9 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, cleaners of vehicles and equipment had a location quotient of 1.0 in Tacoma, 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.

Note

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.


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 Tacoma Metropolitan Division included 2,450 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 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 Tacoma, Wash. Metropolitan Division  includes Pierce 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, Tacoma Metropolitan Division, May 2014
Occupation (1) Employment Mean wages
Level (2) Location quotient (3) Hourly Annual (4)

Transportation and Material Moving Occupations

22,150 1.2 $19.42 $40,400

First-Line Supervisors of Helpers, Laborers, and Material Movers, Hand

490 1.4 27.93 58,100

First-Line Supervisors of Transportation and Material-Moving Machine and Vehicle Operators

720 1.9 33.76 70,220

Bus Drivers, Transit and Intercity

450 1.4 25.34 52,720

Bus Drivers, School or Special Client

950 1.0 17.71 36,830

Driver/Sales Workers

930 1.2 13.41 27,900

Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers

4,380 1.4 21.55 44,830

Light Truck or Delivery Services Drivers

1,780 1.1 19.64 40,850

Taxi Drivers and Chauffeurs

180 0.5 14.41 29,980

Motor Vehicle Operators, All Other

150 1.3 (5) (5)

Parking Lot Attendants

150 0.6 11.41 23,730

Automotive and Watercraft Service Attendants

260 1.3 13.52 28,130

Conveyor Operators and Tenders

130 1.7 20.03 41,670

Crane and Tower Operators

250 2.9 38.37 79,800

Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operators

30 0.3 27.37 56,920

Industrial Truck and Tractor Operators

2,010 1.9 22.80 47,420

Cleaners of Vehicles and Equipment

620 1.0 12.92 26,880

Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand

5,840 1.2 16.19 33,670

Machine Feeders and Offbearers

170 0.8 17.15 35,670

Packers and Packagers, Hand

1,650 1.2 12.44 25,870

Refuse and Recyclable Material Collectors

280 1.2 24.64 51,260

Tank Car, Truck, and Ship Loaders

60 2.4 (5) (5)

Footnotes:
(1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in Tacoma, WA Metropolitan Division, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_45104.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.
 

 

Last Modified Date: Thursday, April 30, 2015