Workers in the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale Metropolitan Division had an average (mean) hourly wage of $26.84 in May 2017, about 10 percent above the nationwide average of $24.34, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Assistant Commissioner for Regional Operations Richard Holden noted that, after testing for statistical significance, wages in the local area were higher than their respective national averages in 19 of the 22 major occupational groups, including arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media; legal; and architecture and engineering. Only one group had significantly lower wages than its respective national average: production.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 9 of the 22 occupational groups, including personal care and service; arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media; and office and administrative support. Conversely, 11 groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including construction and extraction; installation, maintenance, and repair; and healthcare practitioners and technical. (See table A and box note at end of release.)

One occupational group—arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale had 153,720 jobs in arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media, accounting for 3.5 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 1.4-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $39.96, significantly above the national wage of $28.34.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media group included producers and directors (21,150), film and video editors (12,020), and graphic designers (11,410). Among the higher paying jobs were art directors and producers and directors, with mean hourly wages of $61.93 and $61.61, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were floral designers ($15.49) and merchandise displayers and window trimmers ($16.44). (Detailed occupational data for arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_31084.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 Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale Metropolitan Division, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media group. For instance, film and video editors were employed at 12.6 times the national rate in Los Angeles, and sound engineering technicians, at 8.2 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, public relations specialists had a location quotient of 1.1 in Los Angeles, 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 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 2017 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2017, November 2016, May 2016, November 2015, May 2015, and November 2014. The overall national response rate for the six panels, based on the 50 states and the District of Columbia, is 72 percent based on establishments and 68 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The unweighted sample employment of 82 million across all six semiannual panels represents approximately 58 percent of total national employment. The sample in the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale Metropolitan Division included 12,505 establishments with a response rate of 55 percent. For more information about OES concepts and methodology, go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_tec.htm.

The May 2017 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 Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale, Calif. Metropolitan Division includes Los Angeles 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/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, Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale Metropolitan Division, May 2017

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media occupations	153,720	2.6	$39.96	$83,110
Art directors	3,540	3.0	61.93	128,820
Craft artists	300	2.1	(5)	(5)
Fine artists, including painters, sculptors, and illustrators	1,400	4.0	40.24	83,700
Multimedia artists and animators	6,180	6.7	40.92	85,110
Artists and related workers, all other	310	1.4	32.12	66,810
Commercial and industrial designers	1,200	1.2	32.21	66,990
Fashion designers	4,340	7.4	37.61	78,230
Floral designers	890	0.7	15.49	32,220
Graphic designers	11,410	1.7	27.78	57,780
Interior designers	2,280	1.3	(5)	(5)
Merchandise displayers and window trimmers	2,690	0.7	16.44	34,190
Set and exhibit designers	2,340	6.6	31.61	65,740
Designers, all other	910	3.8	45.10	93,810
Actors	10,020	7.4	(5)	(5)
Producers and directors	21,150	5.8	61.61	128,150
Athletes and sports competitors	270	0.8	(5)	(5)
Coaches and scouts	6,020	0.8	(6)	44,940
Umpires, referees, and other sports officials	490	0.9	(6)	26,890
Dancers	250	0.8	17.96	(6)
Choreographers	100	0.6	19.68	40,920
Music directors and composers	480	1.0	30.01	62,410
Musicians and singers	2,730	2.2	38.78	(6)
Entertainers and performers, sports and related workers, all other	2,000	5.6	26.44	(6)
Radio and television announcers	1,240	1.4	26.23	54,570
Public address system and other announcers	410	1.7	21.73	45,210
Broadcast news analysts	(5)	(5)	36.65	76,230
Reporters and correspondents	1,680	1.4	28.46	59,200
Public relations specialists	8,210	1.1	33.29	69,230
Editors	4,540	1.5	40.39	84,000
Technical writers	1,070	0.7	42.76	88,950
Writers and authors	4,530	3.2	53.96	112,230
Interpreters and translators	2,070	1.3	25.93	53,940
Media and communication workers, all other	6,510	9.7	28.70	59,700
Audio and video equipment technicians	8,910	3.9	26.80	55,740
Broadcast technicians	2,710	2.9	22.83	47,480
Sound engineering technicians	3,400	8.2	40.20	83,610
Photographers	2,430	1.6	28.59	59,460
Camera operators, television, video, and motion picture	4,860	7.5	36.90	76,760
Film and video editors	12,020	12.6	53.61	111,520
Media and communication equipment workers, all other	7,530	12.7	40.62	84,490
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale, CA Metropolitan Division, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_31084.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. (6) 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.