These data are from the Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) program, which provides employment and wage estimates for wage and salary workers in 22 major occupational groups and 801 detailed occupations. OES produces data by occupation for the nation, states, and metropolitan areas, and by occupation and industry for the nation.
OES data can be used to compare wages and employment for different occupations, or to compare wages and employment for a given occupation across industries. For instance, national mean hourly wages ranged from $44.20 for management occupations to $8.86 for food preparation and serving related occupations. Mean hourly wages for food preparation and serving related occupations ranged from $13.02 for workers employed in the mining industry to $7.85 for workers employed in the information industry. However, these industries employed relatively few food preparation and serving related workers: 46,110 in the information industry and 140 in mining. By contrast, the accommodation and food services industry employed nearly 8.8 million food preparation and serving workers, representing 79 percent of total industry employment.
OES data also can be used to make comparisons across geographical areas. For instance, retail salespersons earned a mean hourly wage of $14.78 in Carson City, Nev., as compared to $8.41 in Laredo, Texas. Employment of retail salespersons was higher in Laredo (3,550) than in Carson City (570).
Major Occupational Group Employment and Wages by Industry Sector
Management was the highest paying occupational group, with a mean hourly wage of $44.20, followed by legal occupations at $41.04. Food preparation and serving related occupations; farming, fishing, and forestry occupations; and building and grounds cleaning and maintenance occupations were among the lowest paying occupational groups.
As shown in the table, mining; utilities; manufacturing; finance and insurance; and professional, scientific, and technical services were among the highest paying industries for several occupational groups. Other industries were high paying for occupations directly related to their output. For example, the healthcare and social assistance industry paid high wages to healthcare practitioner and technical workers, but not to most other occupational groups.
Some occupational groups were widely distributed across industries. For example, office and administrative support workers not only had the highest total employment of any occupational group, but were found in large numbers in many industries. Other occupations were concentrated in specific industries, where they made up a high proportion of industry employment. Of the 7.6 million workers employed in the construction sector, 67 percent were employed in construction and extraction occupations. Manufacturing employed nearly 14.2 million workers with 53 percent employed in production occupations. Of the 12.3 million workers in the education sector, 59 percent were in education, training, and library occupations. Finally, the healthcare sector employed nearly 15.6 million workers with 33 percent employed in the healthcare practitioner and technical occupations and 19 percent in healthcare support occupations.
Detailed Occupational Employment and Wages by Detailed Industry
In addition to the occupational group and industry sector data previously discussed, OES data also are available for detailed ccupations and industries. For example, registered nurses, with total employment of over 2.4 million workers, was one of the largest occupations in the workforce as a whole. In addition, with a mean hourly wage of $28.71, this was among the highest paying large occupations. Nearly 57 percent of registered nurses worked in general medical and surgical hospitals, where their wages averaged $29.31 per hour. Offices of physicians, nursing care facilities, home health care services, and employment services (including temporary help services) were among the other major employers of registered nurses. The highest paying of these industries was employment services with a mean hourly wage of $31.36.
Not only were general medical and surgical hospitals the largest employer of registered nurses, registered nurses was also the largest
occupation in this industry, representing 28 percent of industry employment. Other large occupations in this industry included nursing aides, orderlies, and attendants; licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses; maids and housekeeping cleaners; and radiologic technologists and technicians.
Occupational Wages by State and Area
OES data also permit comparison of occupational employment and wages across states and metropolitan areas. For example, state mean hourly wages for registered nurses ranged from $36.12 in California to $22.61 in Iowa, while wages for bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks ranged from $19.11 in the District of Columbia to $11.64 in South Dakota.
In these selected occupations, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, and Washington were frequently among the higher paying states, although this varies by occupation. Alaska and Hawaii, although significantly smaller in terms of employment than the states listed above, were also among the highest paying states for several of the occupations. Lower paying states for several of the selected occupations include the Dakotas, Kentucky, Montana, West Virginia, Wyoming, and several southern states.
At the metropolitan area level, mean hourly wages for the selected occupations were about twice as much in the highest paying areas as in the lowest paying areas. For example, the areas with the highest mean hourly pay for registered nurses were in California: the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara metropolitan area ($44.42) and the Oakland-Fremont-Hayward metropolitan division ($43.18). Among the areas with the lowest wages paid to registered nurses were Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford, Va. ($19.70) and Morristown, Tenn. ($20.16).
