From the original article "1997 Wage Survey for Wyoming: Statewide, Casper, Cheyenne and Regions," written by Deana Hauf (Wyoming Labor Force Trends, November 1997). Please also refer to the publication: Wyoming Wage Survey 1996 to see updated Wage Survey information in its entirety.
As discussed in the Wyoming Labor Force Trends article "1997 Wage Survey for Wyoming: Statewide, Casper, Cheyenne and Regions" by Deana Hauf, Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) are traditionally used as a job placement aid by helping to identify industry staffing patterns that employ the skills gained by enrollees in vocational training programs. These data have also been used by educators to identify the relative importance of occupations in vocational education program curricula and to modify course content to reflect current skill level needs and changing job opportunities.
The OES wage data shows that the Services industry employs the most people in Wyoming and that the average hourly wage is $10.86 including all occupations in the Services industry(1). The second largest industry is the Government with an average hourly wage of $11.60. It is followed by the Retail Trade industry with an average wage for all occupations of $7.61 an hour.
Deana Hauf also writes in her article that from the current regional data you can see where the majority of the industries are located in Wyoming. Campbell County has the highest employment level for the state in the Coal Mining industry. In Lincoln County Retail Trade is the largest employing industry and in Teton County many people are employed in the Services industry. Please see Table 2 for an example of this regional wage data (refer to the original article also).
All of the data is available in Trends which is a free publication from R&P, and is also available on the Internet (http://doe.state.wy.us/LMI/).
Looking at the regional data we can see that there are differences in wages for the same occupation in a specific industry depending on the region one is employed in. For example, a person employed for the State or Local Government working in a managerial & administrative position earns a mean wage of $17.10 in the Central-Southeast Region and $10.30 in the Southwest Region. We can also make comparisons across industries for a specific occupation. For example, if a person living in Casper wants to work in Sales the mean wage for such a job in the Oil and Gas industry would be $23.70 and in the Wholesale Trade industry $15.30.
Deana Hauf’s article also exhibits a table that includes wages by occupation for the Casper Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), the Cheyenne MSA, and the balance of the State. These tables are by occupational code and one can look up the average pay for an occupation across all industries.
As we can see from this short analysis it is important when you make your career choice to take into consideration the occupation in which you are interested, the industry, and the region in which you would like to be employed. This careful decision making process may assist you in evaluating your future employment and wages.
1 Some of the average hourly wages that appear in the text were calculated separately and are not included in the tables.
This article was edited for the Explorer by Carola Cowan.
Research & Planning (R&P) conducts wage surveys containing useful information for community colleges, vocational counselors and individuals to assist students in making career decisions. Please see Table 1 for wages by industry and occupation for the State.
Table 1: Wyoming Statewide Hourly Mean Wage by Industry and Occupation ND = Not Disclosable (due to confidentiality laws) Occupational Employment Statistics (OES)
Federal Workers are not IncludedOCCUPATION INDUSTRY TOTAL Managerial & Administrative Professional, Paraprofessional & Technical Sales & Related Clerical & Administrative Support Service Agricultural, Forestry, Fishing & Related Production, Construction, Operating, Maintenance & Material Handling AGRICULTURAL $8.50 $8.70 $15.20 $12.90 $7.30 $5.60 $7.40 $5.90 MINING Coal Mining 23.20 36.30 25.60 ND 17.60 15.20 ND 22.70 Oil & Gas Extraction 15.70 29.90 21.40 15.30 12.70 7.50 ND 14.80 Nonmetallic Minerals 25.00 29.80 23.20 ND 22.20 21.90 ND 25.10 CONSTRUCTION General Building 11.10 19.80 13.50 ND 9.30 ND 8.20 10.90 Heavy Construction 13.70 23.30 18.10 ND 10.90 5.00 9.20 13.20 Special Trade Contractors 12.60 22.00 15.80 ND 9.50 17.50 9.50 11.70 MANUFACTURING Food & Kindred Products 9.00 15.10 11.90 ND 5.80 7.10 ND 9.40 Lumber & Wood Products 12.10 23.80 16.20 29.80 9.20 5.00 14.70 11.50 Printing & Publishing 9.80 22.00 10.80 10.10 7.90 5.80 ND 8.10 Chemicals and Allied Products 23.90 28.30 25.70 ND 18.20 20.40 ND 24.00 TRANSPORTATION, COMMUNICATIONS, ELECTRIC, GAS, & SANITARY SERVICES Trucking & Warehousing
11.80 21.50 13.50 15.90 9.60 5.00 ND 11.10 Communications 13.60 21.10 9.30 10.80 10.20 6.00 ND 16.70 Electric, Gas & Sanitary Services 20.10 27.60 23.20 14.30 14.30 6.50 ND 20.00 WHOLESALE TRADE Durable Goods 13.10 22.00 9.90 14.60 9.80 ND 6.80 11.80 Nondurable Goods 12.30 20.50 18.50 14.80 8.50 5.70 7.00 11.10 RETAIL TRADE Building Materials & Garden Supplies 9.40 17.40 11.90 8.70 8.50 ND 6.60 8.40 General Merchandise Stores 6.80 16.00 12.60 6.30 7.10 6.00 9.20 7.90 Food Stores 7.70 15.20 22.90 7.70 7.50 6.80 ND 5.40 Automotive Dealers & Service Stations 9.80 23.00 14.80 8.90 8.50 5.70 ND 10.30 Apparel & Accessory Stores 7.50 14.30 11.50 6.90 6.70 ND ND 7.40 Furniture & Home Furnishings Stores 9.20 15.50 9.10 7.60 8.30 5.00 ND 9.50 Eating & Drinking Places 5.90 12.80 10.60 5.20 7.80 5.40 5.00 5.00 Miscellaneous Retail 8.00 14.70 13.20 6.30 8.00 5.50 5.80 8.60 FINANCE, INSURANCE & REAL ESTATE Depository Institutions 11.00 23.60 14.70 14.70 7.80 5.00 ND ND Insurance Agents, Brokers & Service 12.20 35.50 12.20 14.80 8.50 ND ND ND Real Estate 8.50 11.10 12.70 13.70 7.20 6.10 8.40 7.90 SERVICES Hotels & Other Lodging Places 7.00 11.90 11.80 8.20 7.00 6.00 5.60 7.70 Personal Services 8.40 15.20 11.40 6.10 7.70 7.70 ND 7.10 Business Services 8.30 17.20 14.60 6.90 7.10 7.00 8.10 9.10 Auto Repair, Services and Parking 9.70 19.60 ND 9.40 5.60 ND ND 8.40 Amusement & Recreation Services 11.60 12.90 23.70 7.30 9.90 9.40 7.40 6.60 Health Services 12.40 19.40 17.00 9.00 8.20 7.20 5.60 9.00 Legal Services 12.70 19.40 17.60 ND 8.70 6.20 ND ND Educational Services 11.80 23.10 12.90 8.20 8.10 7.20 10.20 9.70 Social Services 7.80 13.80 9.10 ND 7.50 5.70 ND 5.80 Membership Organizations 9.40 16.80 12.70 7.80 7.30 6.30 6.00 ND Engineering and Management Services 14.30 26.50 13.80 15.50 9.50 7.10 ND 11.60 STATE & LOCAL GOVERNMENT 11.50 16.50 13.60 7.20 9.50 10.30 9.70 10.90
Table 2: Excerpt; Wyoming Regional Hourly Mean and Median Wage by Industry and Occupation Central-Southeast Region (Area 04) AUTOMOTIVE DEALERS & SERVICE STATIONS Total $7.10 $5.50 Managerial & Administrative 18.80 18.20 --Other Administrative Managers 38.80 43.30 --Other Services Managers 16.50 16.60 --General Managers & Top Executives 17.30 18.10 Sales & Related 5.90 5.50 --All Other Sales & Related 5.90 5.50 Clerical & Administrative Support 7.90 7.10 --All Other Clerical & Administrative Support 7.90 7.10 Service 5.30 5.30 --Food, Beverage Preparation & Service Workers 5.20 5.30 --Other Cleaning & Building Service Workers 5.10 5.30 --All Other Service Workers 7.70 7.60 Production, Construction, Operating, Maintenance & Material Handling 7.40 5.70 --Mechanics, Installers & Repairers 11.40 9.60 ----Other Mobile Equipment Mechanics, Installers & Repairers 11.40 9.60 --Precision Metal Workers 12.20 12.30 --Motor Vehicle Operators 13.60 14.10 --Service Station Attendants 5.40 5.30 --Helpers, Laborers & Material Movers, Hand 8.10 8.20 ----Other Helpers, Laborers & Material Movers, Hand 8.10 8.20 --Other Production, Construction, Maintenance & Material Handling 12.40 12.30 EATING AND DRINKING PLACES Total $5.50 $5.40 Managerial & Administrative 7.70 7.10 Sales & Related 5.30 5.30 Service 5.30 5.30 Production, Construction, Operating, Maintenance & Material Handling 5.00 5.30 HEALTH SERVICES Total $12.30 $8.70 Managerial & Administrative 17.70 16.10 Professional, Paraprofessional & Technical 17.80 14.40 Sales & Related 7.20 7.10 Clerical & Administrative Support 7.80 7.60 Service 7.20 7.10 Production, Construction, Operating, Maintenance & Material Handling 9.30 7.90 STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT Total $10.90 $9.90 Managerial & Administrative 16.50 14.50 Professional, Paraprofessional & Technical 11.80 11.30 Clerical & Administrative Support 9.90 9.20 Service 10.50 10.30 Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing & Related 8.50 8.70 Production, Construction, Operating, Maintenance & Material Handling 10.60 9.90
These pages designed by Gayle C. Edlin.
Last modified on August 6, 2007 by
Valerie A. Davis.