Health Care and Retail Sales Top Occupational Employment in Wyoming by Industry
Related Tables
The Wyoming OES survey produces estimates of occupational employment and wages based on 20 sectors. Employers are grouped into industries based on the production of economic goods or services within the economy. Occupations are classified based on work performed and, in some cases, on the skills, education, and/or training needed to perform the work.
Of 25 occupations in Wyoming with the largest employment in May 2012, the top two were in the retail trade sector: retail salespersons and cashiers had employment of 7,360 and 5,340, respectively. The industry sector with the greatest employment was health care and social assistance (31,000) with a mean hourly wage of $22.31.
For the May 2012 estimates, the total employment in Wyoming was 278,035, with a mean hourly wage of $20.76.
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In addition to retail salespersons and cashiers, other retail sales occupations in the top 25 included stock clerks & order fillers (2,430), and first-line supervisors of retail sales workers (2,450). These four occupations made up 60% of Wyoming’s employment in retail trade, the fourth largest sector, with employment of 29,500 and a mean hourly wage of $14.24 (see Table 1). Retail salespersons in the state earned an hourly mean wage of $12.47.
These data are from the Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) program of the Wyoming Department of Workforce Services’ Research & Planning section in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The OES program produces employment and wage estimates by area and by industry for wage and salary workers. The OES survey is a semiannual mail survey measuring occupational employment and wage rates for wage and salary workers in nonfarm establishments. The OES national and other states’ data are available from the BLS at http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oessrcst.htm.
Nationally, the OES survey categorizes workers into nearly 800 detailed occupations based on the Office of Management and Budget’s Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) system. The SOC structure was revised in 2010; more information about this revision can be found at http://www.bls.gov/soc.
The OES survey covers all full-time and part-time wage and salary workers in nonfarm industries. These surveys collect data for the payroll period including the 12th day of May or November. The survey does not cover the self-employed, owners and partners in unincorporated firms, household workers, or unpaid family workers.
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An occupation may be found in more than one industry. For example, operating engineers and other equipment operators appear in both the construction and mining sectors, but as Table 2 shows, there was a wage difference: operating engineers and other equipment operators earned a mean wage of $24.58 in mining and $20.10 in construction.
The Wyoming OES survey produces estimates of occupational employment and wages based on 20 sectors (see Table 1). Employers are grouped into industries based on the production of economic goods or services within the economy. Occupations are classified based on work performed and, in some cases, on the skills, education, and/or training needed to perform the work.
Table 2 shows the 25 occupations with the greatest employment by industry sector in Wyoming. This table shows that four of the largest employment occupations have a mean hourly wage under $10.00, while eight occupations made more than the statewide mean hourly wage of $20.76 for all occupations.
Five of the 25 occupations were in accommodation & food services (the fifth largest sector) with employment of 28,630. These five occupations were waiters & waitresses (the third largest, with employment of 4,700); combined food preparation & serving workers, including fast food (4,530); maids & housekeeping cleaners (2,640); cooks, restaurant (2,460); and first-line supervisors of food preparation & serving workers (1,710). Combined food preparation & serving workers, including fast food, had the lowest occupational mean wage of the 25 occupations at $8.49 an hour.
The highest employing occupations within the mining, quarrying, & oil & gas extraction sector were operating engineers & other construction equipment operators (3,050); roustabouts, oil & gas (1,830); service unit operators, oil, gas, & mining (3,210); and rotary drill operators, oil & gas (1,680). Three of these four occupations earned more than the statewide mean hourly wage for all occupations. Mining, quarrying, & oil & gas extraction employed an estimated 783,110 nationally, and Wyoming’s employment in that sector represents approximately 3.6% of the nation’s employment in that sector.
Four of the top 25 occupations were in construction: operating engineers & other construction equipment operators (1,800); construction laborers (2,260); carpenters (2,250); and electricians (1,790).
Four of the top 25 occupations were in educational services, the third largest sector on the list: teacher assistants (3,040); substitute teachers (2,940); elementary school teachers, except special education (2,810); and secondary school teachers, except special and career or technical education (1,960), which had the third highest mean hourly wage of the 25 occupations ($28.92).1
Health care & social assistance, the sector with the overall highest employment of 31,000, includes more than 150 occupations, but had only three occupations that were included in the top 25: registered nurses (3,590), nursing assistants (2,540), and personal care aides (1,720). Registered nurses were the second-highest paid occupation of the top 25, with a mean hourly wage of $28.89.
Transportation & warehousing had one occupation in the top 25: heavy & tractor-trailer truck drivers (3,190).
Public administration, which has the second highest employment of 30,750, encompasses a number of occupations but not one made the top 25.
Deana Hauf can be reached at Deana.Hauf@wyo.gov.