Using the Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) Wage Survey as a Tool for Studying Wyoming's Wages
by:
Deana Hauf, Economist
"Wyoming has the lowest wage in seven of the 15 [growth] occupations. However, Wyoming's overall hourly mean wage went up from $11.87 in 1997 to $12.22 in 1998 or 2.9 percent."
The Occupational Employment Wage Survey and Projections
The wage information in this article is from the annual OES Wage Survey and occupational projections conducted by each state and the United States as a whole.1 The OES classification system uses seven major occupational divisions to categorize workers in one of 750 detailed occupations (see Occupational Definitions in the Glossary). The information from this survey is used to produce wage rate estimates and employment projections. United States projections are developed by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor (see Table 2) on a two-year schedule and most states follow a similar schedule. The next U.S. projections cycle covers the 1998-2008 period and is currently available. State-level projections (see Tables 2 and 3), produced by the Labor Market Information sections, are due for release in mid-2000. The OES Wage Survey data presented in this article (see Table 3) use a fourth quarter 1998 reference period and are based on information collected from the survey over the last three years.
Analysis of Top 15 Projected Growth Occupations
Wyoming’s top 15 projected growth occupations for 1996-2006 are as follows:
Table 1 shows Wyoming's top 15 projected growth occupations for the next ten years. Several factors affect occupational employment growth. The aging of the "baby boomers" is causing an increased need for health service and social service occupations. Another factor is the so-called "fast paced life." Employment in the Construction industry is increasing as newer, larger homes are built. Also, this same change in lifestyle is resulting in increases in the food services industries as the desire for food preparation for consumption outside the home rises. The increase in tourism expands the need for hotel, food, amusement and related occupations.
As shown in Table 2, Wyoming's projected 6.0 percent employment growth rate is the lowest overall growth rate of the six surrounding states and the United States. Nebraska and South Dakota are ranked fourth and fifth, respectively. Colorado shows the largest projected increase of 32.0 percent, Utah with the second largest increase of 30.0 percent and Idaho in third place with 27.0 percent.
Mean Wage for the Top 15 Growth Occupations
As shown in Table 3, many growing occupations are not associated with high hourly rates of compensation. The two top growth occupations are retail salespersons, with a projected growth of 1,247 jobs and a 1998 mean wage of $7.88, and cashiers, with an increase of 929 jobs and a mean wage of $6.95. Both occupations have a low hourly wage compared to Wyoming’s mean wage of $12.22 for all industries. Compared to the other six states and the United States, Wyoming has the lowest mean wage in seven of 15 high growth occupations:
South Dakota has the lowest wages in four of the 15 occupations, Montana and Idaho each have two occupations with the lowest wages. Stock clerks and maintenance repairers earn more in Wyoming than the United States. Electricians in Nebraska, South Dakota and Utah earn less than in Wyoming. Stock clerks, maintenance repairers and electrician occupations have a higher wage in Wyoming because they are often found working in the Mining industry. The Mining industry in Wyoming traditionally pays more than other industries and has a larger portion of total employment than in any other state.
The OES Wage Survey is a valuable tool in studying occupations and wages. Some of the fastest growing occupations in Wyoming such as retail salespersons pay low wages, while others such as electricians and stock clerks pay higher wages because they are commonly found in the Mining industry.
1 Statewide 1998 wage information for four multi-county regions, Casper and Cheyenne (Wyoming’s two metropolitan statistical areas). The U.S. and other states’ data are available from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Wage Survey Glossary General Definitions
Mean Wage - A measure of central tendency. The sum of the values of all observations divided by the number of observations. It is also called the arithmetic average. If some values are far removed from the others (outlying), they can substantially influence the mean.
OES Code - This five-digit code identifies occupations as defined by the Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) program.
OES Title - A short title describing each occupation included in the OES occupations.
Numeric Change in Employment - Numerical change is important because occupations with large employment that are projected to grow slowly may create more jobs than occupations with small employment that are projected to grow rapidly.
Percent Change in Employment - Percent change provides information on occupations that will grow much faster than average, which is generally an indicator of favorable employment prospects.
Managerial and Administrative (10000-19999) - Included in this division are all top and middle managers, administrators and executives. Primary duties are policy making, planning, staffing, directing or controlling the activities of industrial, commercial, governmental or other establishments.
Professional, Paraprofessional, and Technical Occupations (20000-39999) - Included in this division are persons concerned with the theoretical or practical aspects of such fields as science, art, education, law and business relations where substantial post-secondary educational preparation or equivalent on-the-job training or experience is required. Occupations in this section are ordered as follows: General management support; engineering and scientific; data processing and mathematical; social sciences, law and related; teaching and related; medicine and health; writing, art and related.
Sales and Related Occupations (40000-49999) - Included in this division are persons selling goods or services and others directly related to sales.
Clerical and Administrative Support Occupations (50000-59999) - Included in this division are persons performing office and plant clerical tasks, such as typing, filing, computer operating, records keeping (personnel, stock, production, billing, etc.) and mail preparation and distributing.
Service (60000-69999) - Included in this division are workers in occupations relating to protective service, food service, health assisting service, cleaning and building service and personal service.
Agricultural, Forestry, Fishing, and Related Occupations (70000-79999) - Included in this division are workers concerned with agricultural production, forestry and fishing. Also included in this division are agriculture related workers such as animal caretakers and grounds keepers.
Production, Construction, Operating, Maintenance, and Material Handling Occupations (80000-99999) - Included in this division are all skilled, semiskilled and unskilled workers performing machine and manual tasks involving production, construction, operating, maintenance, repair and material handling operations.
The Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) Wage Survey measures occupational employment and wage rates for Unemployment Insurance covered employees in non-farm establishments. This article uses the OES Wage survey to compare the average wages of Wyoming's fastest growing occupations to the United States and six surrounding states (see Table 1).
These 15 occupations are found in six of the seven major occupational groups, suggesting a broad range of growing employment opportunities. Wyoming has the lowest wage in seven of the 15 occupations. However, Wyoming's overall hourly mean wage went up from $11.87 in 1997 to $12.22 in 1998 or 2.9 percent.
Table of Contents | Labor Market Information | Employment Resources | Send Us Mail
These pages designed by Gayle C. Edlin.
Last modified on
by
Valerie A. Davis.