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© Copyright 1998 by the Wyoming Department of Employment, Research & Planning

Wage survey results for the last two years show that the fifteen lowest paying occupations have not changed much from year to year in Wyoming. On the other hand, the fifteen highest paying occupations are very different. This could be due to the fact that with the new 1997 wage data, the Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) section of Research & Planning (R&P) is able to publish more jobs the second year of the survey. When looking for an occupation in which to start a career utilizing the 1996 wage data, it appears that the medical field would be a good choice. With the baby boomers getting older and experiencing more health risks, the medical field will need more employees. In looking at the current wage rate estimates, OES was able to publish more Mining industry occupations due to an increased sample and more sample size detail available, which pushed some of the medical occupations out of the top fifteen.

The OES Wage Survey

Wage data are collected from an annual OES Wage Survey that is conducted by R&P. R&P thanks all of the employers that participated in the wage survey over the last two years. They have made it a big success. For the 1996 and 1997 wage surveys, more than 80 percent of the employers surveyed responded each year.

The OES Wage Survey is an annual mail survey measuring occupational employment and wage rates for Unemployment Insurance (UI) covered wage and salary workers in nonfarm establishments. Information is collected and presented for each industry. The OES classification system uses seven major occupational divisions (see Table 2) to categorize workers into one of 750 detailed occupations (see Wage Survey Glossary). Wages for the OES Wage Survey are straight-time, gross pay, exclusive of premium pay. Premium pay includes base rate, cost-of-living allowances, guaranteed pay, hazardous-duty pay, incentive pay including commissions and production bonuses and on-call pay. Excluded from the OES Wage Survey are: back pay, jury duty pay, overtime pay, severance pay, shift differentials, non-production bonuses and tuition reimbursements.

The Fifteen Lowest Paying Occupations

In 1996, out of the fifteen lowest paying occupations in Wyoming, all except three are Service occupations (see Table 1). Those three are:

1. Vehicle Washers and Equipment Cleaners
2. Service Station Attendants
3. Messengers

The Service Occupational Division includes workers in occupations relating to protective service, food service, health assisting service, cleaning and building service and personal service. There are no specific educational requirements for most jobs in this occupational division with the exception of protective service occupations. Although many employers prefer to hire high school graduates, completion of high school is generally not required. Many entrants into these jobs are in their late teens or early 20's and have a high school education or less, and usually have little or no work experience¹. Most of these employees are full-time students or homemakers. Food and beverage service jobs are a major source of part-time employment for high school students². Most of the Service occupations pay minimum wage, which went from $4.75 to $5.15 per hour September 1, 1997. According to Table 3, all of the occupations in the lowest paid fifteen for 1996 have been projected to grow, with the exception of Service Station Attendants. The occupational projections use the occupational employment data from the wage survey to estimate future growth or decline of occupations. The data collected in the wage survey are used for more than one purpose.

In 1997, most of the lowest paid jobs are again in Service occupations, with the exception of five:

1. Proofreaders and Copy Markers
2. Counter Attendants - Coffee Shop, Lunchroom or Cafeteria
3. Service Station Attendants
4. Hand Packers and Packagers
5. Vehicle Washers and Equipment Cleaners

There are three occupations from 1996 that are not on the list for 1997:

1. Cooks, Short Order
2. Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners
3. Personal and Home Care Aides

There are three occupations in 1997 that are not on 1996’s list:

1. Proofreaders and Copy Markers
2. Counter Attendants - Coffee Shop, Lunchroom or Cafeteria
3. Hand Packers and Packagers

The Fifteen Highest Paying Occupations

On the other hand, the top fifteen paying occupations for 1996 (see Table 4) in Wyoming are spread out over three major occupational groups. Most of these jobs require a bachelor’s degree or higher education:

1. Managerial and Administrative Occupations - Financial Managers; Engineering, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences Managers; Education Administrators; Mining, Quarrying, and Oil and Gas Well Drilling Managers.
2. Professional, Paraprofessional, and Technical Occupations - Mining Engineers, including Mine Safety; Petroleum Engineers; Data Base Administrators; Lawyers; Physicians and Surgeons; Occupational Therapists; Physical Therapists; Physician’s Assistants; and Pharmacists.
3. Production, Construction, Operating, Maintenance, and Material Handling Occupations - First-Line Supervisors and Managers - Transportation and Material-Moving Machine and Vehicle Operators; All Other First-Line Supervisors and Managers - Production, Construction, Maintenance, and Related Workers.

The projections in Table 3 show that all of the fifteen top paying jobs, with the exception of Educational Administrators and First-Line Supervisors and Managers - Transportation and Material-Moving, will have growth between 1996 and the year 2006. The top four jobs that will have growth are: Financial Managers with an increase of 240 jobs; Engineering, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences Managers with a growth of 110 jobs; Physical Therapists will increase by 103 jobs; and Physicians and Surgeons are projected to grow by 97 jobs.

One reason that the highest paid occupations are so different from 1996 to 1997 is that 1997 wages are actually 1996 and 1997 data combined, which increased the number of employers included in the survey. Therefore, R&P is able to print more detail for occupations due to less confidentiality and increased sample size. Also, the data are collected from all industries in one year so different employers are surveyed every year. The highest paying occupations for 1997 are also spread out over the same three major occupational groups while losing the jobs in the First-Line Supervisors' occupations:

1. Managerial and Administrative Occupations - Engineering, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences Managers; Mining, Quarrying, and Oil and Gas Well Drilling Managers.
2. Professional, Paraprofessional, and Technical Occupations - Mining Engineers, including Mine Safety; Petroleum Engineers; Chemical Engineers; Industrial Engineers, except Safety; Safety Engineers, except Mining; Geologists, Geophysicists and Oceanographers; Physicians and Surgeons; Dentists; Optometrists; All Other Health Diagnosing and Treating Practitioners.
3. Production, Construction, Operating, Maintenance, and Material Handling Occupations - Blasters and Explosives Workers; All Other Mining Machine Operators; Dragline Operators.

Table 3 shows that all of the highest paid occupations for 1997 are projected to increase from 1996 to the year 2006 excluding one: Industrial Engineers, except Safety.

All statewide wage information will be available in January, by the four regions and Wyoming’s two metropolitan statistical areas (MSA's). The 1996 wage survey results for Wyoming are available. The national and other state's data are available from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Deana Hauf is an Economist, specializing in Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) with Research & Planning.

1 Carol Toups, "Work Experience of Wyoming’s Youth," Wyoming Labor Force Trends, July 1997, pp. 1-6.

2 Occupational Outlook Handbook, 1996-97 Edition, p. 312.

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