Bureau of Labor Statistics
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: FOR RELEASE: Cheryl Abbot Thursday, Regional Economist December 27, 2007 (214) 767-6970 http://www.bls.gov/ro6/ HIGHLIGHTS OF BROWNSVILLE-HARLINGEN, TX NATIONAL COMPENSATION SURVEY AUGUST 2007 Workers in the Brownsville-Harlingen metropolitan area earned an average of $12.61 per hour in August 2007, according to new survey results from the National Compensation Survey (NCS) released by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Regional Commissioner Stanley W. Suchman reported wage data for workers in a wide range of occupational groups, including average hourly earnings of $25.70 for healthcare practitioner and technical occupations and $10.98 for transportation and material moving occupations. Another occupational group, office and administrative support, had a mean hourly wage rate of $10.67. The NCS data available for the Brownsville area include earnings for 17 major occupational groups with additional detail for selected occupations within those groups. (See table 1.) Registered nurses, part of the healthcare practitioner and technical occupational group, earned $29.51 per hour. Within the transportation and material moving occupational group, industrial truck and tractor operators averaged $8.12 per hour and hand laborers and material movers, $6.58. General office clerks, an occupation within the office and administrative support group, registered an average hourly rate of $9.75, and customer service representatives earned $9.10 per hour. (See table 1.) Broad coverage of selected occupational characteristics is available from NCS for the local area. Full-time workers averaged $13.76 per hour while their part- time counterparts earned $6.82. Union workers earned $22.18 and non-union workers, $12.53. Workers in establishments with 1-99 workers averaged $10.28 per hour, those in establishments with 100-499 workers earned $12.36, and those in establishments with 500 or more employees earned $17.23. The occupational wage data available from NCS may be used by businesses for establishing pay plans, making decisions concerning plant relocation, and in collective bargaining negotiations. Individuals may use such data to help choose potential careers. NCS results also include the work level and respective earnings for occupations determined by a point factor leveling process. The four occupational leveling factors are: knowledge, job controls and complexity, contacts, and physical environment. Details on the NCS are available at http://www.bls.gov/ncs/. The NCS data provided in the detailed bulletin covered 243 establishments with one or more workers in private industry and State and local governments. Agricultural establishments, private households, the self-employed, and the Federal Government were excluded from the survey. This sample of establishments represented 118,600 workers in the Brownsville-Harlingen metropolitan area which is comprised of Cameron County in Texas. Survey Availability Complete survey results are contained in the Brownsville-Harlingen, TX National Compensation Survey August 2007 (Bulletin 3140-18). While supplies last, single copies of the bulletin are available from the Southwest Information Office by calling (214) 767-6970 from 8:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. CT. In addition, data contained in the bulletin are available on the Internet in both text and PDF formats at http://www.bls.gov/ncs/ocs/compub.htm. Table 1. Civilian workers: Mean hourly earnings(1) for full-time and part-time workers(2), Brownsville-Harlingen, TX, August 2007 =========================================================================================================== | | | | Total | Full-time workers | Part-time workers |---------------------|---------------------|---------------------- Occupation(3) | | Relative | | Relative | | Relative | | error(4)| | error(4)| | error(4) | Mean | (percent)| Mean | (percent)| Mean | (percent) =========================================================================================================== All workers............................. $12.61 6.1 $13.76 7.0 $6.82 2.3 Management occupations................ 30.37 12.4 30.37 12.4 – – Business and financial operations occupations.......... 24.43 12.0 24.43 12.0 – – Architecture and engineering occupations..................... 16.54 28.5 16.54 28.5 – – Community and social services occupations..................... 21.71 22.2 21.71 22.2 – – Counselors.......................... 29.09 22.1 29.09 22.1 – – Educational, vocational, and school counselors............... 29.09 22.1 29.09 22.1 – – Miscellaneous community and social service specialists...... 11.90 9.8 11.90 9.8 – – Social and human service assistants...................... 10.93 9.0 10.93 9.0 – – Education, training, and library occupations............. 24.96 11.2 25.16 10.8 14.56 31.1 Primary, secondary, and special education school teachers....... 29.61 1.8 29.61 1.8 – – Elementary and middle school teachers........................ 30.58 .3 30.58 .3 – – Elementary school teachers, except special education........ 31.05 1.0 31.05 1.0 – – Middle school teachers, except special & vocational education.. 30.04 2.5 30.04 2.5 – – Secondary school teachers......... 32.08 2.1 32.08 2.1 – – Secondary school teachers, except special and vocational education............ 32.08 2.2 32.08 2.2 – – Teacher assistants.................. 10.52 3.4 10.62 3.3 – – Healthcare practitioner and technical occupations........... 25.70 10.0 25.70 10.9 25.69 32.6 Registered nurses................... 29.51 2.7 29.57 2.9 – – Clinical laboratory technologists and technicians................. 14.65 12.3 – – – – Health diagnosing and treating practitioner support technicians............. 14.70 13.4 – – – – Licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses............... 17.12 4.1 17.05 4.4 – – Healthcare support occupations........ 7.03 6.8 7.78 12.5 6.18 1.8 Nursing, psychiatric, and home health aides.................... 6.58 1.1 6.77 3.6 6.36 1.0 Home health aides................. 6.36 1.1 – – 6.30 .7 Nursing aides, orderlies, and attendants.................. 7.59 3.2 – – – – Miscellaneous healthcare support occupations............. 7.74 13.9 9.48 7.3 – – Protective service occupations........ 11.86 13.6 12.46 11.7 – – Food preparation and serving related occupations..................... 6.39 4.3 6.44 4.2 6.19 3.6 Food preparation workers............ 6.31 4.6 – – – – Food service, tipped................ 3.22 4.6 3.08 4.9 – – Waiters and waitresses............ 2.80 15.0 2.85 14.1 – – Fast food and counter workers....... 6.41 3.4 – – – – Combined food preparation and serving workers, including fast food....................... 6.42 3.7 – – – – Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance occupations......... 8.93 6.6 9.06 6.9 7.84 4.3 Building cleaning workers........... 8.85 7.7 9.01 8.1 7.84 4.3 Janitors and cleaners, except maids & housekeeping cleaners... 9.12 6.9 9.27 6.9 7.92 6.5 Grounds maintenance workers......... 8.23 8.8 8.23 8.8 – – Personal care & service occupations... 6.39 4.1 8.34 9.8 6.00 2.1 Personal and home care aides........ 6.00 2.2 – – 6.00 2.2 Sales and related occupations......... 10.14 10.0 11.03 11.3 7.50 .8 First-line supervisors/managers, sales workers................... 11.93 16.4 11.93 16.4 – – First-line supervisors/managers of retail sales workers......... 12.91 23.0 12.91 23.0 – – Retail sales workers................ 9.54 9.0 10.66 11.2 7.52 .8 Cashiers, all workers............. 7.74 9.3 8.34 16.6 7.28 4.6 Cashiers........................ 7.74 9.3 8.34 16.6 7.28 4.6 Retail salespersons............... 11.04 30.0 11.89 29.6 8.04 13.0 Office and administrative support occupations..................... 10.67 4.8 10.88 4.7 7.15 5.9 Financial clerks.................... 9.45 6.3 9.50 6.9 – – Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks................. 11.21 6.5 11.54 6.1 – – Customer service representatives.... 9.10 3.9 9.18 4.5 – – Shipping, receiving, and traffic clerks.................. 12.03 12.2 12.03 12.2 – – Stock clerks and order fillers...... 7.80 20.9 8.36 20.2 – – Secretaries and administrative assistants...................... 12.30 9.6 12.52 9.1 – – Medical secretaries............... 9.05 3.3 9.24 2.7 – – Secretaries, except legal, medical, and executive.......... 12.75 5.4 12.75 5.4 – – Office clerks, general.............. 9.75 5.0 9.66 5.2 – – Construction and extraction occupations..................... 10.39 6.4 10.41 6.4 – – Helpers, construction trades........ 8.82 9.1 8.82 9.1 – – Installation, maintenance, and repair occupations..................... 13.41 19.8 13.41 19.8 – – Production occupations................ 11.15 5.8 11.34 6.2 – – First-line supervisors/managers of production and operating workers......................... 17.19 10.7 17.19 10.7 – – Welding, soldering, and brazing workers......................... 13.45 7.6 13.45 7.6 – – Welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers..................... 13.45 7.6 13.45 7.6 – – Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers.......... 11.57 14.0 11.57 14.0 – – Miscellaneous production workers.... 8.99 14.0 9.26 16.0 – – Transportation and material moving occupations..................... 10.98 18.3 11.32 18.2 6.39 6.7 Industrial truck and tractor operators....................... 8.12 4.5 8.12 4.5 – – Laborers and material movers, hand.. 6.58 4.3 6.59 4.9 6.53 7.4 Laborers and freight, stock, and material movers, hand....... 6.77 5.2 6.82 6.8 6.63 8.5 Packers and packagers, hand....... 6.19 9.9 – – – – =========================================================================================================== (1) Earnings are the straight-time hourly wages or salaries paid to employees. They include incentive pay, cost-of-living adjustments, and hazard pay. Excluded are premium pay for overtime, vacations, holidays, nonproduction bonuses, and tips. The mean is computed by totaling the pay of all workers and dividing by the number of workers, weighted by hours. For more information see Bulletin 3140-18. (2) Employees are classified as working either a full-time or a part-time schedule based on the definition used by each establishment. Therefore, a worker with a 35-hour-per-week schedule might be considered a full-time employee in one establishment, but classified as part-time in another firm, where a 40-hour week is the minimum full-time schedule. (3) Workers are classified by occupation using the 2000 Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) system. (4) The relative standard error (RSE) is the standard error expressed as a percent of the estimate. It can be used to calculate a "confidence interval" around a sample estimate. For more information about RSEs, see Bulletin 3140-18. NOTE: Dashes indicate that no data were reported or that data did not meet publication criteria. Overall occupational groups may include data for categories not shown separately. SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics, National Compensation Survey.
Last Modified Date: January 10, 2008
