Bureau of Labor Statistics
General Information: (312) 353-1880 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Media Contact: Paul LaPorte Thursday, September 6, 2007 (312) 353 -1138 www.bls.gov/ro5 www.bls.gov/oes www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_16980.htm OCCUPATIONAL EMPLOYMENT AND WAGES CHICAGO-NAPERVILLE-JOLIET, ILLINOIS-INDIANA-WISCONSIN, MAY 2006 Workers in the Chicago-Naperville-Joliet, Illinois-Indiana- Wisconsin Metropolitan Statistical Area1 had an average (mean) wage of $20.62 per hour during May 2006, compared to the nationwide average of $18.84, according to the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics. Regional Commissioner Jay A. Mousa noted that, after testing for statistical significance, wages in the local area were higher than the national average in 16 of the 22 major occupational groups and lower in one. In addition, when compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 8 of the 22 occupations groups, including three of the better-paid-business and financial operations, legal, and computer and mathematical. (See table A and box note at end of release.) These statistics are from the Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) survey, a federal-state cooperative program between BLS and State Workforce Agencies, in this case the Illinois Department of Labor's Office of Labor Market Information Services. The OES survey provides estimates of employment and hourly and annual wages for wage and salary workers in 22 major occupational groups and up to 801 non- military detailed occupations for the nation, states, and 409 metropolitan areas, including Chicago-Naperville-Joliet, Illinois- Indiana-Wisconsin. Occupational wages in the Chicago-Naperville-Joliet area Legal and management occupations were the two highest-paid occupational groups in the Chicago area in May 2006, with those in legal occupations averaging $50.50 an hour and those in management, $45.56. Nationwide, these were also the two highest-paying groups, with earnings of $41.04 in legal and $44.20 in management occupations. The average wage for the legal occupational group in the Chicago area was significantly above that for the nation. Locally, lawyers were among the highest paid occupations in this group at $61.97 an hour, while title examiners, abstractors, and searchers were at the lower end of the wage scale averaging $15.77 an hour. (Detailed occupational data are available at www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_16980.htm. The average wage for management occupations in the Chicago area was also significantly above that for the nation. Locally, hourly wages varied widely within this group. Chief executives were at the high end of the pay scale at $76.15 per hour, while three occupations had hourly rates in the $50.00 range (general and operations managers, sales managers, and financial managers). Four management occupations had rates near $25.00 (lodging; social and community service; education administrators, preschool and child care center/program; and food service). Table A. Occupational employment and wages by major occupational group, United States and Chicago-Naperville-Joliet metropolitan area, and measures of statistical significance, May 2006 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Major occupational group | Employment share | Average (mean) hourly wage | (percent of total) |
|-------------------------------|----------------------------------
| United Chicago Significant | United Chicago Significant
| States difference1 | States difference1
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Management 4.4% 4.4% No $44.20 $45.56 Yes
Business and financial operations 4.4 5.6 Yes 28.85 31.31 Yes
Computer and mathematical 2.3 2.6 Yes 33.29 34.15 Yes
Architecture and 1.8 1.5 Yes 31.82 31.39 No
engineering
Life, physical, and social 0.9 0.9 No 28.68 29.31 No
science
Community and social 1.3 1.1 Yes 18.75 20.66 Yes
services
Legal 0.7 1.0 Yes 41.04 50.50 Yes
Education, training, and 6.2 6.2 No 21.79 24.86 Yes
library
Arts, design, 1.3 1.2 Yes 22.17 21.96 No
entertainment, sports, and
media
Healthcare practitioner and 5.1 5.0 No 29.82 29.05 Yes
technical
Healthcare support 2.6 2.2 Yes 11.83 12.29 Yes
Protective service 2.3 2.5 Yes 17.81 18.92 No
Food preparation and 8.3 7.3 Yes 8.86 9.06 Yes
serving related
Building and grounds 3.3 3.5 Yes 10.86 11.77 Yes
cleaning and maintenance
Personal care and service 2.5 2.5 No 11.02 12.88 Yes
Sales and related 10.6 10.9 Yes 16.52 18.85 Yes
Office and administrative 17.4 17.5 No 14.60 15.58 Yes
support
Farming, fishing, and 0.3 0.1 Yes 10.49 13.01 Yes
forestry
Construction and extraction 5.0 4.2 Yes 18.89 26.65 Yes
Installation, maintenance, 4.0 3.4 Yes 18.78 21.36 Yes
and repair
Production 7.7 8.5 Yes 14.65 14.78 No
Transportation and material 7.3 8.1 Yes 14.16 15.72 Yes
moving
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1 Statistical significance testing at the 90-percent confidence level.
The pay level for the computer and mathematical occupational
group in the Chicago area was also significantly above the national
average. Locally, among the higher paid occupations in this group
were mathematicians at $45.77 an hour and actuaries at $44.09. Wages
for computer support specialists ($22.81) were at the lower end of
the spectrum.
Four occupational groups in the Chicago area had pay levels
clustered around $30.00 an hour-business and financial operations;
architecture and engineering; life, physical and social science; and
health care practitioner and technical. In the business and
financial operations occupational group, local pay of $31.31 was
significantly higher than the national average of $28.85. Personal
financial advisors were among the better paid occupations in this
group, earning $44.25 per hour in Chicago. The average local wage
for the health care practitioner and technical worker occupational
group was $29.05 an hour. Anesthesiologists ($92.35) and surgeons
($84.09) were on the high end of the pay scale, while pharmacy
technicians ($13.24) and dietetic technicians ($11.29) were on the
low end. There was no statistically significant difference between
the local and national wages for the architecture and engineering
occupational group and the life, physical, and social science group.
Local construction and extraction workers earned an average of
41 percent more than their national counterparts. In Chicago,
construction and extraction workers averaged $26.65 an hour,
significantly more than the $18.89 paid to these workers nationwide.
Among the higher-paying jobs in this occupational group were pile-
driver operators ($36.10), elevator installers and repairers
($36.00), reinforcing iron and rebar workers ($33.25), structural
iron and steel workers ($32.01), and operating engineers and other
construction equipment operators ($31.17). Two of the lower-paying
jobs in this group were carpenter helpers and roofer helpers who
earned $15.01 and $11.65, respectively.
The hourly wage for installation, maintenance, and repair
workers in Chicago was significantly higher than the national wage,
averaging $21.36 locally and $18.78 nationally. Some of the better
paying jobs in this group included electrical and electronics
repairers, powerhouse, substation, and relay ($29.74) and millwrights
($28.04).
Food preparation and serving related workers were the lowest-
paid occupational group in Chicago at $9.06 an hour. Chefs and head
cooks were among the higher paid occupations in this group at $17.54
an hour, while combined food preparation and serving workers,
including fast food ($7.85); dishwashers ($7.85); and fast food cooks
($7.78) were among the lower paid.
Occupational employment in the Chicago-Naperville-Joliet area
Office and administrative support workers were the largest major
occupational group in the Chicago metropolitan area, with 772,770
workers representing 17.5 percent of local employment. (See table A)
The local percentage of workers in this occupational
group did not differ significantly from the U.S. average of 17.4
percent; nationally, this was also the largest occupational group.
In the Chicago metropolitan area general office clerks (83,670),
customer service representative (76,860), and stock clerks and order
fillers (60,470) were the largest occupations in the office and
administrative support group, accounting for 28.6 percent of total
employment in this group.
Sales and related jobs represented the second largest major
occupational grouping with a 10.9-percent share of the local
workforce compared to 10.6 percent nationwide. The relatively low-
paid positions of retail salespersons ($11.68) and cashiers ($8.83)
accounted for one-half of local employment in this group, with
136,130 and 103,260 workers, respectively. However, one other sales
occupation in Chicago, wholesale and manufacturing sales
representatives (except technical and scientific products), accounted
for about 13 percent of employment and had average earnings
approaching $33.00 an hour.
Two major occupational groups in the Chicago area accounted for
16.6 percent of the local workforce-production (8.5 percent) and
transportation and material moving (8.1 percent). Both groups had
employment shares above the corresponding national distribution of
7.7 and 7.3 percent, respectively. Within the production group, team
assemblers were one of the largest occupations with 45,850 workers.
Other production occupations with more than 10,000 workers in the
Chicago area included machinists; inspectors, testers, sorters,
samplers, and weighers; packaging and filling machine operators and
tenders; and cutting, punching, and press machine setters, operators,
and tenders (metal and plastic). Within the transportation and
material moving occupational group, almost one-third (110,910) of the
jobs were held by laborers and by those who move freight, stock, and
material by hand. Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers was
another large occupation in this group with employment of 54,450.
The local wage rate for transportation and material moving jobs was
significantly higher than the U.S. average--$15.72 locally versus
$14.16 nationally.
###
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The OES wage and employment data for the 22 major occupational groups
in the Chicago metropolitan area were compared to their respective
national averages based on statistical significance testing. Only
those occupations with wages or employment shares above or below the
national wage or share after testing for significance at the 90-
percent confidence level meet the criteria. NOTE: A value that is
statistically different from another does not necessarily mean that
the difference has economic or practical significance. Statistical
significance is concerned with the ability to make confident
statements about a universe based on a sample. It is entirely
possible that a large difference between two values is not
significantly different statistically, while a small difference is,
since both the size and heterogeneity of the sample affect the
relative error of the data being tested.
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Technical Note
The Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) survey is a
semiannual mail survey measuring occupational employment and wage
rates for wage and salary workers in nonfarm establishments in the
United States. Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands also are
surveyed, but their data are not included in this release. OES
estimates are constructed from a sample of about 1.2 million
establishments. Forms are mailed to approximately 200,000
establishments in May and November of each year for a 3-year period.
The nationwide response rate for the May 2006 survey was 78.1 percent
based on establishments and 73.4 percent based on employment. The
survey included establishments sampled in the May 2006, November
2005, May 2005, November 2004, May 2004, and November 2003 semiannual
panels. The sample in the Chicago metropolitan area included 19,059
establishments with a response rate of 74 percent.
The occupational coding system
The OES survey uses the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB)
occupational classification system, the Standard Occupational
Classification (SOC) system. The SOC system is the first OMB-
required occupational classification system for federal agencies.
The OES survey categorizes workers in 1 of 801 detailed occupations.
Together, these detailed occupations make up 23 major occupational
groups, 22 of which are covered in this release. The one exception
is military specific occupations which are not included in the OES
survey.
For more information about the SOC system, please see the Bureau
of Labor Statistics (BLS) Web site at
http://www.bls.gov/soc/.
The industry coding system
The OES survey uses the North American Industry Classification
System (NAICS). For more information about NAICS, see the BLS Web
site at http://www.bls.gov/bls/naics.htm.
Survey sample
BLS funds the survey and provides the procedures and technical
support, while the State Workforce Agencies (SWAs) collect most of
the data. BLS produces cross-industry and industry-specific
estimates for the nation, states, and metropolitan statistical areas
(MSAs). Industry-specific estimates are produced at the NAICS
sector, 3-digit, 4-digit, and selected 5-digit industry levels. BLS
releases all cross-industry and national estimates; the SWAs release
industry-specific estimates at the state and MSA levels.
State Unemployment Insurance (UI) files provide the universe
from which the OES survey draws its sample. Employment benchmarks
are obtained from reports submitted by employers to the UI program.
The OES survey sample is stratified by metropolitan and
nonmetropolitan areas and industry. Samples selected in panels prior
to May 2005 were stratified using MSA definitions based on the 1990
Metropolitan Statistical Area standards. Beginning with the May 2005
panel, the sample was stratified using new MSA definitions based on
the 2000 Metropolitan Statistical Area standards.
Concepts
Occupational employment is the estimate of total wage and salary
employment in an occupation across the industries surveyed. The OES
survey defines employment as the number of workers who can be
classified as full- or part-time employees, including workers on paid
vacations or other types of paid leave; workers on unpaid short-term
absences; salaried officers, executives, and staff members of
incorporated firms; employees temporarily assigned to other units;
and employees for whom the reporting unit is their permanent duty
station regardless of whether that unit prepares their paycheck.
Wages for the OES survey are straight-time, gross pay, exclusive
of premium pay. Base rate, cost-of-living allowances, guaranteed
pay, hazardous-duty pay, incentive pay including commissions and
production bonuses, tips, and on-call pay are included. Excluded
are: back pay, jury duty pay, overtime pay, severance pay, shift
differentials, non-production bonuses, employer cost for
supplementary benefits, and tuition reimbursements.
Mean hourly wage. The mean hourly wage rate for an occupation
is the total wages that all workers in the occupation earn in an hour
divided by the total employment of the occupation. To calculate the
mean hourly wage of each occupation, total weighted hourly wages are
summed across all intervals and divided by the occupation's weighted
survey employment. The mean wage for each interval is based on
occupational wage data collected by the BLS Office of Compensation
and Working Conditions for the National Compensation Survey (NCS).
Annual wage. Many employees are paid at an hourly rate by their
employers and may work more than or less than 40 hours per week.
Annual wage estimates for most occupations in this release are
calculated by multiplying the mean hourly wage by a "year-round, full-
time" figure of 2,080 hours (52 weeks by 40 hours). Thus, annual
wage estimates may not represent the actual annual pay received by
the employee if they work more or less than 2,080 hours per year.
Some workers typically work less than full time, year round. For
these occupations, the OES survey collects and reports either the
annual salary or the hourly wage rate, depending on how the
occupation is typically paid, but not both. For example, teachers,
flight attendants, and pilots may be paid an annual salary, but do
not work the usual 2,080 hours per year. In this case, an annual
salary is reported. Other workers, such as entertainment workers are
paid hourly rates, but generally do not work full time, year round.
For these workers, only an hourly wage is reported.
Hourly versus annual wage reporting. For each occupation,
respondents are asked to report the number of employees paid within
specific wage intervals. The intervals are defined both as hourly
rates and the corresponding annual rates, where the annual rate for
an occupation is calculated by multiplying the hourly wage rate by a
typical work year of 2,080 hours. The responding establishment can
reference either the hourly or the annual rate for full-time workers,
but they are instructed to report the hourly rate for part-time
workers.
Estimation methodology
Each OES panel includes approximately 200,000 establishments.
The OES survey is designed to produce estimates using six panels (3
years) of data. The full six-panel sample of 1.2 million
establishments allows the production of estimates at detailed levels
of geography, industry, and occupation.
Wage updating. Significant reductions in sampling errors are
obtained by combining six panels of data, particularly for small
geographic areas and occupations. Wages for the current panel need
no adjustment. However, wages in the five previous panels need to be
updated to the current panel's reference period.
The OES program uses the BLS Employment Cost Index (ECI) to
adjust survey data from prior panels before combining them with the
current panel's data. The wage updating procedure adjusts each
detailed occupation's wage rate, as measured in the earlier panel,
according to the average movement of its broader occupational
division. The procedure assumes that there are no major differences
by geography, industry, or detailed occupation within the
occupational division.
May 2006 OES survey estimates. The May 2006 OES survey
estimates are based on all data collected from establishments in the
May 2006, November 2005, May 2005, November 2004, May 2004, and
November 2003 semiannual samples.
Reliability of the estimates. Estimates calculated from a
sample survey are subject to two types of error: sampling and
nonsampling. Sampling error occurs when estimates are calculated
from a subset (that is, a sample) of the population instead of the
full population. When a sample of the population is surveyed, there
is a chance that the sample estimate of the characteristic of
interest may differ from the population value of that characteristic.
Differences between the sample estimate and the population value will
vary depending on the sample selected. This variability can be
estimated by calculating the standard error (SE) of the sample
estimate. If we were to repeat the sampling and estimation process
countless times using the same survey design, approximately 90
percent of the intervals created by adding and subtracting 1.645 SEs
from the sample estimate would include the population value. These
intervals are called 90-percent confidence intervals. The OES
survey, however, usually uses the relative standard error (RSE) of a
sample estimate instead of its SE to measure sampling error. RSE is
defined as the SE of a sample estimate divided by the sample estimate
itself. This statistic provides the user with a measure of the
relative precision of the sample estimate. RSEs are calculated for
both occupational employment and mean wage rate estimates.
Occupational employment RSEs are calculated using a subsample, random
group replication technique called the jackknife. Mean wage rate
RSEs are calculated using a variance components model that accounts
for both the observed and unobserved components of the wage data.
The variances of the unobserved components are estimated using wage
data from the BLS National Compensation Survey. In general,
estimates based on many establishments have lower RSEs than estimates
based on few establishments. If the distributional assumptions of
the models are violated, the resulting confidence intervals may not
reflect the prescribed level of confidence.
Nonsampling error occurs for a variety of reasons, none of which
are directly connected to sampling. Examples of nonsampling error
include: nonresponse, data incorrectly reported by the respondent,
mistakes made in entering collected data into the database, and
mistakes made in editing and processing the collected data.
Additional information
The May 2006 OES national data by occupation, are available on
the BLS Web site at http://www.bls.gov/oes. Users also may access each
occupation's definition and percentile wages. The May 2006 cross-industry data
for states and metropolitan areas are available on the BLS Web site.
Industry staffing patterns at the sector, 3-, 4-, and selected 5-
digit NAICS levels also are also available from the Internet. These
data include industry-specific occupational employment and wage data.
A more detailed technical note for OES is available at
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.tn.htm.
OES information is also available through our regional web page
at www.bls.gov/ro5/. If you have additional
questions, you can contact an economist in the Chicago information
office at (312) 353-1880, menu option 0, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. (CT).
Information in this release will be made available to sensory
impaired individuals upon request. Voice phone: 202-691-5200; TDD
message referral phone number: 1-800-877-8339.
_______________________________
1The Chicago-Naperville-Joliet Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA)
is comprised of Cook, De Kalb, Du Page, Grundy, Kane, Kendall, Lake,
McHenry, and Will counties in Illinois; Jasper, Lake, Newton, and
Porter counties in Indiana; and Kenosha County in Wisconsin.
Chicago, the Chicago metropolitan area, and other such abbreviations
are used interchangeably to refer to the officially designated MSA.
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To view detailed tables of occupational employment and wages in
the Chicago area, go to: www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_16980.htm
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Last Modified Date: September 6, 2007
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