Bureau of Labor Statistics
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: FOR RELEASE: Cheryl Abbot Wednesday, Regional Economist January 30, 2008 (214) 767-6970 http://www.bls.gov/ro6/ HIGHLIGHTS OF NEW ORLEANS-METAIRIE-KENNER, LA NATIONAL COMPENSATION SURVEY MAY 2007 Workers in the New Orleans-Metairie-Kenner metropolitan area earned an average of $19.14 per hour in May 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 noted that wage data were reported for workers in a wide range of occupational groups, including average hourly earnings of $25.71 for healthcare practitioner and technical occupations and $19.13 for production occupations. Another occupational group, office and administrative support, had a mean hourly wage rate of $15.02. The NCS data available for the New Orleans-Metairie-Kenner area include earnings for 20 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 $31.30 per hour. Within the production occupational group, machinists averaged $24.70 per hour and welding, soldering, and brazing workers, $17.07. Secretaries and administrative assistants, an occupation within the office and administrative support group, registered an average hourly rate of $17.72, and bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks earned $11.76 per hour. (See table 1.) Broad coverage of selected occupational characteristics is available from NCS for the local area. Full-time workers averaged $20.17 per hour while their part- time counterparts earned $9.10. Union workers earned $21.57 and non-union workers, $18.90. Workers in establishments with 1-99 workers averaged $16.33 per hour, those in establishments with 100-499 workers earned $19.57, and those in establishments with 500 or more employees earned $24.32. 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 reported here covered 255 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 477,800 workers in the New Orleans-Metairie-Kenner metropolitan area which is comprised of Jefferson, Orleans, Plaquemines, St. Bernard, St. Charles, St. John the Baptist, and St. Tammany Parishes in Louisiana. Survey Availability 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), New Orleans-Metairie-Kenner, LA, May 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............................. $19.14 5.2 $20.17 5.3 $9.10 5.4 Management occupations................ 42.53 9.7 42.53 9.7 – – Engineering managers................ 60.65 9.2 60.65 9.2 – – Business and financial operations occupations..................... 24.76 15.3 24.60 15.6 – – Accountants and auditors............ 21.48 27.9 21.48 27.9 – – Computer and mathematical science occupations..................... 24.68 13.6 24.68 13.6 – – Architecture and engineering occupations..................... 35.51 13.0 35.51 13.0 – – Engineers........................... 37.79 14.6 37.79 14.6 – – Life, physical, and social science occupations..................... 28.76 10.1 28.76 10.1 – – Community and social services occupations..................... 18.57 14.5 18.45 14.7 – – Social workers...................... 18.91 5.1 18.91 5.1 – – Education, training, and library occupations..................... 31.98 7.2 32.53 7.3 9.58 32.4 Postsecondary teachers.............. 41.95 14.6 42.49 14.6 – – Miscellaneous postsecondary teachers........................ 29.02 8.1 29.21 7.4 – – Primary, secondary, and special education school teachers....... 34.23 2.9 34.23 2.9 – – Elementary and middle school teachers........................ 32.27 2.9 32.27 2.9 – – Elementary school teachers, except special education........ 32.35 .4 32.35 .4 – – Teacher assistants.................. 13.84 10.3 13.84 10.3 – – Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media occupations........... 18.21 15.9 18.21 15.9 – – Healthcare practitioner & technical occupations..................... 25.71 3.1 26.01 3.3 16.78 20.0 Registered nurses................... 31.30 4.4 31.30 4.4 – – Clinical laboratory technologists and technicians................. 18.29 3.5 18.29 3.5 – – Health diagnosing and treating practitioner support technicians..................... 14.90 7.0 – – – – Licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses............... 18.75 11.7 18.73 12.1 – – Healthcare support occupations........ 16.37 27.6 16.67 27.6 – – Nursing, psychiatric, and home health aides.................... 9.36 3.8 9.48 3.3 – – Nursing aides, orderlies, and attendants...................... 9.39 2.5 – – – – Miscellaneous healthcare support occupations..................... 12.12 8.7 12.12 8.7 – – Protective service occupations........ 14.44 5.3 14.15 3.9 – – Food preparation and serving related occupations..................... 8.06 16.0 8.51 17.3 7.07 19.9 Cooks............................... 11.48 9.3 11.18 12.7 – – Food service, tipped................ 4.39 4.7 4.12 16.7 4.76 20.9 Waiters and waitresses............ 2.93 9.8 – – 3.22 24.4 Food servers, nonrestaurant......... 7.84 17.5 – – – – Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance occupations......... 9.81 3.1 9.74 4.2 – – Building cleaning workers........... 9.50 2.8 9.63 3.3 – – Janitors and cleaners, except maids & housekeeping cleaners... – – 9.55 5.2 – – Maids and housekeeping cleaners... 9.63 5.2 9.63 5.2 – – Personal care & service occupations... 9.53 6.9 10.09 10.5 8.41 4.0 Sales and related occupations......... 17.36 24.8 19.92 25.2 8.07 10.2 First-line supervisors/managers, sales workers................... 25.27 30.1 25.59 31.3 – – First-line supervisors/managers of retail sales workers......... 17.36 28.1 17.51 29.9 – – Retail sales workers................ 10.12 14.5 11.48 10.9 7.89 9.0 Cashiers, all workers............. 8.53 4.4 – – 8.31 2.5 Cashiers........................ 8.53 4.4 – – 8.31 2.5 Office and administrative support occupations..................... 15.02 4.6 15.28 4.7 10.97 7.7 Financial clerks.................... 12.13 8.0 12.47 10.0 10.76 8.5 Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks................. 11.76 3.8 12.02 4.5 – – Tellers........................... 10.93 .3 10.65 2.3 – – Customer service representatives.... 20.14 5.4 20.14 5.4 – – Receptionists & information clerks.. 8.96 6.5 9.13 8.7 – – Secretaries and administrative assistants...................... 17.72 3.8 17.80 3.9 – – Executive secretaries and administrative assistants....... 20.19 6.1 20.19 6.1 – – Office clerks, general.............. 13.26 8.0 13.26 8.0 – – Construction and extraction occupations..................... 18.97 2.1 18.85 1.5 – – Electricians........................ 19.42 1.0 19.09 1.0 – – Installation, maintenance, and repair occupations..................... 19.10 8.2 19.10 8.2 – – Industrial machinery installation, repair, & maintenance workers... 16.96 5.1 16.96 5.1 – – Production occupations................ 19.13 17.2 19.13 17.2 – – First-line supervisors/managers of production & operating workers.. 25.47 26.0 25.47 26.0 – – Machinists.......................... 24.70 .0 24.70 .0 – – Welding, soldering, and brazing workers......................... 17.07 .5 17.07 .5 – – Transportation and material moving occupations..................... 14.93 9.7 15.60 9.2 8.78 10.5 Driver/sales workers and truck drivers......................... 11.90 20.0 12.85 17.2 – – Sailors and marine oilers........... 14.79 8.0 14.79 8.0 – – Laborers and material movers, hand.. 10.44 1.6 10.56 2.1 – – Laborers and freight, stock, and material movers, hand........... 10.43 2.3 10.49 2.7 – – =========================================================================================================== (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 full publication. (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 full publication. 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 30, 2008
