Media Contact:          Walter Marshall              For release: Wednesday, July 14, 2008
                              (617) 565-2324

Workers in the Springfield metropolitan area earned an average of $21.45 per hour in October 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 Denis McSweeney noted that wage data were reported for workers in a wide range of occupational groups, including average hourly earnings of $37.28 for healthcare practitioner and technical occupations and $23.76 for protective service occupations. Another occupational group transportation and material moving occupations, had a mean hourly wage rate of $16.96. The NCS data available for the Springfield 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 $30.88 per hour, while licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses earned $22.26. Within the protective service occupations occupational group, security guards averaged $12.33 per hour. Laborers and freight, stock, and material movers, hand, an occupation within the transportation and material moving group, registered an average hourly rate of $13.23. (See table 1.)

Broad coverage of selected occupational characteristics is available from NCS for the local area. Full-time workers averaged $24.05 per hour while their part-time counterparts earned $11.63. Union workers earned $24.91 and non-union workers, $20.24. Workers in establishments with 1-99 workers averaged $17.65 per hour, those in establishments with 100-499 workers earned $21.93, and those in establishments with 500 or more employees earned $29.07.

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 www.bls.gov/ncs/home.htm.

The NCS data reported here covered 158 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 247,600 workers in the Springfield Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) which is comprised of Franklin, Hampden, and Hampshire Counties in Massachusetts.

Survey Availability

Complete survey results are contained in the Springfield, MA National Compensation Survey October 2007 which is available on the Internet in both text and PDF formats at www.bls.gov/ncs/ocs/compub.htm.

For personal assistance or further information on the National Compensation Survey data, as well as other Bureau data, contact the Boston Information Office by calling (617) 565-2327 from 8:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and 1:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. ET.

Table 1. Civilian workers: Mean hourly earnings(1) for full-time and part-time workers, Springfield, MA, October 2007

Occupation3	Total		Full-time workers		Part-time workers
	Mean	Relative error (percent)	Mean	Relative error (percent)	Mean	Relative error (percent)
All workers	$21.45	3.7	$24.05	4.7	$11.63	4.0
Management occupations	36.03	11.8	36.02	11.8	–	–
Education administrators	40.66	12.3	40.64	12.4	–	–
Education administrators, postsecondary	41.83	15.1	41.81	15.2	–	–
Business and financial operations occupations	38.12	13.1	38.12	13.1	–	–
Computer and mathematical science occupations	33.92	9.3	33.94	9.3	–	–
Architecture and engineering occupations	31.40	5.3	31.40	5.3	–	–
Engineers	33.25	4.1	33.25	4.1	–	–
Education, training, and library occupations	41.66	3.1	43.28	3.3	23.06	9.3
Postsecondary teachers	63.10	1.2	64.70	.2	27.60	1.4
Social sciences teachers, postsecondary	53.10	16.6	53.58	17.0	–	–
Arts, communications, and humanities teachers, postsecondary	83.43	12.1	83.80	12.1	–	–
Miscellaneous postsecondary teachers	39.20	5.5	–	–	–	–
Primary, secondary, and special education school teachers	40.90	3.5	42.86	.3	–	–
Elementary and middle school teachers	40.36	7.0	43.21	.3	–	–
Elementary school teachers, except special education &	39.77	8.0	43.38	.4	–	–
Secondary school teachers	42.05	.7	42.05	.7	–	–
Secondary school teachers, except special and vocational education	42.05	.7	42.05	.7	–	–
Special education teachers	44.25	1.2	–	–	–	–
Teacher assistants	14.20	2.0	14.35	3.2	–	–
Healthcare practitioner and technical occupations	37.28	20.5	39.86	26.9	28.52	3.4
Registered nurses	30.88	4.4	29.95	6.2	32.75	3.4
Therapists	33.63	7.1	33.60	7.2	–	–
Licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses	22.26	7.9	–	–	–	–
Healthcare support occupations	14.44	5.3	14.51	6.1	–	–
Nursing, psychiatric, and home health aides	13.60	6.3	13.67	7.2	–	–
Psychiatric aides	15.10	1.6	–	–	–	–
Protective service occupations	23.76	19.2	25.61	16.3	–	–
Security guards and gaming surveillance officers	12.33	15.5	14.70	3.7	–	–
Security guards	12.33	15.5	14.70	3.7	–	–
Food preparation and serving related occupations	6.95	19.5	–	–	6.34	9.7
Cooks	14.35	3.6	–	–	–	–
Food preparation workers	10.37	1.5	–	–	–	–
Food service, tipped	3.33	16.2	–	–	3.72	13.2
Waiters and waitresses	–	–	–	–	3.17	11.7
Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance occupations	18.53	22.0	19.54	20.8	–	–
Building cleaning workers	11.32	7.9	11.96	10.6	–	–
Janitors and cleaners, except maids and housekeeping cleaners	11.68	7.6	12.51	10.5	–	–
Personal care and service occupations	9.99	5.1	–	–	10.01	5.7
Sales and related occupations	16.25	19.5	20.26	24.3	9.21	2.2
Retail sales workers	10.46	3.3	–	–	9.21	2.2
Cashiers, all workers	9.63	.9	–	–	9.23	2.2
Cashiers	9.63	.9	–	–	9.23	2.2
Office and administrative support occupations	16.46	3.1	17.38	2.8	13.84	4.8
Financial clerks	14.85	6.2	15.73	6.2	11.76	4.6
Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks	14.65	5.4	–	–	–	–
Customer service representatives	16.71	4.5	17.75	3.3	–	–
Receptionists and information clerks	15.92	8.7	–	–	–	–
Secretaries and administrative assistants	$17.49	4.4	17.67	5.1	–	–
Secretaries, except legal, medical, and executive	18.21	6.8	18.21	6.8	–	–
Office clerks, general	17.03	5.2	17.51	4.8	–	–
Construction and extraction occupations	24.84	2.5	24.84	2.5	–	–
Installation, maintenance, and repair occupations	18.98	3.9	18.98	3.9	–	–
Industrial machinery installation, repair, and maintenance workers	18.20	8.7	18.20	8.7	–	–
Production occupations	15.89	7.9	16.11	8.1	–	–
Printers	18.35	2.0	18.35	2.0	–	–
Printing machine operators	18.35	2.0	18.35	2.0	–	–
Miscellaneous production workers	15.12	3.6	15.29	4.2	–	–
Paper goods machine setters, operators, and tenders	17.14	.0	–	–	–	–
Transportation and material moving occupations	16.96	9.8	18.03	11.1	13.00	12.7
Industrial truck and tractor operators	19.21	12.4	19.21	12.4	–	–
Laborers and material movers, hand	11.67	6.5	12.86	5.3	–	–
Laborers and freight, stock, and material movers, hand &	13.23	8.6	–	–	–	–

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.

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 fill-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.

SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics, National Compensation Survey.

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.