Bureau of Labor Statistics
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HIGHLIGHTS OF GREAT FALLS, MT
NATIONAL COMPENSATION SURVEY, NOVEMBER 2007 (PDF)
Workers in the Great Falls metropolitan area earned an average of $16.16 per hour in November 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 $12.43 for office and administrative support occupations and $9.89 for healthcare support. Another occupational group, food preparation and serving related, had a mean hourly wage rate of $7.60. The NCS data available for the Great Falls area include earnings for 18 major occupational groups with additional detail for selected occupations within those groups. (See table 1.)
General office clerks, part of the office and administrative support occupational group, earned $11.51 per hour and receptionists and information clerks, $10.99. Within the healthcare support occupational group, nursing aides, orderlies, and attendants averaged $10.51 per hour. Restaurant cooks, an occupation within the food preparation and serving related group, registered an average hourly rate of $7.87, and waiters and waitresses earned $6.26 per hour. (See table 1.)
Broad coverage of selected occupational characteristics is available from NCS for the local area. Full-time workers averaged $17.14 per hour while their part-time counterparts earned $9.36. Union workers earned $18.46 and non-union workers, $15.73. Workers in establishments with 1-99 workers averaged $14.50 per hour, those in establishments with 100-499 workers earned $18.74, and those in establishments with 500 or more employees earned $17.99.
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 207 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 32,900 workers in the Great Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) which is comprised of Cascade County in Montana.
Survey Availability
Complete survey results are contained in the Great Falls, MT National Compensation Survey November 2007 which is available on the Internet in both text and PDF formats at http://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 Kansas City Information Office by calling (816) 285-7000 from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. CT.
Table 1. Civilian workers: Mean hourly earnings(1) for full-time and part-time workers(2), Great Falls, MT, November 2007
Total Full-time workers Part-time workers
Occupation(3)
Relative Relative Relative
Mean error(4) Mean error(4) Mean error(4)
(percent) (percent) (percent)
All workers........................................................... $16.16 3.6 $17.14 3.7 $9.36 8.1
Management occupations.............................................. 27.63 12.1 27.63 12.1 – –
Business and financial operations occupations....................... 28.82 14.7 28.82 14.7 – –
Architecture and engineering occupations............................ 30.23 13.3 – – – –
Community and social services occupations........................... 15.47 9.2 14.88 10.3 – –
Education, training, and library occupations........................ 27.13 8.6 27.80 8.1 13.99 30.0
Postsecondary teachers............................................ 38.34 14.4 – – – –
Primary, secondary, and special education school teachers......... 25.94 19.0 25.94 19.0 – –
Other teachers and instructors.................................... 27.35 22.0 – – 9.08 6.2
Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media occupations.......... 17.81 19.7 17.81 19.7 – –
Healthcare practitioner and technical occupations................... 25.54 1.9 25.22 .4 – –
Healthcare support occupations...................................... 9.89 2.6 10.05 2.1 – –
Nursing, psychiatric, and home health aides....................... 10.17 1.4 10.20 1.3 – –
Nursing aides, orderlies, and attendants........................ 10.51 .9 – – – –
Protective service occupations...................................... 24.24 14.2 24.49 13.8 – –
Food preparation and serving related occupations.................... 7.60 3.4 8.01 4.0 6.94 2.4
Cooks............................................................. 8.04 1.5 8.29 1.8 – –
Cooks, restaurant............................................... 7.87 1.7 – – – –
Food service, tipped.............................................. 6.46 3.1 6.51 5.5 6.38 .8
Waiters and waitresses.......................................... 6.26 .9 – – – –
Combined food preparation and serving workers, including fast
food......................................................... 7.94 6.2 – – – –
Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance occupations........... 9.23 5.6 9.67 7.3 7.96 4.1
Building cleaning workers......................................... 8.88 4.1 9.23 5.4 7.88 4.0
Janitors and cleaners, except maids and housekeeping cleaners... 8.85 7.2 9.16 10.1 8.04 4.7
Maids and housekeeping cleaners................................. 8.95 9.6 – – – –
Personal care and service occupations............................... 8.52 6.1 – – 7.17 1.4
Sales and related occupations....................................... 14.14 14.0 16.01 15.1 7.58 2.3
First-line supervisors/managers, sales workers.................... 12.95 38.6 14.30 36.9 – –
Retail sales workers.............................................. 11.21 10.9 12.73 14.0 7.55 3.2
Cashiers, all workers........................................... 8.38 5.2 9.32 2.8 7.29 5.8
Cashiers...................................................... 8.38 5.2 9.32 2.8 7.29 5.8
Retail salespersons............................................. 13.91 19.5 14.83 20.0 8.51 5.1
Office and administrative support occupations....................... 12.43 3.5 12.59 3.8 10.74 6.2
Financial clerks.................................................. 11.67 7.3 11.76 8.3 11.15 5.5
Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks.................... 11.90 8.6 12.08 9.9 – –
Receptionists and information clerks.............................. 10.99 5.2 11.09 5.3 – –
Secretaries and administrative assistants......................... 11.32 7.0 11.32 7.0 – –
Office clerks, general............................................ 11.51 4.5 12.10 6.3 – –
Construction and extraction occupations............................. 18.29 11.8 18.29 11.8 – –
Installation, maintenance, and repair occupations................... 19.66 13.7 19.66 13.7 – –
Production occupations.............................................. 17.53 12.1 18.12 13.1 – –
Transportation and material moving occupations...................... 14.33 10.7 14.90 10.0 10.59 3.9
Driver/sales workers and truck drivers............................ 17.06 17.4 17.53 17.1 – –
Laborers and material movers, hand................................ 9.90 3.6 9.87 4.0 – –
Laborers and freight, stock, and material movers, hand.......... 10.02 5.6 10.03 5.9 – –
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.
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.
Last Modified Date: July 9, 2008
