| Internet: www.bls.gov/ro5/ | |
| GENERAL INFORMATION: (312) 353-1880 | FOR RELEASE: |
| MEDIA CONTACT: Paul LaPorte | Wednesday, December 10, 2008 |
| (312) 353-1138 |
Workers in the Iowa City Metropolitan Statistical Area earned an average of $21.35 per hour in August 2008, 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 Jay A. Mousa noted that wage data were reported for workers in a wide range of occupational groups, including average hourly earnings of $26.23 for healthcare practitioner and technical occupations and $15.32 for office and administrative support occupations. Another occupational group, transportation and material moving, had a mean hourly wage rate of $14.55. The NCS data available for the Iowa City 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 health practitioner and technical occupational group, were paid $26.50 per hour. Within the office and administrative support group, court, municipal, and license clerks averaged $17.16 per hour. Heavy truck and tractor-trailer drivers, an occupation within transportation and material moving, earned $16.73 per hour.
Broad coverage of selected occupational characteristics is available from NCS for the local area. Full-time workers averaged $23.32 per hour while their part-time counterparts earned $10.35. Union workers earned $19.63 and non-union workers, $21.75. Workers in establishments with 1-99 workers averaged $15.25 per hour, those in establishments with 100-499 workers earned $17.57, and those in establishments with 500 or more employees earned $29.04.
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 provided here covered 194 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 79,300 workers in theIowa City Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), which is comprised of Johnson and Washington Counties in Iowa.
Survey Availability
Complete survey results are contained in Iowa City, IA National Compensation Survey August 2008. The bulletin is available on the Internet in both text and PDF formats at www.bls.gov/ncs/ocs/compub.htm.
For additional information, please contact the Bureau of Labor Statistics Midwest Information Office in Chicago at (312) 353-1880 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. CT.
# # #
Bulletin tables - PDF format
- Text format
| Occupation (3) | Total | Full-time workers | Part-time workers | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mean | Relative error (4) (percent) | Mean | Relative error (4) (percent) | Mean | Relative error (4) (percent) | |
All workers |
21.35 | 5.0 | 23.32 | 5.7 | 10.35 | 4.9 |
Management occupations |
54.55 | 30.1 | 54.57 | 30.1 | 9.66 | 2.1 |
Legislators |
9.66 | 2.1 | – | – | 9.66 | 2.1 |
Business and financial operations occupations |
28.09 | 15.8 | 28.09 | 15.8 | – | – |
Computer and mathematical science occupations |
27.29 | 6.9 | 27.29 | 6.9 | – | – |
Architecture and engineering occupations |
24.32 | 8.1 | 24.32 | 8.1 | – | – |
Life, physical, and social science occupations |
18.83 | 14.4 | 18.91 | 14.6 | – | – |
Community and social services occupations |
16.25 | 11.2 | 17.26 | 21.6 | – | – |
Counselors |
– | – | 13.23 | 19.6 | – | – |
Miscellaneous community and social service specialists |
19.67 | 18.9 | – | – | – | – |
Education, training, and library occupations |
59.57 | 10.4 | 60.62 | 10.5 | – | – |
Primary, secondary, and special education school teachers |
30.45 | 8.5 | 30.47 | 8.5 | – | – |
Elementary and middle school teachers |
30.66 | 9.7 | 30.66 | 9.7 | – | – |
Elementary school teachers, except special education |
29.34 | 9.7 | 29.34 | 9.7 | – | – |
Secondary school teachers |
28.26 | 10.4 | 28.32 | 10.6 | – | – |
Secondary school teachers, except special and vocational education |
28.26 | 10.4 | 28.32 | 10.6 | – | – |
Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media occupations |
13.15 | 7.6 | – | – | – | – |
Healthcare practitioner and technical occupations |
26.23 | 3.5 | 26.27 | 3.9 | – | – |
Registered nurses |
26.50 | 0.4 | – | – | – | – |
Healthcare support occupations |
14.58 | 4.3 | 14.59 | 4.3 | – | – |
Miscellaneous healthcare support occupations |
14.80 | 5.7 | 14.81 | 5.8 | – | – |
Protective service occupations |
15.54 | 14.9 | 16.05 | 16.3 | – | – |
Police officers |
21.22 | 4.6 | 21.22 | 4.6 | – | – |
Police and sheriff's patrol officers |
21.22 | 4.6 | 21.22 | 4.6 | – | – |
Food preparation and serving related occupations |
8.88 | 2.9 | 10.25 | 4.2 | 7.15 | 3.8 |
First-line supervisors/managers, food preparation and serving workers |
13.78 | 3.8 | 13.79 | 3.8 | – | – |
First-line supervisors/managers of food preparation and serving workers |
14.74 | 5.5 | 14.76 | 5.5 | – | – |
Cooks |
9.52 | 3.5 | – | – | – | – |
Food service, tipped |
6.01 | 10.7 | – | – | 5.78 | 7.0 |
Waiters and waitresses |
4.32 | 2.9 | – | – | 4.51 | 2.0 |
Fast food and counter workers |
8.98 | 3.7 | – | – | 8.07 | 2.4 |
Combined food preparation and serving workers, including fast food |
9.01 | 4.0 | – | – | – | – |
Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance occupations |
13.06 | 7.6 | 14.44 | 3.0 | 9.21 | 3.3 |
Building cleaning workers |
13.25 | 7.7 | – | – | 8.65 | 3.5 |
Janitors and cleaners, except maids and housekeeping cleaners |
13.25 | 7.7 | – | – | 8.65 | 3.5 |
Grounds maintenance workers |
11.59 | 12.8 | – | – | – | – |
Personal care and service occupations |
9.73 | 6.0 | 10.70 | 8.2 | 8.95 | 7.9 |
Sales and related occupations |
13.40 | 4.9 | 15.39 | 4.3 | 8.84 | 3.1 |
Retail sales workers |
10.27 | 7.1 | 11.53 | 11.3 | 8.43 | 1.5 |
Cashiers, all workers |
9.05 | 0.5 | – | – | 8.46 | 2.3 |
Cashiers |
9.05 | 0.5 | – | – | 8.46 | 2.3 |
Retail salespersons |
11.20 | 11.6 | 12.68 | 13.2 | 8.43 | 1.6 |
Office and administrative support occupations |
15.32 | 2.6 | 16.18 | 2.5 | 10.40 | 6.9 |
Financial clerks |
16.64 | 11.9 | 17.70 | 10.1 | – | – |
Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks |
18.31 | 9.2 | 18.52 | 8.8 | – | – |
Court, municipal, and license clerks |
17.16 | 2.5 | 17.23 | 2.7 | – | – |
Customer service representatives |
14.14 | 5.2 | 14.51 | 4.7 | – | – |
Secretaries and administrative assistants |
16.57 | 6.9 | 17.72 | 2.8 | – | – |
Secretaries, except legal, medical, and executive |
16.76 | 7.6 | 18.13 | 0.7 | – | – |
Office clerks, general |
15.61 | 10.7 | 15.72 | 10.6 | – | – |
Construction and extraction occupations |
21.45 | 13.9 | 21.69 | 13.1 | – | – |
Pipelayers, plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters |
21.10 | 2.0 | 21.10 | 2.0 | – | – |
Installation, maintenance, and repair occupations |
21.94 | 9.7 | 22.24 | 8.8 | – | – |
Automotive technicians and repairers |
20.35 | 14.9 | 20.35 | 14.9 | – | – |
Industrial machinery installation, repair, and maintenance workers |
19.19 | 9.7 | 19.19 | 9.7 | – | – |
Production occupations |
18.55 | 4.8 | 19.18 | 3.9 | 8.64 | 8.1 |
Water and liquid waste treatment plant and system operators |
19.28 | 15.5 | 19.52 | 16.7 | – | – |
Transportation and material moving occupations |
14.55 | 12.1 | 15.82 | 7.7 | 8.46 | 2.1 |
Driver/sales workers and truck drivers |
15.69 | 11.7 | 16.56 | 8.5 | – | – |
Truck drivers, heavy and tractor-trailer |
16.73 | 11.9 | 16.73 | 11.9 | – | – |
Laborers and material movers, hand |
10.18 | 10.8 | – | – | – | – |
Laborers and freight, stock, and material movers, hand |
10.08 | 13.4 | – | – | – | – |
Footnotes:
(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.
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: December 10, 2008
