Internet: www.bls.gov/ro3/ PLS – 4466
FOR RELEASE:
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2008
INFORMATION: Thomas McGettigan
(215) 597-3282
MEDIA CONTACT: Gerald Perrins
(215) 861-5600

Highlights of Reading, PA National Compensation Survey January 2008 (PDF)

Workers in the Reading metropolitan area averaged $18.31 per hour during January 2008, according to new survey results from the National Compensation Survey (NCS) released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) of the U.S. Department of Labor. Sheila Watkins, the Bureau’s regional commissioner, noted that wage data were reported for workers in a wide range of occupational groups, including average hourly earnings of $15.44 for production occupations and $14.98 for transportation and material moving occupations. Another occupational group, office and administrative support, had a mean hourly wage rate of $14.69. The January 2008 NCS data available for the Reading area include earnings for 17 major occupational groups with additional detail for selected occupations within those groups. (See table 1.)

Within the production occupational group, printing machine operators earned $18.32 per hour, while cutting and slicing machine setters, operators, and tenders were paid $13.88. The average hourly wage for truck drivers, heavy and tractor-trailer, part of the transportation and material moving occupational group, was $17.24; laborers and freight, stock, and material movers, hand earned $15.44 per hour. In the office and administrative support occupations, executive secretaries and administrative assistants were paid $18.80 per hour. (See table 1.)

Broad coverage of selected occupational characteristics is available from the NCS for the local area. Full-time workers were paid an average of $19.51 per hour and part-time workers earned $9.42. Hourly wages for union and non-union workers were $22.21 and $17.60, respectively. Workers in establishments with 1-99 workers earned $16.33, those in establishments with 100-499 workers earned $19.89, and those in establishments with 500 or more workers earned $20.44 per hour.

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/.

The NCS data reported here covered 190 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 167,800 workers in the Reading, Pa. Metropolitan Statistical Area which consists of Berks County in Pennsylvania.

Survey Availability

Complete survey results are contained in the Reading, PA National Compensation Survey January 2008 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 Mid-Atlantic Information Office by calling (215) 597-3282 from 8:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and 1:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. ET.
Table 1. Civilian workers: Mean hourly earnings(1) for full-time and part-time workers(2), Reading, PA, January 2008
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

 $18.31 3.1 $19.51 3.0 $9.42 9.1

Management occupations

 43.01 14.4 43.16 14.6 – –

Business and financial operations occupations

 28.87 8.5 28.87 8.5 – –

Computer and mathematical science occupations

 28.42 5.9 28.42 5.9 – –

Community and social services occupations

 21.88 22.3 21.88 22.3 – –

Education, training, and library occupations

 32.38 7.8 34.47 7.5 13.92 24.0

Postsecondary teachers

 41.62 3.9 41.87 4.2 – –

Primary, secondary, and special education school teachers

 34.37 7.9 36.25 6.7 – –

Elementary and middle school teachers

 36.73 5.6 36.79 5.7 – –

Elementary school teachers, except special education

 38.44 2.9 38.59 2.5 – –

Healthcare practitioner and technical occupations

 25.96 10.9 26.71 9.8 21.87 15.3

Registered nurses

 33.27 27.7 37.23 27.3 – –

Therapists

 32.00 5.6 32.00 5.6 – –

Healthcare support occupations

 12.80 4.6 12.98 4.7 – –

Nursing, psychiatric, and home health aides

 11.88 2.2 11.88 2.2 – –

Nursing aides, orderlies, and attendants

 11.51 2.2 – – – –

Miscellaneous healthcare support occupations

 14.01 5.3 – – – –

Protective service occupations

 17.92 15.4 18.32 17.2 – –

Food preparation and serving related occupations

 7.73 4.0 9.72 3.9 6.25 6.8

Food service, tipped

 3.91 17.4 – – 4.23 17.4

Waiters and waitresses

 3.49 18.5 – – 3.72 20.2

Fast food and counter workers

 10.25 13.3 – – 8.26 7.8

Combined food preparation and serving workers, including fast food

 10.52 13.2 – – – –

Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance occupations

 12.07 6.2 12.82 2.8 8.36 11.1

Building cleaning workers

 11.08 8.4 12.61 5.2 – –

Janitors and cleaners, except maids and housekeeping cleaners

 12.29 5.2 12.98 5.1 – –

Personal care and service occupations

 11.03 16.8 – – 8.91 6.5

Sales and related occupations

 14.70 11.8 19.64 17.0 7.70 9.6

Retail sales workers

 11.77 14.3 15.28 20.9 7.65 11.6

Cashiers, all workers

 7.40 4.6 – – 6.87 3.2

Cashiers

 7.40 4.6 – – 6.87 3.2

Retail salespersons

 16.87 33.9 18.52 32.2 – –

Office and administrative support occupations

 14.69 3.2 14.97 3.2 12.27 9.4

Financial clerks

 16.56 8.6 16.80 8.5 – –

Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks

 16.64 16.5 – – – –

Customer service representatives

 15.26 5.5 15.61 5.6 – –

Receptionists and information clerks

 12.17 3.1 – – – –

Production, planning, and expediting clerks

 15.92 5.7 15.92 5.7 – –

Shipping, receiving, and traffic clerks

 13.11 5.7 13.23 6.5 – –

Stock clerks and order fillers

 9.62 11.6 – – – –

Secretaries and administrative assistants

 16.18 6.1 16.30 6.6 – –

Executive secretaries and administrative assistants

 18.80 4.9 18.80 4.9 – –

Secretaries, except legal, medical, and executive

 15.39 8.8 15.38 8.8 – –

Office clerks, general

 14.16 10.4 14.16 10.5 – –

Construction and extraction occupations

 17.36 3.0 17.37 3.0 – –

Installation, maintenance, and repair occupations

 20.43 13.4 20.51 13.4 – –

Industrial machinery installation, repair, and maintenance workers

 20.20 1.8 20.39 1.8 – –

Maintenance workers, machinery

 19.84 6.5 20.46 4.6 – –

Production occupations

 15.44 1.7 15.69 1.6 – –

Miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators

 14.29 2.8 14.41 2.4 – –

Miscellaneous food processing workers

 11.63 3.3 11.63 3.3 – –

Molders and molding machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic

 19.40 3.9 19.40 3.9 – –

Molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic

 19.40 3.9 19.40 3.9 – –

Printers

 18.20 2.0 18.20 2.0 – –

Printing machine operators

 18.32 1.5 18.32 1.5 – –

Cutting workers

 13.88 8.9 13.88 8.9 – –

Cutting and slicing machine setters, operators, and tenders

 13.88 8.9 13.88 8.9 – –

Packaging and filling machine operators and tenders

 14.06 9.0 14.06 9.0 – –

Miscellaneous production workers

 13.92 7.7 13.92 7.7 – –

Transportation and material moving occupations

 14.98 4.4 15.10 4.6 – –

Driver/sales workers and truck drivers

 15.79 4.7 16.11 4.2 – –

Truck drivers, heavy and tractor-trailer

 17.24 2.8 17.24 2.8 – –

Laborers and material movers, hand

 14.64 3.7 14.69 3.8 – –

Laborers and freight, stock, and material movers, hand

 15.44 7.5 15.44 7.5 – –

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.

Last Modified Date: November 18, 2008