FOR FURTHER INFORMATION:                                              FOR RELEASE:
Cheryl Abbot, Regional Economist                                      December 17, 2008
(214) 767-6970                                              
http://www.bls.gov/ro6/
		

                         HIGHLIGHTS OF NEW ORLEANS-METAIRIE-KENNER, LA
                            NATIONAL COMPENSATION SURVEY APRIL 2008

     Workers in the New Orleans-Metairie-Kenner metropolitan area earned an average of 
$20.79 per hour in April 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 Stanley W. Suchman noted that wage data were 
reported for workers in a wide range of occupational groups, including average hourly 
earnings of $27.07 for healthcare practitioner and technical occupations and $16.61 for 
transportation and material moving occupations.  Another occupational group, office and 
administrative support, had an average hourly wage rate of $15.96.  The NCS data available 
for the New Orleans-Metairie-Kenner area include earnings for 19 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 $32.13 per hour.  Within the transportation and material moving occupational 
group, sailors and marine oilers averaged $13.36 per hour and hand laborers and freight, 
stock and material movers, $11.97.  Executive secretaries and administrative assistants, an 
occupation within the office and administrative support group, registered an average hourly 
rate of $20.91, and general office clerks earned $14.07 per hour.  (See table 1.)
       
     Broad coverage of selected occupational characteristics is available from NCS for the 
local area.  Full-time workers averaged $22.23 per hour while their part-time counterparts 
earned $9.30.  Union workers earned $23.14 and non-union workers, $20.57.  Workers in 
establishments with 1-99 workers averaged $17.09 per hour, those in establishments with 100-
499 workers earned $23.60, and those in establishments with 500 or more employees earned 
$26.09.

     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/home.htm.
       
     The NCS data reported here covered 228 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 475,600 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
     Complete survey results are contained in the New Orleans-Metairie-Kenner, LA National 
Compensation Survey April 2008 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, as 
well as other Bureau data, contact 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.  


Table 1. Civilian workers: Mean hourly earnings(1) for full-time and part-time workers(2), New Orleans-Metairie-Kenner, LA, April 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

$20.79 5.4 $22.23 5.5 $9.30 4.6

Management occupations

43.72 10.5 43.72 10.5 - -

Engineering managers

65.86 11.7 65.86 11.7 - -

Business and financial operations occupations

30.00 11.1 30.00 11.1 - -

Accountants and auditors

30.31 21.0 30.31 21.0 - -

Computer and mathematical science occupations

27.30 7.8 27.30 7.8 - -

Architecture and engineering occupations

36.11 12.0 36.11 12.0 - -

Engineers

38.07 13.1 38.07 13.1 - -

Life, physical, and social science occupations

36.92 6.6 36.92 6.6 - -

Community and social services occupations

20.26 14.2 20.17 14.4 - -

Social workers

20.45 5.1 20.45 5.1 - -

Education, training, and library occupations

33.40 1.9 34.14 2.7 10.83 29.9

Postsecondary teachers

40.03 7.1 40.88 8.2 - -

Miscellaneous postsecondary teachers

29.65 7.4 29.90 6.6 - -

Primary, secondary, and special education school teachers

36.54 2.4 36.54 2.4 - -

Elementary and middle school teachers

34.70 1.8 34.70 1.8 - -

Elementary school teachers, except special education

34.70 1.9 34.70 1.9 - -

Teacher assistants

16.35 4.2 16.34 4.2 - -

Healthcare practitioner and technical occupations

27.07 3.4 27.24 3.7 22.81 17.2

Registered nurses

32.13 3.1 31.96 3.4 - -

Clinical laboratory technologists and technicians

18.41 3.6 18.41 3.6 - -

Health diagnosing and treating practitioner support technicians

15.36 7.4 - - - -

Licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses

19.50 10.1 19.52 10.5 - -

Healthcare support occupations

18.18 28.0 18.52 28.5 - -

Nursing, psychiatric, and home health aides

9.85 4.0 9.88 3.5 - -

Nursing aides, orderlies, and attendants

9.83 3.4 - - - -

Miscellaneous healthcare support occupations

12.98 10.2 12.98 10.2 - -

Protective service occupations

15.68 7.7 15.21 6.4 - -

Food preparation and serving related occupations

8.29 9.5 8.87 13.9 7.31 10.4

Cooks

11.25 8.8 10.58 11.1 - -

Food service, tipped

4.72 2.3 4.45 18.9 5.00 13.3

Bartenders

6.18 1.5 - - - -

Waiters and waitresses

3.49 10.7 - - 3.95 25.3

Fast food and counter workers

8.35 4.6 - - - -

Combined food preparation and serving workers, including fastfood

8.35 4.6 - - - -

Food servers, nonrestaurant

8.20 5.7 - - - -

Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance occupations

10.17 1.9 10.29 2.8 - -

Building cleaning workers

9.91 3.2 10.28 2.8 - -

Janitors and cleaners, except maids and housekeeping cleaners

- - 10.46 5.4 - -

Personal care and service occupations

9.94 6.3 10.62 10.1 8.68 2.9

Sales and related occupations

17.04 25.2 20.12 25.9 8.07 6.0

First-line supervisors/managers, sales workers

25.43 28.7 25.74 29.8 - -

First-line supervisors/managers of retail sales workers

17.45 20.1 17.58 21.6 - -

Retail sales workers

9.75 9.5 11.15 4.2 7.93 4.3

Cashiers, all workers

8.11 5.3 - - 7.68 3.3

Cashiers

8.11 5.3 - - 7.68 3.3

Office and administrative support occupations

15.96 4.8 16.35 5.0 10.69 8.3

First-line supervisors/managers of office and administrativesupport workers

19.68 2.9 19.68 2.9 - -

Financial clerks

12.70 8.5 13.22 9.8 - -

Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks

12.86 6.1 13.32 4.7 - -

Tellers

11.21 0.8 11.26 1.9 - -

Receptionists and information clerks

8.95 6.6 - - - -

Secretaries and administrative assistants

18.78 3.7 18.96 3.6 - -

Executive secretaries and administrative assistants

20.91 6.1 20.91 6.1 - -

Secretaries, except legal, medical, and executive

14.87 11.1 14.84 13.7 - -

Office clerks, general

14.07 5.9 14.07 5.9 - -

Construction and extraction occupations

19.34 1.1 19.22 1.4 - -

Electricians

19.56 1.0 19.16 1.6 - -

Installation, maintenance, and repair occupations

18.95 7.7 19.03 7.7 - -

Industrial machinery installation, repair, and maintenance workers

16.47 8.5 16.47 8.5 - -

Production occupations

21.56 31.9 22.06 31.9 - -

First-line supervisors/managers of production and operating workers

35.11 34.3 35.11 34.3 - -

Miscellaneous plant and system operators

29.77 0.0 29.77 0.0 - -

Petroleum pump system operators, refinery operators, and gaugers

29.77 0.0 29.77 0.0 - -

Miscellaneous production workers

12.57 2.5 12.57 2.5 - -

Transportation and material moving occupations

16.61 6.1 17.53 4.9 8.90 7.8

Driver/sales workers and truck drivers

15.65 18.6 16.89 17.7 - -

Driver/sales workers

14.98 23.4 - - - -

Sailors and marine oilers

13.36 5.0 13.36 5.0 - -

Laborers and material movers, hand

11.81 8.7 - - - -

Laborers and freight, stock, and material movers, hand

11.97 8.5 - - - -

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. 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.

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.

 

Last Modified Date: December 17, 2008