OverviewThe Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) program conducts a semi-annual mail survey designed to produce estimates of employment and wages for specific occupations. The OES program collects data on wage and salary workers in nonfarm establishments in order to produce employment and wage estimates for about 800 occupations. Data from self-employed persons are not collected and are not included in the estimates. The OES program produces these occupational estimates by geographic area and by industry. Estimates based on geographic areas are available at the National, State, Metropolitan, and Nonmetropolitan Area levels. The Bureau of Labor Statistics produces occupational employment and wage estimates for over 450 industry classifications at the national level. The industry classifications correspond to the sector, 3, 4, and 5-digit North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) industrial groups. The OES program surveys approximately 200,000 establishments per panel (every six months), taking three years to fully collect the sample of 1.2 million establishments. To reduce respondent burden, the collection is on a three-year survey cycle that ensures that establishments are surveyed at most once every three years. The estimates for occupations in nonfarm establishments are based on OES data collected for the reference months of May and November. The OES survey is a Federal-State cooperative program between the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and State Workforce Agencies (SWAs). BLS provides the procedures and technical support, draws the sample, and produces the survey materials, while the SWAs collect the data. SWAs from all fifty States, plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Virgin Islands participate in the survey. Occupational employment and wage rate estimates at the national level are produced by BLS using data from the fifty States and the District of Columbia. Employers who respond to States' requests to participate in the OES survey make these estimates possible. The employment data are benchmarked to an average of the May and November employment levels. The most recent wage data are for May 2008. The OES survey began using the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) in 2002. In 2008, the OES survey switched to the 2007 NAICS classification system from the 2002 NAICS. The most significant revisions were in the Information Sector, particularly within the Telecommunications area. Data prior to 2002 are based on the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) system. In 1999, the OES survey began using the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) system. The SOC system is the first OMB-required occupational classification system for federal agencies. The SOC system consists of 821 detailed occupations, grouped into 449 broad occupations, 96 minor groups, and 23 major groups. The OES survey uses 22 of the 23 major occupational groups from the SOC to categorize workers in 1 of 801 detailed occupations. The major group excluded is military-specific occupations, which are not covered in the OES survey. Due to the OES survey's transition to the new SOC system, estimates are not directly comparable with previous years' OES estimates, which were based on a classification system having 7 major occupational groups and 770 detailed occupations. Approximately one-half of the detailed occupations were unchanged under the new SOC system, with the other half being new SOC occupations or occupations that are slightly different from similar occupations in the old OES classification system. Prior to 1996, the OES program collected only occupational employment data for selected industries in each year of the three-year survey cycle, and produced only industry-specific estimates of occupational employment. The 1996 survey round was the first year that the OES program began collecting occupational employment and wage data in every State. In addition, the program's three-year survey cycle was modified to collect data from all covered industries each year. 1997 is the earliest year available for which the OES program produced estimates of cross-industry as well as industry-specific occupational employment and wages. The May 2008 OES estimates are benchmarked to the average of the May 2008 and November 2007 reference periods. May 2008 employment and wage estimates are based on all data collected from establishments in the May 2008, November 2007, May 2007, November 2006, May 2006, November 2005 semi-annual samples. Wages for the current panel, May 2008, need no adjustment. However, wages in the five previous panels have been adjusted to the May 2008 reference period by using the over-the-year wage changes in the most applicable national Employment Cost Index series. For additional information, see the Technical Notes for May 2008 OES Estimates. Survey Coverage and Scope
Estimates available on the OES web site
Estimates in electronic format available via download from this website
Uses of OES data
Last Modified Date: May 01, 2009 |
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