For release: Friday, July 30, 2010

Technical information: (816) 285-7000 • BLSInfoKansasCity@bls.gov • www.bls.gov/ro7


OCCUPATIONAL EMPLOYMENT AND WAGES IN SALT LAKE CITY—MAY 2009 (PDF)


Workers in the Salt Lake City, Utah, Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $19.97 during May 2009, significantly below the nationwide average of $20.90, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported today. Regional Commissioner Stanley W. Suchman noted that, after testing for statistical significance, 12 occupational groups had wages in the local area that were measurably lower than their respective national averages, including management, business and financial operations, and construction and extraction. One group, sales and related, had a local wage that was significantly higher than its respective national average. (For a comprehensive definition of the Salt Lake City, Utah, Metropolitan Statistical Area, please see Technical Note.)

Table A. Occupational employment and wages by major occupational group, United States and the Salt Lake City Metropolitan Statistical Area, and measures of statistical significance, May 2009
Major occupational group Percent of total employment Average hourly wage
United States Salt Lake City United States Salt Lake City

All Occupations

 100.0 100.0 $20.90 *$19.97

Management occupations

 4.7 *5.1 49.47 *43.82

Business and financial operations occupations

 4.6 *5.0 31.68 *27.33

Computer and mathematical science occupations

 2.5 *3.3 36.68 *34.07

Architecture and engineering occupations

 1.8 *2.1 35.38 33.53

Life, physical, and social science occupations

 1.0 1.1 31.57 *26.96

Community and social services occupations

 1.4 *1.1 20.55 *18.27

Legal occupations

 0.8 *0.9 46.07 46.57

Education, training, and library occupations

 6.5 *4.9 23.81 21.46

Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media occupations

 1.3 *1.9 24.87 *21.36

Healthcare practitioner and technical occupations

 5.5 *4.5 33.51 32.65

Healthcare support occupations

 3.0 *2.2 12.84 *12.25

Protective service occupations

 2.4 *1.8 20.07 *17.85

Food preparation and serving related occupations

 8.6 *6.9 10.04 10.16

Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance occupations

 3.3 *2.9 12.00 *11.11

Personal care and service occupations

 2.6 *2.0 11.87 11.87

Sales and related occupations

 10.5 *11.9 17.32 *18.41

Office and administrative support occupations

 17.1 *20.3 15.86 *14.46

Farming, fishing, and forestry occupations

 0.3 *0.0 11.53 12.53

Construction and extraction occupations

 4.4 *5.2 20.84 *18.45

Installation, maintenance, and repair occupations

 3.9 3.7 20.30 19.97

Production occupations

 6.8 *6.4 16.01 *15.31

Transportation and material moving occupations

 6.8 6.9 15.47 15.79
* The employment share or mean hourly wage for this area is significantly different from the national average of all areas at the 90-percent confidence level.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 9 of the 22 occupational groups, including office and administrative support, sales and related, and computer and mathematical science. Conversely, ten groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including healthcare support and protective service occupations. (See table A and box note at end of release.)

One occupational group, sales and related, was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Salt Lake City had 72,790 jobs in the sales and related group accounting for 11.9 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the occupational group’s 10.5-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for the sales and related group locally was $18.41, also significantly higher than the national wage of $17.32.

With employment of 19,270, retail salespersons were the largest published occupation within the sales and related group, followed by cashiers (14,200), and sales representatives, wholesale and manufacturing, except technical and scientific products (9,510). Four occupations had hourly wages exceeding $30.00, led by sales engineers averaging $53.90. At the lower end of the wage scale were cashiers ($8.99). (Detailed occupational data for the sales and related group are presented in table B; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_41620.htm. OES data are published annually for all metropolitan areas. The most recent data for all areas are available at www.bls.gov/oes/current/oessrcma.htm.)

Table B. Employment and wage data from the Occupational Employment Statistics Survey, for sales and related occupations, Salt Lake City Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2009
Occupation Employment(1) Mean wages Median hourly wages
Hourly Annual(2)

Sales and related occupations

 72,790 $18.41 $38,280 $12.56

First-line supervisors/managers of retail sales workers

 5,310 17.77 36,950 15.56

First-line supervisors/managers of non-retail sales workers

 1,160 29.91 62,210 27.29

Cashiers

 14,200 8.99 18,690 8.63

Counter and rental clerks

 2,260 12.16 25,300 11.28

Parts salespersons

 1,020 16.02 33,320 14.10

Retail salespersons

 19,270 12.09 25,160 10.45

Advertising sales agents

 1,030 22.58 46,970 18.90

Insurance sales agents

 2,690 29.52 61,400 24.08

Securities, commodities, and financial services sales agents

 3,460 38.27 79,590 23.70

Travel agents

 320 15.75 32,760 14.22

Sales representatives, services, all other

 2,600 27.27 56,710 23.56

Sales representatives, wholesale and manufacturing, technical and scientific products

 3,080 39.79 82,770 32.32

Sales representatives, wholesale and manufacturing, except technical and scientific products

 9,510 27.55 57,300 24.31

Demonstrators and product promoters

 290 14.15 29,440 13.08

Real estate brokers

 (3) 43.20 89,850 42.34

Real estate sales agents

 830 27.44 57,070 21.83

Sales engineers

 220 53.90 112,120 52.20

Telemarketers

 5,100 11.41 23,740 10.92

Sales and related workers, all other

 220 19.65 40,860 18.50

Footnotes:
(1) Estimates for detailed occupations do not sum to the totals because the totals include occupations not shown separately. Estimates do not include self-employed workers.
(2) Annual wages have been calculated by multiplying the hourly mean wage by a "year-round, full-time" hours figure of 2,080 hours; for those occupations where there is not an hourly mean wage published, the annual wage has been directly calculated from the reported survey data.
(3) Indicates that an employment estimate is not available.

These statistics are from the Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) survey, a federal-state cooperative program between BLS and State Workforce Agencies, in this case, the Utah Department of Workforce Services. The OES survey provides estimates of employment and hourly and annual wages for wage and salary workers in 22 major occupational groups and up to 801 non-military detailed occupations for the nation, states, metropolitan statistical areas, metropolitan divisions, and nonmetropolitan areas.

OES wage and employment data for the 22 major occupational groups in the Salt Lake City Metropolitan Statistical Area were compared to their respective national averages based on statistical significance testing. Only those occupations with wages or employment shares above or below the national wage or share after testing for significance at the 90-percent confidence level meet the criteria.

NOTE: A value that is statistically different from another does not necessarily mean that the difference has economic or practical significance. Statistical significance is concerned with the ability to make confident statements about a universe based on a sample. It is entirely possible that a large difference between two values is not significantly different statistically, while a small difference is, since both the size and heterogeneity of the sample affect the relative error of the data being tested.

Technical Note

The Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) survey is a semiannual mail survey measuring occupational employment and wage rates for wage and salary workers in nonfarm establishments in the United States. Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands also are surveyed, but their data are not included in this release. OES estimates are constructed from a sample of about 1.2 million establishments. Forms are mailed to approximately 200,000 establishments in May and November of each year for a 3-year period. The nationwide response rate for the May 2009 survey was 78.2 percent based on establishments and 74.5 percent based on employment. The survey included establishments sampled in the May 2009, November 2008, May 2008, November 2007, May 2007, and November 2006 semiannual panels. The sample in the Salt Lake City Metropolitan Statistical Area included 3,535 establishments with a response rate of 76 percent. For more information about OES concepts and methodology, go to www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.tn.htm.

Metropolitan Statistical Area definition

The substate area data published in this release reflect the standards and definitions established by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, dated November 2007.

The Salt Lake City Metropolitan Statistical Area consists of Salt Lake, Summit, and Tooele Counties in Utah.

Additional information

OES data are available on our regional web page at www.bls.gov/ro7/. If you have additional questions, contact the Mountain-Plains Economic Analysis and Information Office at 816-285-7000. Information in this release will be made available to sensory impaired individuals upon request. Voice phone: 202-691-5200; TDD message referral phone number: 1-800-877-8339.

 

Last Modified Date: July 30, 2010