News Release Information
12-1453-DAL
Friday, July 20, 2012
Contacts
Further information:
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Occupational Employment and Wages in Lake Charles, May 2011
Workers in the Lake Charles Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $17.68
in May 2011, about 19 percent below the nationwide average of $21.74, according to the U.S. Bureau of
Labor Statistics. Regional Commissioner Stanley W. Suchman noted that, after testing for statistical
significance, wages in the local area were significantly higher than their respective national averages in 2
of the 22 major occupational groups, including production workers. Sixteen groups had significantly
lower wages than their respective national averages, including sales and related, business and financial
operations, and management.
When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 6 of
the 22 occupational groups, including construction and extraction; installation, maintenance, and repair;
and transportation and material moving. Conversely, nine groups had employment shares significantly
below their national representation, including business and financial operations; office and administrative
support; and computer and mathematical. (See table A and box note at end of release.)
Major occupational group | Percent of total employment | Mean hourly wage | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
United States | Lake Charles | United States | Lake Charles | Percent difference(1) |
|||
Total, all occupations |
100.0% | 100.0% | $21.74 | $17.68 | * | -19 | |
Management |
4.8 | 4.2 | * | 51.64 | 40.11 | * | -22 |
Business and financial operations |
4.8 | 2.3 | * | 33.05 | 24.52 | * | -26 |
Computer and mathematical |
2.7 | 0.5 | * | 37.85 | 26.11 | * | -31 |
Architecture and engineering |
1.8 | 1.8 | 37.08 | 37.42 | 1 | ||
Life, physical, and social science |
0.8 | 0.8 | 32.44 | 28.73 | * | -11 | |
Community and social service |
1.5 | 1.3 | * | 21.07 | 19.62 | * | -7 |
Legal |
0.8 | 0.5 | * | 47.30 | 39.49 | -17 | |
Education, training, and library |
6.6 | 6.0 | * | 24.46 | 19.47 | * | -20 |
Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media |
1.3 | 0.5 | * | 25.89 | 17.14 | * | -34 |
Healthcare practitioners and technical |
5.9 | 6.3 | * | 34.97 | 27.21 | * | -22 |
Healthcare support |
3.1 | 3.4 | 13.16 | 10.80 | * | -18 | |
Protective service |
2.5 | 3.0 | * | 20.54 | 19.10 | -7 | |
Food preparation and serving related |
8.7 | 9.4 | 10.30 | 9.45 | * | -8 | |
Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance |
3.3 | 3.4 | 12.29 | 9.70 | * | -21 | |
Personal care and service |
2.8 | 4.1 | * | 11.84 | 10.52 | * | -11 |
Sales and related |
10.6 | 10.7 | 18.04 | 13.13 | * | -27 | |
Office and administrative support |
16.7 | 14.4 | * | 16.40 | 13.53 | * | -17 |
Farming, fishing, and forestry |
0.3 | 0.0 | * | 11.68 | 16.36 | * | 40 |
Construction and extraction |
3.9 | 6.8 | * | 21.46 | 17.63 | * | -18 |
Installation, maintenance, and repair |
3.9 | 5.8 | * | 20.86 | 19.95 | * | -4 |
Production |
6.5 | 7.3 | 16.45 | 21.24 | * | 29 | |
Transportation and material moving |
6.7 | 7.5 | * | 15.96 | 15.14 | -5 | |
Footnotes: |
|||||||
* The percent share of employment or mean hourly wage for this area is significantly different from the national average of all areas at the 90-percent confidence level. |
One occupational group–production–was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of
the 22 major occupational categories. Lake Charles had 6,320 jobs in production, accounting for 7.3
percent of local area employment compared to the 6.5-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage
for this group locally was $21.24, nearly 30 percent higher than the national wage of $16.45.
With employment of 1,010, petroleum pump system operators, refinery operators, and gaugers was the
largest occupation within the production group, followed by chemical plant and system operators (890)
and welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers (600). Among the higher paying jobs were first-line
supervisors of production and operating workers and petroleum pump system operators, refinery
operators, and gaugers, with mean hourly wages of $32.72 and $29.86, respectively. At the lower end of
the wage scale were laundry and dry-cleaning workers ($8.99) and production workers’ helpers ($12.88).
(Detailed occupational data for the production group are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of all
detailed occupations go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_29340.htm.)
Location quotients allow us to explore the occupational make-up of a metropolitan area by comparing the
composition of jobs in an area relative to the national average. (See table 1.) For example, a location
quotient of 2.0 indicates that an occupation accounts for twice the share of employment in the area than
it does nationally. In the Lake Charles Metropolitan Statistical Area, above average concentrations of
employment were found in many of the occupations within the production group. For instance,
petroleum pump system operators, refinery operators, and gaugers were employed at 36.2 times the
national rate in Lake Charles, second only to Beaumont-Port Arthur, Texas, among all U.S. metropolitan
areas. Local chemical plant and system operators were employed at 32.5 times the U.S. average, also the
second highest location quotient in the country, behind Victoria, Texas. On the other hand, water and
wastewater treatment plant and system operators had a location quotient of 1.1 in Lake Charles,
indicating that this particular occupation’s local and national employment shares were similar.
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 Louisiana Workforce
Commission. The OES survey provides estimates of employment and hourly and annual wages for wage and salary
workers in 22 major occupational groups and nearly 800 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 Lake Charles 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 the national estimates. 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 2011 survey was 77.3 percent based
on establishments and 73.3 percent based on employment. May 2011 estimates are based on responses
from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2011, November 2010, May 2010,
November 2009, May 2009, and November 2008. The sample in the Lake Charles Metropolitan
Statistical Area included 1,322 establishments with a response rate of 71 percent.
For more information about OES concepts and methodology, go to www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.tn.htm.
The May 2011 OES estimates are based in part on data collected using the 2010 Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) system. Nearly all the occupations
in this release are 2010 SOC occupations; however, some are not. The May 2012 OES data will reflect the full set of detailed occupations in the 2010 SOC.
For a list of all occupations, including 2010 SOC occupations, and how data collected on two structures were combined, see the OES Frequently Asked Questions
online at www.bls.gov/oes/oes_ques.htm#Ques41.
Information in this release will be made available to sensory impaired individuals upon request – Voice phone: 202-691-5200; TDD message referral
phone: 1-800-877-8339.
The substate area data published in this release reflect the standards and definitions established by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget. The Lake Charles Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) includes Calcasieu and Cameron Parishes in Louisiana.
Occupation(1) | Employment | Mean wages | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Level(2) | Location quotient(3) |
Hourly | Annual(4) | |
Production occupations |
6,320 | 1.1 | $21.24 | $44,180 |
First-line supervisors of production and operating workers |
470 | 1.3 | 32.72 | 68,060 |
Structural metal fabricators and fitters |
110 | 2.2 | 19.57 | 40,700 |
Team assemblers |
(5) | (5) | 13.25 | 27,550 |
Assemblers and fabricators, all other |
60 | 0.3 | 13.42 | 27,910 |
Bakers |
130 | 1.3 | 11.11 | 23,110 |
Butchers and meat cutters |
60 | 0.7 | 13.51 | 28,100 |
Machinists |
380 | 1.5 | 19.68 | 40,940 |
Welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers |
600 | 2.8 | 21.66 | 45,050 |
Printing press operators |
50 | 0.4 | 12.98 | 27,000 |
Laundry and dry-cleaning workers |
180 | 1.3 | 8.99 | 18,700 |
Water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators |
80 | 1.1 | 17.10 | 35,570 |
Chemical plant and system operators |
890 | 32.5 | 22.14 | 46,050 |
Gas plant operators |
80 | 9.8 | 27.90 | 58,030 |
Petroleum pump system operators, refinery operators, and gaugers |
1,010 | 36.2 | 29.86 | 62,100 |
Plant and system operators, all other |
(5) | (5) | 22.76 | 47,340 |
Chemical equipment operators and tenders |
220 | 6.7 | 23.53 | 48,950 |
Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers |
380 | 1.3 | 19.54 | 40,640 |
Packaging and filling machine operators and tenders |
70 | 0.3 | 10.06 | 20,920 |
Helpers-production workers |
150 | 0.5 | 12.88 | 26,780 |
Production workers, all other* |
(5) | (5) | 17.46 | 36,320 |
Footnotes: |
||||
* Occupation titles followed by an asterisk (*) have similar titles, but not necessarily the same content as 2010 SOC occupations. |
Last Modified Date: July 20, 2012