News Release Information
12-967-DAL
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Contacts
Further information:
- (972) 850-4800
- BLSInfoDallas@bls.gov
- www.bls.gov/ro6
Occupational Employment and Wages in
Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, May 2011
Workers in the Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean)
hourly wage of $22.76 in May 2011, about 5 percent above 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 4 of the 22 major occupational groups, including computer and mathematical, sales
and related, and office and administrative support. Ten groups had significantly lower wages than their
respective national averages, including legal, construction and extraction, and life, physical, and social
science.
When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 8 of
the 22 occupational groups, including computer and mathematical, office and administrative support,
and architecture and engineering. Conversely, seven groups had employment shares significantly below
their national representation, including transportation and material moving, production, and healthcare
practitioners and technical. (See table A and box note at end of release.)
Major occupational group | Percent of total employment | Mean hourly wage | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
United States | Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos |
United States | Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos |
Percent difference(1) |
|||
Total, all occupations |
100.0% | 100.0% | $21.74 | $22.76 | * | 5 | |
Management |
4.8 | 5.2 | 51.64 | 52.65 | 2 | ||
Business and financial operations |
4.8 | 5.8 | * | 33.05 | 31.91 | * | -3 |
Computer and mathematical |
2.7 | 5.9 | * | 37.85 | 40.58 | * | 7 |
Architecture and engineering |
1.8 | 2.8 | * | 37.08 | 36.27 | -2 | |
Life, physical, and social science |
0.8 | 1.1 | 32.44 | 27.98 | * | -14 | |
Community and social service |
1.5 | 1.2 | * | 21.07 | 20.36 | -3 | |
Legal |
0.8 | 0.9 | * | 47.30 | 38.13 | * | -19 |
Education, training, and library |
6.6 | 6.7 | 24.46 | 26.91 | 10 | ||
Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media |
1.3 | 1.7 | * | 25.89 | 24.60 | * | -5 |
Healthcare practitioners and technical |
5.9 | 4.4 | * | 34.97 | 33.82 | -3 | |
Healthcare support |
3.1 | 2.1 | * | 13.16 | 13.79 | 5 | |
Protective service |
2.5 | 2.2 | 20.54 | 19.51 | -5 | ||
Food preparation and serving related |
8.7 | 9.4 | * | 10.30 | 9.67 | * | -6 |
Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance |
3.3 | 3.1 | 12.29 | 11.31 | * | -8 | |
Personal care and service |
2.8 | 2.6 | 11.84 | 11.76 | -1 | ||
Sales and related |
10.6 | 11.5 | * | 18.04 | 19.47 | * | 8 |
Office and administrative support |
16.7 | 18.0 | * | 16.40 | 17.20 | * | 5 |
Farming, fishing, and forestry |
0.3 | 0.1 | * | 11.68 | 12.73 | * | 9 |
Construction and extraction |
3.9 | 3.8 | 21.46 | 16.75 | * | -22 | |
Installation, maintenance, and repair |
3.9 | 3.4 | * | 20.86 | 19.85 | * | -5 |
Production |
6.5 | 4.1 | * | 16.45 | 15.33 | * | -7 |
Transportation and material moving |
6.7 | 3.9 | * | 15.96 | 13.77 | * | -14 |
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—computer and mathematical—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data
available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos had 46,170
jobs in the computer and mathematical group, accounting for 5.9 percent of local area employment, significantly
higher than the 2.7-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally
was $40.58, measurably above the national wage of $37.85.
With employment of 9,440, computer systems analysts was the largest occupation within the computer
and mathematical group, followed by applications software developers (8,390) and systems software developers
(7,010). Among the higher paying jobs were computer and information research
scientists and systems software developers with mean hourly wages of $49.69 and $49.08,
respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were computer support specialists ($26.47) and network
and computer systems administrators ($33.53). (Detailed occupational data for the computer and
mathematical group are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of all detailed occupations go to
www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_12420.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 Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos Metropolitan Statistical Area, above average
concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the computer and
mathematical group. For instance, computer systems analysts were employed at 3.2 times the national
rate in Austin, and systems software developers at 3.0 times the U.S. average.
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 Texas 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 Austin-Round Rock-San
Marcos 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 Austin-Round Rock-San
Marcos Metropolitan Statistical Area included 4,709 establishments with a response rate of 61 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.
The substate area data published in this release reflect the standards and definitions established by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget.The Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, Texas, Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) includes Bastrop, Caldwell, Hays, Travis, and Williamson Counties in Texas.
Additional information
OES data are available on our regional web page at www.bls.gov/ro6. If you have additional questions, contact the Southwest Information Office at 972-850-4800. 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.
Occupation(1) | Employment | Mean wages | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Level(2) | Location quotient(3) |
Hourly | Annual(4) | |
Computer and mathematical occupations |
46,170 | 2.2 | $40.58 | $84,400 |
Computer and information research scientists |
460 | 3.0 | 49.69 | 103,360 |
Computer systems analysts |
9440 | 3.1 | 40.99 | 85,250 |
Computer programmers |
3,630 | 1.9 | 38.53 | 80,150 |
Software developers, applications |
8,390 | 2.5 | 45.89 | 95,460 |
Software developers, systems software |
7,010 | 3.0 | 49.08 | 102,080 |
Database administrators |
1,840 | 2.8 | 36.39 | 75,690 |
Network and computer systems administrators* |
3,040 | 1.4 | 33.53 | 69,740 |
Computer support specialists |
6,270 | 1.6 | 26.47 | 55,050 |
Information security analysts, web developers, and computer network architects |
3,640 | 2.2 | 43.15 | 89,740 |
Computer occupations, all other* |
1,280 | 1.2 | 40.58 | 84,400 |
Actuaries |
150 | 1.3 | (5) | (5) |
Operations research analysts |
920 | 2.3 | 41.47 | 86,250 |
Statisticians |
70 | 0.5 | 33.70 | 70,090 |
Footnotes: |
||||
* Occupation titles followed by an asterisk (*) have similar titles, but not necessarily the same content as 2010 SOC occupations. |
Last Modified Date: May 22, 2012