Workers in the Portsmouth Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $23.58 in May 2011, about 8 percent above the nationwide average of $21.74, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Regional Commissioner Deborah A. Brown noted that, after testing for statistical significance, wages in the local area were significantly higher than their respective national averages in 6 of the 22 major occupational groups, including production; installation, maintenance, and repair; and sales and related. Three groups had significantly lower wages than their respective national averages: legal; education, training, and library; and personal care and service.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 6 of the 22 occupational groups, including sales and related, architecture and engineering, and business and financial operations. Conversely, 11 groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including transportation and material moving; education, training, and library; and healthcare practitioners and technical. (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. Portsmouth had 7,480 jobs in sales and related, accounting for 13.6 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 10.6-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $19.86, measurably above the national wage of $18.04.

With employment of 2,280, retail salespersons was the largest occupation within the sales and related group, followed by cashiers (1,850) and first-line supervisors of retail sales workers (740). Among the higher paying jobs were sales representatives of wholesale and manufacturing of technical and scientific products, and first-line supervisors of non-retail sales workers, with mean hourly wages of $50.88 and $48.92, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were cashiers ($9.79) and retail salespersons ($13.32). (Detailed occupational data for sales and related are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_76900.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 Portsmouth Metropolitan Statistical Area, above average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the sales and related group. For instance, sales representatives of wholesale and manufacturing of technical and scientific products were employed at 2.8 times the national rate in Portsmouth, and first-line supervisors of retail sales workers were 1.5 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, sales representatives of wholesale and manufacturing, except technical and scientific products had a location quotient of 1.0 in Portsmouth, 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 New Hampshire Department of Employment Security. 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.

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 Portsmouth Metropolitan Statistical Area included 1,217 establishments with a response rate of 79 percent. For more information about OES concepts and methodology, go to www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.tn.htm.

The May 2011 OES estimates mark the first set of estimates 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.

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

The Portsmouth, N.H. New England City and Town Area (NECTA) includes Eliot town, ME, Greenland town, NH, Hampton town, NH, Kittery town, ME, New Castle town, NH, North Hampton town, NH, Portsmouth city, NH, Rye town, NH, and Stratham town, NH.

Additional information

OES data are available on our regional web page at www.bls.gov/ro1. If you have additional questions, contact the New England Economic Analysis and Information Unit at (617) 565-2327. 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.