Table A. Occupational employment and wages by major occupational group, United States and the Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro-Franklin Metropolitan Statistical Area, and measures of statistical significance, May 2011

Major occupational group	Percent of total employment		Mean hourly wage
	United States	Nashville	United States	Nashville	Percent difference (1)
Total, all occupations	100.0%	100.0%	$21.74	$20.01*	-8
Management	4.8	6.5*	51.64	44.53*	-14
Business and financial operations	4.8	4.9	33.05	29.65*	-10
Computer and mathematical	2.7	2.4*	37.85	32.03*	-15
Architecture and engineering	1.8	1.2*	37.08	32.05*	-14
Life, physical, and social science	0.8	0.5*	32.44	26.35*	-19
Community and social services	1.5	1.2*	21.07	18.88*	-10
Legal	0.8	0.6*	47.30	38.38*	-19
Education, training, and library	6.6	5.6*	24.46	20.73*	-15
Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media	1.3	1.5*	25.89	25.80	0
Healthcare practitioner and technical	5.9	5.9	34.97	31.33*	-10
Healthcare support	3.1	2.7*	13.16	13.09	-1
Protective service	2.5	2.2*	20.54	16.19*	-21
Food preparation and serving related	8.7	8.8	10.30	9.66*	-6
Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance	3.3	2.6*	12.29	10.79*	-12
Personal care and service	2.8	2.6	11.84	10.82*	-9
Sales and related	10.6	10.5	18.04	17.58	-3
Office and administrative support	16.7	18.4*	16.40	15.74*	-4
Farming, fishing, and forestry	0.3	0.1*	11.68	13.47*	15
Construction and extraction	3.9	3.3*	21.46	18.07*	-16
Installation, maintenance, and repair	3.9	4.0	20.86	19.48*	-7
Production	6.5	7.1*	16.45	16.31	-1
Transportation and material moving	6.7	7.6*	15.96	15.19*	-5
Footnotes: (1) A positive percent difference measures how much the mean wage in Nashville is above the national mean wage, while a negative difference reflects a lower wage. * 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.

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 table1.) 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 Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro-Franklin Metropolitan Statistical Area, above average concentrations of employment were found in some of the occupations within the office and administrative support group. For instance, bill and account collectors were employed at 1.6 times the national rate in Nashville, and executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants, at 1.5 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks had a location location quotient of 1.0 in Nashville, 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 Tennessee Department of Labor & Workforce Development. 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 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 Nashville 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.

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 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 Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro-Franklin Metropolitan Statistical Area included 4,486 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 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 Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro-Franklin, Tenn. Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Cannon, Cheatham, Davidson, Dickson, Hickman, Macon, Robertson, Rutherford, Smith, Sumner, Trousdale, Williamson, and Wilson Counties.

Additional information

OES data are available on our regional web page at www.bls.gov/ro4/home.htm. If you have additional questions, contact the Southeast Economic Analysis and Information Unit at (404) 893-4222. 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.

Table 1. Employment and wage data from the Occupational Employment Statistics survey, by occupation, Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro-Franklin Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2011

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Office and Administrative Support Occupations	132,630	1.1	$15.74	$32,750
First-Line Supervisors of Office and Administrative Support Workers	9,680	1.3	23.62	49,120
Switchboard Operators, Including Answering Service	760	1.0	12.80	26,620
Telephone Operators	(5)	(5)	12.16	25,300
Bill and Account Collectors	3,490	1.6	16.81	34,970
Billing and Posting Clerks	3,260	1.2	15.80	32,850
Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks	9,360	1.0	16.00	33,290
Payroll and Timekeeping Clerks	1,040	1.1	18.36	38,180
Procurement Clerks	460	1.2	15.15	31,510
Tellers	3,150	1.0	12.01	24,980
Brokerage Clerks	340	1.0	18.40	38,280
Correspondence Clerks	(5)	(5)	14.63	30,430
Court, Municipal, and License Clerks	590	0.9	16.80	34,950
Credit Authorizers, Checkers, and Clerks	180	0.6	14.28	29,710
Customer Service Representatives	15,240	1.2	15.31	31,840
Eligibility Interviewers, Government Programs	950	1.4	16.33	33,980
File Clerks	720	0.8	14.08	29,280
Hotel, Motel, and Resort Desk Clerks	1,260	1.0	9.89	20,570
Interviewers, Except Eligibility and Loan	1,090	1.0	14.60	30,370
Library Assistants, Clerical	510	0.8	11.92	24,780
Loan Interviewers and Clerks	650	0.6	16.30	33,910
New Accounts Clerks	210	0.6	14.54	30,240
Order Clerks	1,580	1.3	16.05	33,380
Human Resources Assistants, Except Payroll and Timekeeping	860	1.1	17.62	36,640
Receptionists and Information Clerks	4,960	0.9	12.64	26,290
Reservation and Transportation Ticket Agents and Travel Clerks	590	0.8	14.99	31,190
Information and Record Clerks, All Other	920	0.9	17.82	37,070
Cargo and Freight Agents	200	0.4	13.18	27,410
Couriers and Messengers	380	0.8	14.58	30,330
Police, Fire, and Ambulance Dispatchers	460	0.9	15.92	33,110
Dispatchers, Except Police, Fire, and Ambulance	930	0.9	17.16	35,700
Meter Readers, Utilities	250	1.1	18.01	37,450
Postal Service Clerks	320	0.9	25.58	53,210
Postal Service Mail Carriers	1,540	0.9	24.48	50,920
Postal Service Mail Sorters, Processors, and Processing Machine Operators	700	0.9	23.14	48,120
Production, Planning, and Expediting Clerks	1,870	1.2	17.91	37,240
Shipping, Receiving, and Traffic Clerks	4,160	1.1	13.85	28,800
Stock Clerks and Order Fillers	13,600	1.4	11.52	23,970
Weighers, Measurers, Checkers, and Samplers, Recordkeeping	400	1.0	14.39	29,920
Executive Secretaries and Executive Administrative Assistants	7,990	1.5	19.23	40,000
Legal Secretaries	440	0.4	20.58	42,800
Medical Secretaries	1,550	0.6	15.46	32,160
Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive	11,140	1.0	14.84	30,860
Computer Operators	720	1.7	20.28	42,180
Data Entry Keyers	1,310	1.1	13.16	27,370
Word Processors and Typists	170	0.3	15.90	33,080
Desktop Publishers	80	0.7	21.88	45,510
Insurance Claims and Policy Processing Clerks	1,180	1.0	19.01	39,540
Mail Clerks and Mail Machine Operators, Except Postal Service	(5)	(5)	13.55	28,180
Office Clerks, General	18,700	1.2	14.45	30,060
Office Machine Operators, Except Computer	280	0.8	14.66	30,490
Proofreaders and Copy Markers	40	0.7	16.21	33,730
Statistical Assistants	130	1.5	18.21	37,870
Office and Administrative Support Workers, All Other	1,170	0.8	15.40	32,040
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro-Franklin, see www.bls.gov/oes/2011/may/oes_34980.htm. (2) Estimates for detailed occupations do not sum tot he totals because the totals include occupations not shown separately. Estimates do not include self-employed workers. (3) The location quotient is the ratio of the area concentration of occupational employment to the national average concentration. A location quotient greater than one indicates the occupation has a higher share of employment than average, and a location quotient less than one indicates the occupation is less prevalent in the area than average. (4) 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. (5) Estimate not released.

 

Last Modified Date: May 23, 2012

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