Workers in the Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $18.90 in May 2011, about 13 percent below the nationwide average of $21.74, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Regional Commissioner Janet S. Rankin noted that, after testing for statistical significance, wages in the local area were significantly lower than their respective national averages in 16 of the 22 major occupational groups, including construction and extraction, protective service, and business and financial operations. Food preparation and serving related was the only occupational group to have significantly higher wages than its respective national average.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 9 of the 22 occupational groups, including food preparation and serving related, sales and related, and building and grounds cleaning and maintenance. Conversely, 11 groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including education, training, and library; management; and transportation and material moving. (See table A and box note at end of release.)

One occupational group?food preparation and serving related?was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford had 120,240 jobs in food preparation and serving related, accounting for 12.4 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 8.7-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $10.71, measurably above the national wage of $10.30.

With employment of 31,240, waiters and waitresses was the largest occupation within the food preparation and serving related group, followed by combined food preparation and serving workers, including fast food (24,040) and restaurant cooks (13,380). Among the higher paying jobs were chefs and head cooks and first-line supervisors of food preparation and serving workers, with mean hourly wages of $25.44 and $17.06, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were dishwashers ($8.81) and fast food cooks ($9.26). (Detailed occupational data for food preparation and serving related are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/2011/may/oes_36740.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 Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford Metropolitan Statistical Area, above average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the food preparation and serving related group. For instance, dining room and cafeteria attendants and bartender helpers were employed at 2.3 times the national rate in Orlando, and restaurant cooks, at 1.9 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, first-line supervisors of food preparation and serving workers had a location quotient of 1.1 in Orlando, 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 Florida Agency for Workforce Innovation. 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 Orlando 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 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 Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford Metropolitan Statistical Area included 4,933 establishments with a response rate of 77 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 Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, Fla. Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Lake, Orange, Osceola, and Seminole 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, Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2011

Occupation(1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual(4)
Food Preparation and Serving Related Occupations	120,240	1.4	$10.71	$22,270
Chefs and Head Cooks	940	1.4	25.44	52,910
First-Line Supervisors of Food Preparation and Serving Workers	6,810	1.1	17.06	35,480
Cooks, Fast Food	3,040	0.8	9.26	19,270
Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria	1,100	0.4	11.40	23,710
Cooks, Restaurant	13,380	1.9	11.78	24,490
Cooks, Short Order	630	0.5	9.31	19,350
Cooks, All Other	50	0.3	11.69	24,310
Food Preparation Workers	8,340	1.4	9.67	20,110
Bartenders	4,680	1.2	10.70	22,250
Combined Food Preparation and Serving Workers, Including Fast Food	24,040	1.1	8.88	18,470
Counter Attendants, Cafeteria, Food Concession, and Coffee Shop	5,460	1.6	9.51	19,780
Waiters and Waitresses	31,240	1.8	11.28	23,460
Food Servers, Nonrestaurant	2,030	1.2	10.12	21,050
Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender Helpers	6,730	2.3	9.18	19,100
Dishwashers	7,080	1.9	8.81	18,320
Hosts and Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, and Coffee Shop	3,980	1.6	9.47	19,700
Food Preparation and Serving Related Workers, All Other	690	2.2	16.70	34,740
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_36740.htm. (2) 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. (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.

 

Last Modified Date: June 6, 2012