Workers in the Providence-Fall River-Warwick Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $22.24 in May 2011, 2 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 11 of the 22 major occupational groups, including education, training, and library; healthcare support; and building and grounds cleaning and maintenance. Four groups had significantly lower wages than their respective national averages, including legal and arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 6 of the 22 occupational groups, including healthcare support, food preparation and serving related, and healthcare practitioners and technical. Conversely, 11 groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including transportation and material moving, business and financial operations, and construction and extraction. (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. Providence-Fall River-Warwick had 52,930 jobs in food preparation and serving related, accounting for 9.9 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 8.7-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $10.89, measurably above the national wage of $10.30.

With employment of 11,200, combined food preparation and serving workers, including fast food was the largest occupation within the food preparation and serving related group, followed by waiters and waitresses (10,700) and cafeteria, food concession, and coffee shop counter attendants (5,190). Among the higher paying jobs were first-line supervisors of food preparation and serving workers, and institution and cafeteria cooks, with mean hourly wages of $17.07 and $16.06, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were cafeteria, food concession, and coffee shop counter attendants ($8.97) and dishwashers ($9.20). (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/current/oes_77200.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 Providence-Fall River-Warwick Metropolitan Statistical Area, above average concentrations of employment were found in some of the occupations within the food preparation and serving related group. For instance, cafeteria, food concession, and coffee shop counter attendants were employed at 2.8 times the national rate in Providence, and bartenders, at 1.5 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, first-line supervisors of food preparation and serving workers had a location quotient of 1.0 in Providence, indicating that this particular occupation's local and national employment shares were similar.

Table A. Occupational employment and wages by major occupational group, United States and the Providence-Fall River-Warwick Metropolitan Statistical Area, and measures of statistical significance, May 2011

Major occupational group	Percent of total employment			Mean hourly wage
	United States	Providence		United States	Providence		Percent difference(1)
Total, all occupations	100.0%	100.0%		$21.74	$22.24	*	2
Management	4.8	4.5	*	51.64	54.88	*	6
Business and financial operations	4.8	4.1	*	33.05	31.91	*	-3
Computer and mathematical	2.7	2.3	*	37.85	36.18	*	-4
Architecture and engineering	1.8	1.5	*	37.08	38.76		5
Life, physical, and social science	0.8	0.7	*	32.44	32.85		1
Community and social service	1.5	2.3	*	21.07	21.34		1
Legal	0.8	0.6	*	47.30	39.99	*	-15
Education, training, and library	6.6	7.0	*	24.46	28.36	*	16
Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media	1.3	1.3		25.89	24.41	*	-6
Healthcare practitioners and technical	5.9	7.0	*	34.97	36.83	*	5
Healthcare support	3.1	4.3	*	13.16	14.50	*	10
Protective service	2.5	2.3		20.54	21.65		5
Food preparation and serving related	8.7	9.9	*	10.30	10.89	*	6
Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance	3.3	3.1	*	12.29	13.36	*	9
Personal care and service	2.8	2.9		11.84	12.63	*	7
Sales and related	10.6	10.5		18.04	17.79		-1
Office and administrative support	16.7	16.9		16.40	17.36	*	6
Farming, fishing, and forestry	0.3	[2]	*	11.68	13.12	*	12
Construction and extraction	3.9	3.2	*	21.46	23.23	*	8
Installation, maintenance, and repair	3.9	3.4	*	20.86	21.58	*	3
Production	6.5	6.9	*	16.45	16.21	*	-1
Transportation and material moving	6.7	5.3	*	15.96	15.64		-2
Footnotes: [1] A positive percent difference measures how much the mean wage in Providence is above the national mean wage, while a negative difference reflects a lower wage. [2 ]Indicates a value of less than 0.05 percent.
* 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.

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 Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training. 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 Providence-Fall River-Warwick Metropolitan Statistical Area included 5,661 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 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.

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 Providence-Fall River-Warwick, R.I. New England City and Town Area (NECTA) includes Attleboro city, MA, Barrington town, RI, Bellingham town, MA, Blackstone town, MA, Bristol town, RI, Burrillville town, RI, Central Falls city, RI, Charlestown town, RI, Coventry town, RI, Cranston city, RI, Cumberland town, RI, East Greenwich town, RI, East Providence city, RI, Exeter town, RI, Fall River city, MA, Foster town, RI, Glocester town, RI, Hopkinton town, RI, Jamestown town, RI, Johnston town, RI, Lincoln town, RI, Little Compton town, RI, Middletown town, RI, Millville town, MA, Narragansett town, RI, Newport city, RI, North Attleborough town, MA, North Kingstown town, RI, North Providence town, RI, North Smithfield town, RI, Pawtucket city, RI, Plainville town, MA, Portsmouth town, RI, Providence city, RI, Rehoboth town, MA, Richmond town, RI, Scituate town, RI, Seekonk town, MA, Smithfield town, RI, Somerset town, MA, South Kingstown town, RI, Swansea town, MA, Tiverton town, RI, Warren town, RI, Warwick city, RI, West Greenwich town, RI, West Warwick town, RI, Westport town, MA, and Woonsocket city, RI.

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 Information Office at 617-565-2327. Information in this release will be made available to sensory impaired individuals upon request – Voice phone: 617-565-2072; TDD message referral phone: 1-800-877-8339.

Table 1. Employment and wage data from the Occupational Employment Statistics survey, by occupation, Providence-Fall River-Warwick Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2011

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Food Preparation and Serving Related Occupations	52,930	1.1	$10.89	$22,660
Chefs and Head Cooks	420	1.1	24.14	50,220
First-Line Supervisors of Food Preparation and Serving Workers	3,290	1.0	17.07	35,510
Cooks, Fast Food	1,080	0.5	9.27	19,920
Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria	1,480	0.9	16.06	33,410
Cooks, Restaurant	4,360	1.1	12.81	26,650
Cooks, Short Order	1,020	1.5	11.22	23,330
Food Preparation Workers	2,960	0.9	11.61	24,140
Bartenders	3,170	1.5	10.89	22,660
Combined Food Preparation and Serving Workers, Including Fast Food	11,200	1.0	9.28	19,300
Counter Attendants, Cafeteria, Food Concession, and Coffee Shop	5,190	2.8	8.97	18,670
Waiters and Waitresses	10,700	1.1	10.61	22,070
Food Servers, Nonrestaurant	940	1.0	10.68	22,210
Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender Helpers	2,110	1.3	9.21	19,150
Dishwashers	3,070	1.5	9.20	19,130
Hosts and Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, and Coffee Shop	1,820	1.3	9.53	19,820
Food Preparation and Serving Related Workers, All Other	(5)	(5)	9.14	19,010
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Providence-Fall River-Warwick metropolitan statistical area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_77200.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. (5) Estimate not released.