News Release Information
12-589-DAL
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Contacts
Further information:
- (972) 850-4800
- BLSInfoDallas@bls.gov
- www.bls.gov/ro6
Occupational Employment and Wages in
Houston-Sugar Land Baytown, May 2011
Workers in the Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean)
hourly wage of $22.83 in May 2011, 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 9 of the 22 major occupational groups, including architecture and engineering and
management. Six other groups had wages that were measurably lower than their respective national
averages; included in this grouping were protective service and construction and extraction.
When compared to the nationwide distribution, Houston employment was more highly concentrated in 6
of the 22 occupational groups including construction and extraction, architecture and engineering, and
production. Conversely, 10 groups had employment shares significantly below their national
representation; these groups included healthcare practitioners and technical and food preparation and
serving related. (See table A and box note at end of release.)
One occupational group – architecture and engineering – was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data
available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Houston had 77,820 jobs in architecture and
engineering, accounting for 3.0 percent of local area employment, significantly above the national share
of 1.8 percent. The average hourly wage for this occupational group was $45.82, nearly 25 percent above
the national average of $37.08.
With employment of 11,300, petroleum engineers was the largest occupation within the architecture and
engineering group, followed by civil engineers (8,940) and mechanical engineers (6,730). Among the
higher paying jobs were petroleum engineers and chemical engineers, with mean hourly wages of $70.00
and $62.02, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were civil engineering technicians ($22.39)
and surveying and mapping technicians ($18.55). (Detailed occupational data for the architecture and
engineering group are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations go to
www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_26420.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 Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown metropolitan area, above average concentrations
of employment were found in many of the detailed occupations within the architecture and engineering
group. For instance, chemical engineers were employed at almost 6 times the national rate in Houston,
and petroleum engineers, at over 18 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, industrial engineers had a
location quotient of 1.0 in Houston, meaning the local employment share in this particular occupation
matched the national average.
Major occupational group | Percent of total employment | Mean hourly wage | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
United States | Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown |
United States | Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown |
Percent difference(1) |
|||
Total, all occupations |
100.0% | 100.0% | $21.74 | $22.83 | * | 5 | |
Management |
4.8 | 5.2 | * | 51.64 | 55.70 | * | 8 |
Business and financial operations |
4.8 | 4.3 | * | 33.05 | 35.44 | * | 7 |
Computer and mathematical |
2.7 | 2.5 | 37.85 | 38.46 | 2 | ||
Architecture and engineering |
1.8 | 3.0 | * | 37.08 | 45.82 | * | 24 |
Life, physical, and social science |
0.8 | 1.0 | * | 32.44 | 38.79 | * | 20 |
Community and social service |
1.5 | 0.8 | * | 21.07 | 22.69 | * | 8 |
Legal |
0.8 | 0.7 | * | 47.30 | 55.79 | * | 18 |
Education, training, and library |
6.6 | 6.5 | 24.46 | 25.04 | 2 | ||
Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media |
1.3 | 0.9 | * | 25.89 | 21.71 | * | -16 |
Healthcare practitioners and technical |
5.9 | 5.1 | * | 34.97 | 35.22 | 1 | |
Healthcare support |
3.1 | 2.4 | * | 13.16 | 12.97 | -1 | |
Protective service |
2.5 | 2.4 | 20.54 | 17.89 | * | -13 | |
Food preparation and serving related |
8.7 | 8.1 | * | 10.30 | 9.65 | * | -6 |
Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance |
3.3 | 2.8 | * | 12.29 | 10.69 | * | -13 |
Personal care and service |
2.8 | 2.6 | * | 11.84 | 10.46 | * | -12 |
Sales and related |
10.6 | 10.7 | 18.04 | 19.25 | * | 7 | |
Office and administrative support |
16.7 | 16.6 | 16.40 | 16.75 | * | 2 | |
Farming, fishing, and forestry |
0.3 | 0.1 | * | 11.68 | 11.83 | 1 | |
Construction and extraction |
3.9 | 5.9 | * | 21.46 | 19.28 | * | -10 |
Installation, maintenance, and repair |
3.9 | 4.5 | * | 20.86 | 20.71 | -1 | |
Production |
6.5 | 6.9 | * | 16.45 | 18.19 | * | 11 |
Transportation and material moving |
6.7 | 6.9 | 15.96 | 17.11 | 7 | ||
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. |
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 Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown 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 are also 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 Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown Metropolitan
Statistical Area included 9,650 establishments with a response rate of 59 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 Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, Texas, Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) includes Austin, Brazoria, Chambers, Fort Bend, Galveston, Harris, Liberty, Montgomery, San Jacinto, and Waller 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(2) | Mean wages | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Level | Location quotient(3) |
Hourly | Annual(4) | |
Architecture and engineering occupations |
77,820 | 1.7 | $45.82 | $95,310 |
Architects, except landscape and naval |
2,100 | 1.3 | 39.43 | 82,020 |
Landscape architects |
(5) | (5) | 24.95 | 51,890 |
Cartographers and photogrammetrists |
240 | 1.1 | 31.42 | 65,360 |
Surveyors |
1,440 | 1.7 | 26.81 | 55,770 |
Aerospace engineers |
2,890 | 1.8 | 54.38 | 113,120 |
Biomedical engineers |
420 | 1.3 | 43.44 | 90,360 |
Chemical engineers |
3,040 | 5.5 | 62.02 | 129,000 |
Civil engineers |
8,940 | 1.8 | 49.75 | 103,480 |
Computer hardware engineers |
1,530 | 1.1 | 44.50 | 92,550 |
Electrical engineers |
2,800 | 0.9 | 43.82 | 91,140 |
Electronics engineers, except computer |
2,260 | 0.8 | 45.06 | 93,730 |
Environmental engineers |
890 | 0.9 | 61.61 | 128,140 |
Health and safety engineers, except mining safety engineers and inspectors |
1,070 | 2.3 | 42.96 | 89,360 |
Industrial engineers |
4,160 | 1.0 | 48.91 | 101,740 |
Marine engineers and naval architects |
660 | 6.1 | 46.62 | 96,960 |
Materials engineers |
560 | 1.3 | 39.63 | 82,440 |
Mechanical engineers |
6,730 | 1.4 | 48.08 | 100,000 |
Mining and geological engineers, including mining safety engineers |
350 | 2.7 | 65.60 | 136,440 |
Nuclear engineers |
60 | 0.2 | 64.44 | 134,030 |
Petroleum engineers |
11,300 | 18.4 | 70.00 | 145,590 |
Engineers, all other |
4,600 | 1.8 | 52.03 | 108,220 |
Architectural and civil drafters |
2,390 | 1.4 | 25.41 | 52,840 |
Electrical and electronics drafters |
1,210 | 2.2 | 30.43 | 63,290 |
Mechanical drafters |
2,150 | 1.7 | 27.83 | 57,880 |
Crafters, all other |
700 | 2.2 | 27.69 | 57,600 |
Aerospace engineering and operations technicians |
(5) | (5) | 30.20 | 62,810 |
Civil engineering technicians |
2,020 | 1.4 | 22.39 | 46,580 |
Electrical and electronics engineering technicians |
3,810 | 1.3 | 30.19 | 62,800 |
Electro-mechanical technicians |
(5) | (5) | 24.05 | 50,010 |
Environmental engineering technicians |
500 | 1.3 | 25.17 | 52,350 |
Industrial engineering technicians |
870 | 0.7 | 30.51 | 63,450 |
Mechanical engineering technicians |
1,620 | 1.8 | 31.21 | 64,920 |
Engineering technicians, except drafters, all other |
3,160 | 2.4 | 31.64 | 65,820 |
Surveying and mapping technicians |
2,100 | 2.2 | 18.55 | 38,580 |
Footnotes: |
Last Modified Date: April 10, 2012