Workers in the San Juan-Caguas-Guaynabo Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $13.25 in May 2010, roughly 38 percent below the nationwide average of $21.35, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Regional Commissioner Michael L. Dolfman noted that, after testing for statistical significance, 21 of 22 major occupational groups had significantly lower wages than their respective national averages, including legal, healthcare practitioners and technical, and management. No wages in the local area were significantly higher. (See table A and box note at end of release.)

Table A. Occupational employment and wages by major occupational group, United States and the San Juan-Caguas-Guaynabo Metropolitan Statistical Area, and measures of statistical significance, May 2010

Major occupational group	Percent of total employment		Average hourly wage
	United States	San Juan	United States	San Juan
Total, all occupations	100.0%	100.0%	$21.35	$13.25*
Management	4.7	4.0*	50.69	33.67*
Business and financial operations	4.8	5.0*	32.54	17.76*
Computer and mathematical	2.6	1.1*	37.13	20.28*
Architecture and engineering	1.8	1.3*	36.32	24.50*
Life, physical, and social science	0.8	0.8	31.92	19.90*
Community and social services	1.5	2.1*	20.76	13.68*
Legal	0.8	0.6*	46.60	28.74*
Education, training, and library	6.7	8.2*	24.25	15.02*
Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media	1.4	0.8*	25.14	14.84*
Healthcare practitioner and technical	5.8	4.6*	34.27	16.43*
Healthcare support	3.1	1.5*	12.94	9.11*
Protective service	2.5	7.6*	20.43	12.45*
Food preparation and serving related	8.7	6.9*	10.21	8.58*
Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance	3.3	4.8*	12.16	8.75*
Personal care and service	2.7	1.2*	11.82	9.79*
Sales and related	10.6	10.6	17.69	10.96*
Office and administrative support	16.9	19.6*	16.09	11.34*
Farming, fishing, and forestry	0.3	0.1*	11.70	12.62
Construction and extraction	4.0	3.9	21.09	10.37*
Installation, maintenance, and repair	3.9	3.4*	20.58	13.50*
Production	6.5	6.0*	16.24	11.13*
Transportation and material moving	6.7	5.8*	15.70	10.08*
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.

When compared to the distribution of the United States, local employment was more highly concentrated in 6 of the 22 occupational groups, including protective service, office and administrative support, and building and grounds cleaning and maintenance. Conversely, 13 groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including food preparation and serving related, healthcare support, and personal care and service.

One occupational group—protective service—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. San Juan-Caguas-Guaynabo had 56,850 jobs in protective service, accounting for 7.6 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 2.5-percent share in the United States. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $12.45, measurably below the U.S. wage of $20.43.

With employment of 24,760, security guards was the largest occupation within the protective service group, followed by police and sheriff's patrol officers (17,850) and correctional officers and jailers (5,790). Among the higher paying jobs were detectives and criminal investigators and correctional officers and jailers, with mean hourly wages of $26.81 and $24.50, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were security guards ($8.20) and lifeguards, ski patrol, and other recreational protective service workers ($8.83). (Detailed occupational data for protective service are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/2010/may/oes_41980.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 U.S. 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 San Juan-Caguas-Guaynabo Metropolitan Statistical Area, above average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the protective service group. For instance, bailiffs were employed at 10.8 times the U.S. rate in San Juan, and police and sheriff's patrol officers, at 4.7 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, firefighters had a location quotient of 0.9 in San Juan, indicating that this particular occupation’s local and U.S. 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 Puerto Rico Department of Labor and Human Resources. 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.

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 2010 survey was 78.2 percent based on establishments and 74.4 percent based on employment. May 2010 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2010, November 2009, May 2009, November 2008, May 2008, and November 2007. The sample in the San Juan-Caguas-Guaynabo Metropolitan Statistical Area included 4,812 establishments with a response rate of 72 percent. For more information about OES concepts and methodology, go to www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.tn.htm.

The May 2010 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 San Juan-Caguas-Guaynabo Metropolitan Statistical Area  includes Aguas Buenas Municipio, Aibonito Municipio, Arecibo Municipio, Barceloneta Municipio, Barranquitas Municipio, Bayamón Municipio, Caguas Municipio, Camuy Municipio, Canóvanas Municipio, Carolina Municipio, Cataño Municipio, Cayey Municipio, Ciales Municipio, Cidra Municipio, Comerío Municipio, Corozal Municipio, Dorado Municipio, Florida Municipio, Guaynabo Municipio, Gurabo Municipio, Hatillo Municipio, Humacao Municipio, Juncos Municipio, Las Piedras Municipio, Loíza Municipio, Manatí Municipio, Maunabo Municipio, Morovis Municipio, Naguabo Municipio, Naranjito Municipio, Orocovis Municipio, Quebradillas Municipio, Río Grande Municipio, San Juan Municipio, San Lorenzo Municipio, Toa Alta Municipio, Toa Baja Municipio, Trujillo Alto Municipio, Vega Alta Municipio, Vega Baja Municipio, Yabucoa Municipio.

Additional information

OES data are available on our regional web page at www.bls.gov/ro2/home.htm. If you have additional questions, contact the New York Economic Analysis and Information Unit at (646) 264-3600. 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, San Juan-Caguas-Guaynabo Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2010

Occupation	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (1)	Location quotient (2)	Hourly	Annual
Protective service occupations	56,850	3.0	$12.45	$25,890
First-line supervisors of police and detectives	2,260	3.8	16.74	34,820
First-line supervisors of protective service workers, all other	770	2.4	12.02	25,000
Firefighters	1,530	0.9	11.69	24,310
Bailiffs	1,100	10.8	13.49	28,060
Correctional officers and jailers	5,790	2.2	24.50	50,950
Detectives and criminal Investigators	560	0.9	26.81	55,760
Parking enforcement Workers	50	0.9	9.49	19,740
Police and sheriff's patrol Officers	17,850	4.7	13.35	27,760
Private detectives and investigators	40	0.2	11.74	24,410
Gaming surveillance officers and gaming investigators	110	2.9	9.94	20,680
Security guards	24,760	4.2	8.20	17,060
Lifeguards, ski patrol, and other recreational protective service workers	120	0.2	8.83	18,360
Transportation security screeners* (federal only)	420	1.7	15.72	32,690
Protective service workers, all other*	1,110	2.4	11.41	23,730
Footnotes: (1) 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. (2) 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.
* Occupation titles followed by an asterisk (*) have similar titles, but not necessarily the same content as 2010 SOC occupations.

 

Last Modified Date: November 10, 2011