Workers in the Vallejo-Fairfield Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $23.26 in May 2011, about 7 percent above the nationwide average of $21.74, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Regional Commissioner Richard J. Holden 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 healthcare practitioners and technical; protective service; and life, physical, and social science.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 8 of the 22 occupational groups, including construction and extraction, food preparation and serving related, and sales and related. Conversely, eight groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including production, computer and mathematical, and business and financial operations. (See table A and box note at end of release.)

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

Major occupational group	Percent of total employment		Mean hourly wage
	United States	Vallejo	United States	Vallejo	Percent difference (1)
Total, all occupations	100.0%	100.0%	$21.74	$23.26*	7
Management	4.8	4.5*	51.64	49.54*	-4
Business and financial operations	4.8	3.8*	33.05	34.07	3
Computer and mathematical	2.7	1.0*	37.85	38.15	1
Architecture and engineering	1.8	1.0*	37.08	37.12	0
Life, physical, and social science	0.8	0.9	32.44	40.13*	24
Community and social services	1.5	1.7*	21.07	27.98*	33
Legal	0.8	0.5*	47.30	(2)
Education, training, and library	6.6	6.4	24.46	26.38	8
Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media	1.3	0.8*	25.89	24.79	-4
Healthcare practitioner and technical	5.9	6.7*	34.97	48.17*	38
Healthcare support	3.1	3.8*	13.16	15.30*	16
Protective service	2.5	3.0*	20.54	30.13*	47
Food preparation and serving related	8.7	9.9*	10.30	10.64	3
Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance	3.3	2.7*	12.29	14.07*	14
Personal care and service	2.8	2.6	11.84	12.90*	9
Sales and related	10.6	11.6*	18.04	15.40*	-15
Office and administrative support	16.7	17.8	16.40	18.42*	12
Farming, fishing, and forestry	0.3	0.4*	11.68	(2)
Construction and extraction	3.9	5.3*	21.46	26.33*	23
Installation, maintenance, and repair	3.9	4.0	20.86	25.48*	22
Production	6.5	4.4*	16.45	19.55*	19
Transportation and material moving	6.7	7.2	15.96	16.34	2
Footnotes: (1) A positive percent difference measures how much the mean wage in Vallejo is above the national mean wage, while a negative difference reflects a lower wage. (2) Estimate not released * 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.

One occupational group—construction and extraction—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Vallejo-Fairfield had 6,270 jobs in construction and extraction, accounting for 5.3 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 3.9-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $26.33, measurably above the national wage of $21.46.

With employment of 1,130, carpenters was the largest occupation within the construction and extraction group, followed by construction laborers (690) and electricians (520). Among the higher paying jobs were electricians and first-line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers, with mean hourly wages of $39.33 and $37.79, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were helpers of pipelayers, plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters ($16.98) and helpers of electricians ($18.29). (Detailed occupational data for construction and extraction are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/2011/may/oes_46700.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 Vallejo-Fairfield Metropolitan Statistical Area, above average concentrations of employment were found in some of the occupations within the construction and extraction group. For instance, pipelayers were employed at 5.8 times the national rate in Vallejo, and drywall and ceiling tile installers, at 4.9 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, construction laborers had a location quotient of 1.0 in Vallejo, 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 California Employment Development Department. 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 Vallejo 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 Vallejo-Fairfield Metropolitan Statistical Area included 1,589 establishments with a response rate of 79 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 Vallejo-Fairfield, Calif. Metropolitan Statistical Area  includes Solano County.

Additional information

OES data are available on our regional web page at www.bls.gov/ro9/home.htm. If you have additional questions, contact the San Francisco Economic Analysis and Information Unit at (415) 625-2270. 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, Vallejo-Fairfield Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2011

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual(4)
Construction and Extraction Occupations	6,270	1.4	$26.33	$54,780
First-Line Supervisors of Construction Trades and Extraction Workers	510	1.2	37.79	78,610
Carpenters	1,130	2.1	27.18	56,530
Tile and Marble Setters	(5)	(5)	21.78	45,300
Cement Masons and Concrete Finishers	100	0.8	26.58	55,290
Construction Laborers	690	1.0	20.04	41,680
Operating Engineers and Other Construction Equipment Operators	230	0.7	29.32	60,980
Drywall and Ceiling Tile Installers	340	4.9	23.27	48,400
Tapers	30	2.3	20.34	42,300
Electricians	520	1.1	39.33	81,800
Glaziers	60	1.6	24.56	51,080
Painters, Construction and Maintenance	210	1.2	24.97	51,930
Pipelayers	230	5.8	(5)	(5)
Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters	270	0.8	29.78	61,950
Plasterers and Stucco Masons	90	4.4	20.13	41,860
Sheet Metal Workers	(5)	(5)	26.32	54,740
Structural Iron and Steel Workers	(5)	(5)	32.07	66,710
Helpers--Electricians	(5)	(5)	18.29	38,030
Helpers--Pipelayers, Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters	(5)	(5)	16.98	35,320
Construction and Building Inspectors	50	0.6	29.18	60,700
Hazardous Materials Removal Workers	180	5.4	21.10	43,880
Highway Maintenance Workers	50	0.4	25.37	52,770
Construction and Related Workers, All Other	40	1.1	21.80	45,350
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in Vallejo-Fairfield, CA, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_46700.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.

 

Last Modified Date: July 13, 2012