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22-1069-DAL
Tuesday, July 19, 2022
Workers in the Lake Charles, LA Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $23.44 in May 2021, 16 percent below the nationwide average of $28.01, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Michael Hirniak noted that, after testing for statistical significance, wages in the local area were lower than their respective national averages in 17 of the 22 major occupational groups, including legal; arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media; and computer and mathematical. Two groups had significantly higher wages than their respective national averages: production and installation, maintenance, and repair.
When compared to the nationwide distribution, Lake Charles area employment was more highly concentrated in 7 of the 22 occupational groups, including construction and extraction; installation, maintenance, and repair; and architecture and engineering. Eleven groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including business and financial operations, computer and mathematical, and office and administrative support. (See table A.)
Major occupational group | Percent of total employment | Mean hourly wage | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
United States | Lake Charles | United States | Lake Charles | Percent difference (1) | |
Total, all occupations |
100.0 | 100.0 | $28.01 | $23.44* | -16 |
Management |
6.3 | 5.5* | 59.31 | 50.72* | -14 |
Business and financial operations |
6.4 | 3.0* | 39.72 | 33.51* | -16 |
Computer and mathematical |
3.3 | 0.5* | 48.01 | 32.43* | -32 |
Architecture and engineering |
1.7 | 2.5* | 44.10 | 43.61 | -1 |
Life, physical, and social science |
0.9 | 0.9 | 38.81 | 34.34* | -12 |
Community and social service |
1.6 | 1.4* | 25.94 | 22.81* | -12 |
Legal |
0.8 | 0.7* | 54.38 | 33.05* | -39 |
Educational instruction and library |
5.8 | 6.0* | 29.88 | 21.65* | -28 |
Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media |
1.3 | 0.6* | 31.78 | 20.75* | -35 |
Healthcare practitioners and technical |
6.2 | 5.7* | 43.80 | 33.09* | -24 |
Healthcare support |
4.7 | 3.9* | 16.02 | 12.33* | -23 |
Protective service |
2.4 | 3.2* | 25.68 | 18.36* | -29 |
Food preparation and serving related |
8.0 | 7.9 | 14.16 | 11.00* | -22 |
Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance |
2.9 | 2.3* | 16.23 | 13.06* | -20 |
Personal care and service |
1.8 | 2.2* | 16.17 | 12.90* | -20 |
Sales and related |
9.4 | 9.4 | 22.15 | 16.46* | -26 |
Office and administrative support |
13.0 | 11.2* | 20.88 | 17.79* | -15 |
Farming, fishing, and forestry |
0.3 | 0.1* | 16.70 | 17.43 | 4 |
Construction and extraction |
4.2 | 10.9* | 26.87 | 24.20* | -10 |
Installation, maintenance, and repair |
4.0 | 6.7* | 25.66 | 27.02* | 5 |
Production |
6.0 | 6.6* | 20.71 | 29.79* | 44 |
Transportation and material moving |
9.0 | 8.7 | 19.88 | 19.49 | -2 |
(1) A positive percent difference measures how much the mean wage in the Lake Charles, LA Metropolitan Statistical Area is above the national mean wage, while a negative difference reflects a lower wage. |
One occupational group—construction and extraction—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Lake Charles had 9,840 jobs in construction and extraction, accounting for 10.9 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 4.2-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $24.20, significantly below the national wage of $26.87.
Some of the larger detailed occupations within the construction and extraction group included construction laborers (1,660), first-line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers (1,200), and operating engineers and other construction equipment operators (870). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were first-line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers and plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters, with mean hourly wages of $32.32 and $31.75, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were pipelayers, plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters helpers ($16.17) and electricians helpers ($17.80). (Detailed data for the construction and extraction occupations are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_29340.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 Lake Charles area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the construction and extraction group. For instance, painters, construction and maintenance were employed at 3.4 times the national rate in Lake Charles, and operating engineers and other construction equipment operators, at 3.3 times the U.S. average. Carpenters had a location quotient of 1.8 in Lake Charles, indicating that this particular occupation’s local employment share was higher than the national share.
These statistics are from the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey, a federal-state cooperative program between BLS and State Workforce Agencies, in this case, the Louisiana Workforce Commission.
With the May 2021 estimates release, the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) program has implemented a new model-based (MB3) estimation method. For more information, see the May 2021 Survey Methods and Reliability Statement at www.bls.gov/oes/methods_21.pdf and the Monthly Labor Review article at www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2019/article/model-based-estimates-for-the-occupational-employment-statistics-program.htm. OEWS estimates for the years 2015-19 were recalculated using the new estimation method and are available as research estimates at www.bls.gov/oes/oes-mb3-methods.htm.
The May 2021 OEWS estimates are also the first estimates based entirely on survey data collected using the 2018 Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) system. To improve data quality, the OEWS program aggregates some occupations to the SOC broad occupation level or as OEWS-specific combinations of 2018 SOC detailed occupations.
The Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey is a semiannual survey measuring occupational employment and wage rates for wage and salary workers in nonfarm establishments in the United States. The OEWS data available from BLS include cross-industry occupational employment and wage estimates for the nation; over 580 areas, including states and the District of Columbia, metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs), nonmetropolitan areas, and territories; national industry-specific estimates at the NAICS sector, 3-digit, most 4-digit, and selected 5- and 6-digit industry levels, and national estimates by ownership across all industries and for schools and hospitals. OEWS data are available at www.bls.gov/oes/tables.htm.
The OEWS survey is a cooperative effort between BLS and the State Workforce Agencies (SWAs). BLS funds the survey and provides the procedures and technical support, while the State Workforce Agencies collect most of the data. OEWS estimates are constructed from a sample of about 1.1 million establishments. Each year, two semiannual panels of approximately 179,000 to 187,000 sampled establishments are contacted, one panel in May and the other in November. Responses are obtained by Internet or other electronic means, mail, email, telephone, or personal visit. The May 2021 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2021, November 2020, May 2020, November 2019, May 2019, and November 2018. The unweighted sampled employment of 82 million across all six semiannual panels represents approximately 62 percent of total national employment. The overall national response rate for the six panels, based on the 50 states and the District of Columbia, is 67.2 percent based on establishments and 64.5 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The sample in the Lake Charles, LA Metropolitan Statistical Area included 1,269 establishments with a response rate of 67 percent. For more information about OEWS concepts and methodology, go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_tec.htm.
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.
Metropolitan 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 Lake Charles, LA Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Calcasieu Parish and Cameron Parish.
For more information
Answers to frequently asked questions about the OEWS data are available at www.bls.gov/oes/oes_ques.htm. Detailed information about the OEWS program is available at www.bls.gov/oes/oes_doc.htm.
Information in this release will be made available to individuals with sensory impairments upon request. Voice phone: (202) 691-5200; Telecommunications Relay Service: 7-1-1.
Occupation (1) | Employment | Mean wages | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Level (2) | Location quotient (3) | Hourly | Annual (4) | |
Construction and extraction occupations |
9,840 | 2.6 | $24.20 | $50,330 |
First-line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers |
1,200 | 2.8 | 32.32 | 67,220 |
Boilermakers |
110 | 13.5 | 30.36 | 63,140 |
Carpenters |
770 | 1.8 | 23.53 | 48,930 |
Construction laborers |
1,660 | 2.7 | 17.97 | 37,370 |
Operating engineers and other construction equipment operators |
870 | 3.3 | 22.60 | 47,000 |
Electricians |
800 | 1.9 | 26.65 | 55,440 |
Painters, construction and maintenance |
470 | 3.4 | 21.09 | 43,870 |
Plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters |
720 | 2.7 | 31.75 | 66,050 |
Sheet metal workers |
(5) | (5) | 23.99 | 49,900 |
Structural iron and steel workers |
180 | 4.2 | 28.29 | 58,840 |
Helpers--carpenters |
70 | 4.2 | 16.69 | 34,710 |
Helpers--electricians |
230 | 4.9 | 17.80 | 37,020 |
Helpers--painters, paperhangers, plasterers, and stucco masons |
80 | 14.5 | 15.52 | 32,280 |
Helpers--pipelayers, plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters |
220 | 7.5 | 16.17 | 33,630 |
Helpers, construction trades, all other |
240 | 13.7 | 21.15 | 44,000 |
Construction and building inspectors |
70 | 0.9 | 28.99 | 60,300 |
Miscellaneous construction and related workers |
(5) | (5) | 22.56 | 46,920 |
(1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Lake Charles, LA Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_29340.htm. |
Last Modified Date: Tuesday, July 19, 2022