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News Release Information

14-908-SAN
Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Contacts Technical information: Media contact:
  • (415) 625-2270

Occupational Employment and Wages in Vallejo-Fairfield, May 2013

Workers in the Vallejo-Fairfield Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $24.20 in May 2013, about 8 percent above the nationwide average of $22.33, 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. Three groups had significantly lower wages than their respective national averages: legal; arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media; and sales and related.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 4 of the 22 occupational groups, including healthcare practitioners and technical, and construction and extraction. Conversely, seven 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 2013
Major occupational groupPercent of total employmentMean hourly wage
United StatesVallejoUnited StatesVallejoPercent difference (1)

Total, all occupations

100.0%100.0%$22.33$24.20*8

Management

4.94.853.1551.80-3

Business and financial operations

5.04.1*34.1436.46*7

Computer and mathematical

2.81.3*39.4339.05-1

Architecture and engineering

1.81.0*38.5139.733

Life, physical, and social science

0.91.333.3740.27*21

Community and social services

1.41.421.5026.85*25

Legal

0.80.5*47.8940.88*-15

Education, training, and library

6.36.124.7626.226

Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media

1.30.9*26.7224.65*-8

Healthcare practitioner and technical

5.87.4*35.9348.04*34

Healthcare support

3.03.213.6117.02*25

Protective service

2.52.420.9231.45*50

Food preparation and serving related

9.09.6*10.3810.834

Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance

3.22.5*12.5114.12*13

Personal care and service

3.04.0*11.8812.172

Sales and related

10.611.718.3716.55*-10

Office and administrative support

16.216.816.7818.67*11

Farming, fishing, and forestry

0.30.311.7011.710

Construction and extraction

3.85.2*21.9426.87*22

Installation, maintenance, and repair

3.94.021.3525.41*19

Production

6.64.8*16.7920.24*21

Transportation and material moving

6.86.716.2816.652

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.
* 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—healthcare practitioners and technical—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Vallejo-Fairfield had 9,090 jobs in healthcare practitioners and technical, accounting for 7.4 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 5.8-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $48.04, measurably above the national wage of $35.93.

Some of the largest detailed occupations within the healthcare practitioners and technical group included registered nurses (3,230), licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses (720), and pharmacy technicians (410). Among the higher paying jobs were surgeons and psychiatrists, with mean hourly wages of $118.06 and $115.48, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were veterinary technologists and technicians ($14.30) and dietetic technicians ($17.61). (Detailed occupational data for healthcare practitioners and technical are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/2013/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 healthcare practitioners and technical group. For instance, psychiatric technicians were employed at 6.3 times the national rate in Vallejo, and medical and clinical laboratory technicians, at 2.2 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, physical therapists had a location quotient of 1.1 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.

Note

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 are also 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 sampled establishments in May and November each year for a 3-year period. May 2013 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected in May 2013, November 2012, May 2012, November 2011, May 2011, and November 2010. The overall national response rate for the six panels is 75.3 percent based on establishments and 71.6 percent based on employment. The sample in the Vallejo-Fairfield Metropolitan Statistical Area included 1,535 establishments with a response rate of 78 percent. For more information about OES concepts and methodology, go to www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.tn.htm.

The OES survey provides estimates of employment and hourly and annual wages for wage and salary workers in 22 major occupational groups and 821 detailed occupations for the nation, states, metropolitan statistical areas, metropolitan divisions, and nonmetropolitan areas. In addition, employment and wage estimates for 94 minor groups and 458 broad occupations are available in the national data. OES data by state and metropolitan/nonmetropolitan area are available from www.bls.gov/oes/current/oessrcst.htm and www.bls.gov/oes/current/oessrcma.htm , respectively.

The May 2013 OES estimates are based on the 2010 Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) system and the 2012 North American Industry Classification System (NAICS). Information about the 2010 SOC is available on the BLS website at www.bls.gov/soc and information about the 2012 NAICS is available at www.bls.gov/bls/naics.htm .

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/regions/west/home.htm. Answers to frequently asked questions about the OES data are available at www.bls.gov/oes/oes_ques.htm. Detailed technical information about the OES survey is available in our Survey Methods and Reliability Statement on the BLS website at www.bls.gov/oes/2013/may/methods_statement.pdf. Information in this release will be made available to sensory impaired individuals upon request – Voice phone: 202-691-5200; Federal Relay Service: 1-800-877-8339.

Table 1. Employment and wage data from the Occupational Employment Statistics survey, by occupation, Vallejo-Fairfield Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2013
Occupation (1)EmploymentMean wages
Level (2)Location quotient (3)HourlyAnnual(4)

Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations

9,0901.3$48.04$99,920

Dentists, General

800.991.17189,620

Dietitians and Nutritionists

701.438.8280,730

Optometrists

401.270.25146,120

Pharmacists

3501.363.62132,330

Family and General Practitioners

800.794.08195,690

Internists, General

501.295.16197,940

Pediatricians, General

702.584.86176,510

Psychiatrists

502.2115.48240,190

Surgeons

601.6118.06245,570

Physicians and Surgeons, All Other

1500.593.42194,300

Physician Assistants

1201.551.93108,000

Occupational Therapists

(5)(5)44.1291,760

Physical Therapists

2001.151.55107,220

Recreational Therapists

502.834.1471,020

Respiratory Therapists

1801.740.9885,240

Speech-Language Pathologists

700.644.3292,180

Veterinarians

500.945.0993,790

Registered Nurses

3,2301.358.49121,670

Nurse Practitioners

1401.448.93101,770

Medical and Clinical Laboratory Technologists

800.536.8776,690

Medical and Clinical Laboratory Technicians

3202.220.9943,660

Dental Hygienists

2701.650.06104,130

Cardiovascular Technologists and Technicians

601.232.3267,240

Diagnostic Medical Sonographers

601.147.8699,540

Radiologic Technologists

2001.143.9491,400

Emergency Medical Technicians and Paramedics

2000.917.7736,950

Dietetic Technicians

602.517.6136,630

Pharmacy Technicians

4101.220.2142,030

Psychiatric Technicians

3906.329.9862,370

Surgical Technologists

1201.433.5069,680

Veterinary Technologists and Technicians

1001.314.3029,740

Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses

7201.126.2154,530

Medical Records and Health Information Technicians

2301.422.2046,170

Opticians, Dispensing

601.017.7836,980

Health Technologists and Technicians, All Other

1201.423.0747,990

Occupational Health and Safety Specialists

801.436.8176,560

Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Workers, All Other

701.734.1671,050

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: Wednesday, May 28, 2014