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 group	Percent of total employment		Mean hourly wage
	United States	Vallejo	United States	Vallejo	Percent difference (1)
Total, all occupations	100.0%	100.0%	$22.33	$24.20*	8
Management	4.9	4.8	53.15	51.80	-3
Business and financial operations	5.0	4.1*	34.14	36.46*	7
Computer and mathematical	2.8	1.3*	39.43	39.05	-1
Architecture and engineering	1.8	1.0*	38.51	39.73	3
Life, physical, and social science	0.9	1.3	33.37	40.27*	21
Community and social services	1.4	1.4	21.50	26.85*	25
Legal	0.8	0.5*	47.89	40.88*	-15
Education, training, and library	6.3	6.1	24.76	26.22	6
Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media	1.3	0.9*	26.72	24.65*	-8
Healthcare practitioner and technical	5.8	7.4*	35.93	48.04*	34
Healthcare support	3.0	3.2	13.61	17.02*	25
Protective service	2.5	2.4	20.92	31.45*	50
Food preparation and serving related	9.0	9.6*	10.38	10.83	4
Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance	3.2	2.5*	12.51	14.12*	13
Personal care and service	3.0	4.0*	11.88	12.17	2
Sales and related	10.6	11.7	18.37	16.55*	-10
Office and administrative support	16.2	16.8	16.78	18.67*	11
Farming, fishing, and forestry	0.3	0.3	11.70	11.71	0
Construction and extraction	3.8	5.2*	21.94	26.87*	22
Installation, maintenance, and repair	3.9	4.0	21.35	25.41*	19
Production	6.6	4.8*	16.79	20.24*	21
Transportation and material moving	6.8	6.7	16.28	16.65	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. * 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.

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)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual(4)
Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations	9,090	1.3	$48.04	$99,920
Dentists, General	80	0.9	91.17	189,620
Dietitians and Nutritionists	70	1.4	38.82	80,730
Optometrists	40	1.2	70.25	146,120
Pharmacists	350	1.3	63.62	132,330
Family and General Practitioners	80	0.7	94.08	195,690
Internists, General	50	1.2	95.16	197,940
Pediatricians, General	70	2.5	84.86	176,510
Psychiatrists	50	2.2	115.48	240,190
Surgeons	60	1.6	118.06	245,570
Physicians and Surgeons, All Other	150	0.5	93.42	194,300
Physician Assistants	120	1.5	51.93	108,000
Occupational Therapists	(5)	(5)	44.12	91,760
Physical Therapists	200	1.1	51.55	107,220
Recreational Therapists	50	2.8	34.14	71,020
Respiratory Therapists	180	1.7	40.98	85,240
Speech-Language Pathologists	70	0.6	44.32	92,180
Veterinarians	50	0.9	45.09	93,790
Registered Nurses	3,230	1.3	58.49	121,670
Nurse Practitioners	140	1.4	48.93	101,770
Medical and Clinical Laboratory Technologists	80	0.5	36.87	76,690
Medical and Clinical Laboratory Technicians	320	2.2	20.99	43,660
Dental Hygienists	270	1.6	50.06	104,130
Cardiovascular Technologists and Technicians	60	1.2	32.32	67,240
Diagnostic Medical Sonographers	60	1.1	47.86	99,540
Radiologic Technologists	200	1.1	43.94	91,400
Emergency Medical Technicians and Paramedics	200	0.9	17.77	36,950
Dietetic Technicians	60	2.5	17.61	36,630
Pharmacy Technicians	410	1.2	20.21	42,030
Psychiatric Technicians	390	6.3	29.98	62,370
Surgical Technologists	120	1.4	33.50	69,680
Veterinary Technologists and Technicians	100	1.3	14.30	29,740
Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses	720	1.1	26.21	54,530
Medical Records and Health Information Technicians	230	1.4	22.20	46,170
Opticians, Dispensing	60	1.0	17.78	36,980
Health Technologists and Technicians, All Other	120	1.4	23.07	47,990
Occupational Health and Safety Specialists	80	1.4	36.81	76,560
Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Workers, All Other	70	1.7	34.16	71,050
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.