National Compensation Survey

Wages and Salaries

Winston County, MS

October 1997

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

U.S. Department of Labor

Bureau of Labor Statistics

February 1998

his summary provides results of an October 1997 survey of occupational pay in Winston County, MS.

Data shown in this summary were collected as part of the

Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) new program known as

the National Compensation Survey (NCS). The new program, now in its first stage of implementation, will eventually replace three separate BLS compensation series −

Occupational Compensation Survey, Employment Cost

Index, and Employee Benefits Survey. This first phase,

which includes only the wage and salary portion of compensation, was designed to produce data similar to those

released under the Occupational Compensation Survey,

which has been discontinued.

Hourly wage rates for various occupational classifications compose the majority of the information contained in

this summary. The A-tables present data for all industries,

private industry vs. State and local government, and fulltime vs. part-time workers. Also shown are weekly and

annual earnings and hours for full-time white-collar workers. Table B-1 provides hourly rates for a wide range of

work levels within occupational groups. Also contained in

this summary is a technical note describing survey procedures and a table listing the number of establishments

studied.

The survey could not have been conducted without the

cooperation of the many private firms and government

jurisdictions that provided pay data included in this summary. The Bureau thanks these respondents for their cooperation. Survey data were collected and reviewed by

Bureau of Labor Statistics field economists. The Office of

Compensation and Working Conditions, in cooperation

with the Office of Field Operations and the Office of

Technology and Survey Processing in the BLS National

Office, designed the survey and processed and analyzed

the data.

Where to find more information

For additional information regarding this survey, including a list of occupational classifications and the factors determining work levels, please contact the BLS Atlanta Regional Office at (404) 562-2463. You may also

write to the Bureau of Labor Statistics at: Division of

Compensation Data Analysis and Planning, 2 Massachusetts Avenue, NE, Room 4175, Washington, DC 20212-

0001, or call (202) 606-6220.

The data contained in this summary are also available

on the Internet’s World Wide Web through the BLS site:

http://stats.bls.gov/comhome.htm Data are in three formats: an ASCII file containing the exact published table

formats; an ASCII file containing positional columns of

data for easy manipulation as a data base or spreadsheet;

and a Portable Document Format containing the entire

summary. The ASCII files may contain tables not appearing in this summary.

Material in this summary is in the public domain and,

with appropriate credit, may be reproduced without permission. This information will be made available to sensory impaired individuals upon request. Voice phone:

(202) 606-7828; TDD phone: (202) 606-5897; TDD message referral phone: 1-800-326-2577.

T
Table A-1. Hourly earnings1 for selected occupations, all workers 2, all industries, Winston

County, MS, October, 1997

Occupation3

All industries

Mean

Percentiles

10 25 Median

50 75 90

All occupations ....................................................................... $11.73 $5.50 $8.70 $10.61 $14.23 $20.81

All occupations excluding sales ............................................ 11.69 5.56 8.70 10.61 14.23 20.81

White-collar occupations ................................................... 16.91 7.88 11.39 17.66 20.81 24.54

White-collar occupations excluding sales ......................... 17.15 8.00 12.60 18.05 20.81 24.54

Professional specialty and technical occupations ............ 17.82 8.79 13.66 17.95 23.27 24.54

Professional specialty occupations ............................... 19.28 – ––––

Health related occupations ....................................... – – ––––

Teachers, except college and university .................. – – ––––

Social, recreation, and religious workers .................. – – ––––

Lawyers and judges .................................................. – – ––––

Technical occupations .................................................. – – ––––

Executive, administrative, and managerial occupations ... – – ––––

Executives, administrators, and managers ............... – – ––––

Sales occupations ............................................................ – – ––––

Administrative support occupations, including clerical ..... 8.69 – ––––

Blue-collar occupations ..................................................... – – ––––

Precision production, craft, and repair occupations .......... – – ––––

Machine operators, assemblers, and inspectors .............. – – ––––

Transportation and material moving occupations ............. – – ––––

Handlers, equipment cleaners, helpers, and laborers ...... – – ––––

Service occupations ........................................................... 6.92 3.75 5.15 6.04 8.91 11.18

Protective service occupations ................................. – – ––––

Food service occupations ......................................... 5.59 – ––––

Health service occupations ....................................... – – ––––

Cleaning and building service occupations .............. – – ––––

Personal service occupations ................................... – – ––––

1 Earnings are the straight-time hourly wages or salaries

paid to employees. They include incentive pay, cost-of-living

adjustments, hazard pay, and on-call pay. Excluded are

premium pay for overtime, vacations, holidays, nonproduction

bonuses, and tips. The mean is computed by totaling the pay

of all workers and dividing by the number of workers, weighted

by hours. The 10th, 25th, 50th, 75th and 90th percentiles

designate position in the earnings distribution. At the 50th

percentile, the median, half of the workers receive the same as

or more than the rate shown, and half receive the same as or

less than the rate shown. At the 25th percentile, one-fourth of

the workers earn the same as or less than the rate shown. At

the 75th percentile, one-fourth earn the same as or more than

the rate shown. The 10th and 90th percentiles follow the same

logic. 2 All workers include full-time and part-time workers.

Employees are classified as working either a full-time or a

part-time schedule based on the definition used by each

establishment. Therefore, a worker with a 35-hour-per-week

schedule might be considered a full-time employee in one

establishment, but classified as part-time in another firm, where

a 40-hour week is the minimum full-time schedule. 3 A classification system including about 480 individual

occupations is used to cover all workers in the civilian economy.

 Individual occupations are classified into one of nine major

occupational groups.

NOTE: Dashes indicate that no data were reported or that data

did not meet publication criteria. Overall occupational groups

and occupational levels may include data for categories not

shown separately. N.E.C. means "not elsewhere classified." 

2
Table A-2. Hourly earnings1 for selected occupations, all workers 2, private and government industries, Winston County, MS,

October, 1997

Occupation3

Private industry State and local government

Mean

Percentiles

Mean

Percentiles

10 25 Median

50 75 90 10 25 Median50 75 90

All occupations ......................................................... $10.99 $5.26 $8.10 $10.61 $12.60 $15.33 $14.09 $7.03 $8.70 $13.66 $18.49 $23.98

All occupations excluding sales .............................. 10.91 5.26 8.32 10.42 11.86 15.33 14.09 7.03 8.70 13.66 18.49 23.98

White-collar occupations ..................................... 15.86 6.59 8.71 18.05 20.81 24.54 17.92 8.98 14.19 16.72 22.22 25.03

White-collar occupations excluding sales ........... 16.20 7.88 9.16 20.81 20.81 24.54 17.92 8.98 14.19 16.72 22.22 25.03

Professional specialty and technical

occupations .................................................. 15.57 – – –––––––––

Professional specialty occupations ................. – – – –––––––––

Health related occupations ......................... – – – –––––––––

Teachers, except college and university .... – – – –––––––––

Social, recreation, and religious workers .... – – – –––––––––

Lawyers and judges .................................... – – – –––––––––

Technical occupations .................................... – – – –––––––––

Executive, administrative, and managerial

occupations .................................................. – – – –––––––––

Executives, administrators, and managers – – – –––––––––

Sales occupations .............................................. – – – –––––––––

Administrative support occupations, including

clerical .......................................................... 8.71 – – –––––––––

Blue-collar occupations ....................................... – – – –––––––––

Precision production, craft, and repair

occupations .................................................. – – – –––––––––

Machine operators, assemblers, and inspectors – – – –––––––––

Transportation and material moving occupations – – – –––––––––

Handlers, equipment cleaners, helpers, and

laborers ......................................................... – – – –––––––––

Service occupations ............................................. 5.27 – – – – – 9.33 –––––

Protective service occupations ................... – – – –––––––––

Food service occupations ........................... – – – –––––––––

Health service occupations ......................... – – – –––––––––

Cleaning and building service occupations – – – –––––––––

Personal service occupations ..................... – – – –––––––––

1 Earnings are the straight-time hourly wages or salaries paid to employees. They

include incentive pay, cost-of-living adjustments, hazard pay, and on-call pay. Excluded

are premium pay for overtime, vacations, holidays, nonproduction bonuses, and tips. The

mean is computed by totaling the pay of all workers and dividing by the number of

workers, weighted by hours. The 10th, 25th, 50th, 75th and 90th percentiles designate

position in the earnings distribution. At the 50th percentile, the median, half of the

workers receive the same as or more than the rate shown, and half receive the same as

or less than the rate shown. At the 25th percentile, one-fourth of the workers earn the

same as or less than the rate shown. At the 75th percentile, one-fourth earn the same as

or more than the rate shown. The 10th and 90th percentiles follow the same logic. 2 All workers include full-time and part-time workers. Employees are classified as

working either a full-time or a part-time schedule based on the definition used by each

establishment. Therefore, a worker with a 35-hour-per-week schedule might be

considered a full-time employee in one establishment, but classified as part-time in

another firm, where a 40-hour week is the minimum full-time schedule. 3 A classification system including about 480 individual occupations is used to cover

all workers in the civilian economy. Individual occupations are classified into one of nine

major occupational groups.

NOTE: Dashes indicate that no data were reported or that data did not meet publication

criteria. Overall occupational groups and occupational levels may include data for

categories not shown separately. N.E.C. means "not elsewhere classified." 

3
Table A-3. Hourly earnings1 for selected occupations, full-time and part-time workers2, Winston County, MS, October, 1997

Occupation3

All industries

Full-time Part-time

Mean

Percentiles

Mean

Percentiles

10 25 Median

50 75 90 10 25 Median50 75 90

All occupations ......................................................... $11.91 $5.66 $8.91 $10.75 $14.23 $20.81 $8.43 –––––

All occupations excluding sales .............................. 11.81 5.56 8.82 10.61 14.23 20.81 8.95 –––––

White-collar occupations ..................................... 17.39 8.32 13.32 18.08 20.81 24.54 10.33 –––––

White-collar occupations excluding sales ........... 17.27 8.32 13.32 18.08 20.81 24.54 – –––––

Professional specialty and technical

occupations .................................................. 18.09 9.27 14.00 17.95 23.39 24.54 – –––––

Professional specialty occupations ................. 19.56 – – –––––––––

Health related occupations ......................... – – – –––––––––

Teachers, except college and university .... – – – –––––––––

Social, recreation, and religious workers .... – – – –––––––––

Lawyers and judges .................................... – – – –––––––––

Technical occupations .................................... – – – –––––––––

Executive, administrative, and managerial

occupations .................................................. – – – –––––––––

Executives, administrators, and managers – – – –––––––––

Sales occupations .............................................. – – – –––––––––

Administrative support occupations, including

clerical .......................................................... 8.79 – – –––––––––

Blue-collar occupations ....................................... – – – –––––––––

Precision production, craft, and repair

occupations .................................................. – – – –––––––––

Machine operators, assemblers, and inspectors – – – –––––––––

Transportation and material moving occupations – – – –––––––––

Handlers, equipment cleaners, helpers, and

laborers ......................................................... – – – –––––––––

Service occupations ............................................. 6.85 3.75 5.15 5.91 8.91 12.05 – –––––

Protective service occupations ................... – – – –––––––––

Food service occupations ........................... – – – –––––––––

Health service occupations ......................... – – – –––––––––

Cleaning and building service occupations – – – –––––––––

Personal service occupations ..................... – – – –––––––––

1 Earnings are the straight-time hourly wages or salaries paid to employees. They

include incentive pay, cost-of-living adjustments, hazard pay, and on-call pay. Excluded

are premium pay for overtime, vacations, holidays, nonproduction bonuses, and tips. The

mean is computed by totaling the pay of all workers and dividing by the number of

workers, weighted by hours. The 10th, 25th, 50th, 75th and 90th percentiles designate

position in the earnings distribution. At the 50th percentile, the median, half of the

workers receive the same as or more than the rate shown, and half receive the same as

or less than the rate shown. At the 25th percentile, one-fourth of the workers earn the

same as or less than the rate shown. At the 75th percentile, one-fourth earn the same as

or more than the rate shown. The 10th and 90th percentiles follow the same logic. 2 All workers include full-time and part-time workers. Employees are classified as

working either a full-time or a part-time schedule based on the definition used by each

establishment. Therefore, a worker with a 35-hour-per-week schedule might be

considered a full-time employee in one establishment, but classified as part-time in

another firm, where a 40-hour week is the minimum full-time schedule. 3 A classification system including about 480 individual occupations is used to cover

all workers in the civilian economy. Individual occupations are classified into one of nine

major occupational groups.

NOTE: Dashes indicate that no data were reported or that data did not meet publication

criteria. Overall occupational groups and occupational levels may include data for

categories not shown separately. N.E.C. means "not elsewhere classified." 

4
Table A-4. Weekly and annual earnings1 and hours for selected white-collar occupations, full-time workers only2,

Winston County, MS, October, 1997

Occupation3

All industries

Mean

weekly

hours4

Weekly earnings Mean

annual

hours

Annual earnings

Mean Median Mean Median

White-collar occupations ................................................... 40.8 $709 $673 1,882 $32,733 $29,095

White-collar occupations excluding sales ......................... 40.7 702 673 1,867 32,249 28,413

Professional specialty and technical occupations ............ 38.4 694 684 1,659 30,007 28,267

Professional specialty occupations ............................... 38.1 745 – 1,606 31,407 –

Health related occupations ....................................... ––––––

Teachers, except college and university .................. ––––––

Social, recreation, and religious workers .................. ––––––

Lawyers and judges .................................................. ––––––

Technical occupations .................................................. ––––––

Executive, administrative, and managerial occupations ... ––––––

Executives, administrators, and managers ............... ––––––

Sales occupations ............................................................ ––––––

Administrative support occupations, including clerical ..... 40.0 351 – 2,080 18,272 –

1 Earnings are the straight-time hourly wages or salaries paid to employees.

They include incentive pay, cost-of-living adjustments, hazard pay, and on-call

pay. Excluded are premium pay for overtime, vacations, holidays, nonproduction

bonuses, and tips. The mean is computed by totaling the pay of all workers and

dividing by the number of workers, weighted by hours. The median designates

position--one-half of the workers receive the same as or more, and one-half

receive the same as or less than the rate shown. 2 All workers include full-time and part-time workers. Employees are

classified as working either a full-time or a part-time schedule based on the

definition used by each establishment. Therefore, a worker with a

35-hour-per-week schedule might be considered a full-time employee in one

establishment, but classified as part-time in another firm, where a 40-hour week

is the minimum full-time schedule. 3 A classification system including about 480 individual occupations is used

to cover all workers in the civilian economy. Individual occupations are classified

into one of nine major occupational groups. 4 Mean weekly hours are the hours an employee is scheduled to work in a

week, exclusive of overtime.

NOTE: Dashes indicate that no data were reported or that data did not meet

publication criteria. Overall occupational groups and occupational levels may

include data for categories not shown separately. N.E.C. means "not elsewhere

classified." 

5
Table B-1. Mean hourly earnings1 by occupational group and level2, Winston County, MS, October,

1997

Occupational group3 and level

All workers 4 All industries

All industriesPrivate

industry

State and

local

government

Full-time

workers

Part-time

workers

All occupations ....................................................................... $11.73 $10.99 $14.09 $11.91 $8.43

All occupations excluding sales ............................................ 11.69 10.91 14.09 11.81 8.95

White-collar occupations ................................................... 16.91 15.86 17.92 17.39 10.33

Level 7 .............................................................. 18.47 – – 18.47 –

White-collar occupations excluding sales ......................... 17.15 16.20 17.92 17.27 –

Professional specialty and technical occupations ............ 17.82 15.57 – 18.09 –

Professional specialty occupations ............................... 19.28 – – 19.56 –

Health related occupations ....................................... –––––

Teachers, except college and university .................. –––––

Social, religious, and recreation workers .................. –––––

Lawyers and judges .................................................. –––––

Technical occupations .................................................. –––––

Executive, administrative, and managerial occupations ... –––––

Executives, administrators, and managers ............... –––––

Sales occupations ............................................................ –––––

Administrative support occupations, including clerical ..... 8.69 8.71 – 8.79 –

Blue-collar occupations ......................................................... –––––

Precision production, craft, and repair occupations .......... –––––

Machine operators, assemblers, and inspectors .............. –––––

Transportation and material moving occupations ............. –––––

Handlers, equipment cleaners, helpers, and laborers ..... –––––

Service occupations ........................................................... 6.92 5.27 9.33 6.85 –

Level 2 .............................................................. 6.17 ––––

Protective service occupations ............................... –––––

Food service occupations ........................................ 5.59 ––––

Health service occupations ..................................... –––––

Cleaning and building service occupations ............ –––––

Personal service occupations ................................. –––––

1 Earnings are the straight-time hourly wages or salaries paid to

employees. They include incentive pay, cost-of-living adjustments,

hazard pay, and on-call pay. Excluded are premium pay for overtime,

vacations, holidays, nonproduction bonuses, and tips. The mean is

computed by totaling the pay of all workers and dividing by the

number of workers, weighted by hours. 2 Each occupation for which wage data are collected in an

establishment is evaluated based on 10 factors, including knowledge,

complexity, work environment, etc. Points are assigned based on the

occupation’s ranking within each factor. The points are summed to

determine the overall level of the occupation. See technical note for

more information. 3 A classification system including about 480 individual

occupations is used to cover all workers in the civilian economy. 

Individual occupations are classified into one of nine major

occupational groups. 4 All workers include full-time and part-time workers. Employees

are classified as working either a full-time or a part-time schedule

based on the definition used by each establishment. Therefore, a

worker with a 35-hour-per-week schedule might be considered a

full-time employee in one establishment, but classified as part-time in

another firm, where a 40-hour week is the minimum full-time

schedule.

NOTE: Dashes indicate that no data were reported or that data did

not meet publication criteria. Overall occupational groups and

occupational levels may include data for categories not shown

separately. N.E.C. means "not elsewhere classified." 

6
7

Appendix: Technical Note

Survey scope

This survey of Winston County, MS, covered establishments employing 50 or more workers in goodsproducing industries (mining, construction and manufacturing); service-producing industries (transportation,

communications, electric, gas, and sanitary services;

wholesale trade; retail trade; finance, insurance, and real

estate; and services industries); and State and local governments. Agriculture, private households, and the Federal government are excluded from the scope of the survey. For purposes of this survey, an establishment was an

economic unit which produces goods or services, a central

administrative office, or an auxiliary unit providing support services to a company. For private industries in this

survey, the establishment was usually at a single physical

location. For State and local governments, an establishment was defined as all locations of a government entity.

The list of establishments from which the survey sample was selected (sampling frame) was developed from the

State unemployment insurance reports for Winston

County, MS. The reference month for the public sector is

June 1994; for the private sector, it is June 1996.

Sample design

The sample for this survey area was selected using a

two stage stratified design with probability proportional to

employment sampling at each stage. The first stage of

sample selection was a probability-proportional-to-size

sample of establishments. Use of this technique means

that the larger an establishment’s employment, the greater

its chance of selection. The second stage of sample selection was a probability sample of occupations within a

sampled establishment.

Occupational selection and classification

Identification of the occupations for which wage data

were to be collected was a multi-step process:

1. Probability-proportional-to-size selection of establishment jobs.

2. Classification of jobs into occupations based on the

Census of Population system.

3. Characterization of jobs as full-time v. part-time,

union v. nonunion, and time v. incentive.

4. Determination of the level of work of each job.

For each occupation, wage data were collected only for

those workers who met all the criteria identified in the last

three steps. In step one, the jobs to be sampled were selected at each establishment by the BLS field economist

during a personal visit. A complete list of employees was

used for sampling, with each selected worker representing

a job within the establishment. The greater the number of

people working in a job in the establishment, the greater

its chance of selection.

The second step of the process entailed classifying the

selected jobs into occupations based on their duties. The

National Compensation Survey’s occupational classification system is based on the 1990 Census of Population. A

selected job may fall into any one of about 480 occupational classifications, from accountant to wood lathe operator. In cases where a job’s duties overlapped two or

more census classification codes, first the duties used to set

the wage level were used to classify the job. Classification

by primary duties was the fallback.

Each occupational classification is an element of a

broader classification known as a major occupational

group (MOG). Occupations can fall into any of the following MOG’s:

• Professional specialty and technical

• Executive, administrative, and managerial

• Sales

• Administrative support including clerical

• Precision production, craft, and repair

• Machine operators, assemblers, and inspectors

• Transportation and material moving

• Handlers, equipment cleaners, helpers, and laborers

• Service occupations

A complete list of all individual occupations, classified

by the MOG to which they belong, is available from BLS.

In step three, certain other job characteristics of the

chosen worker were identified. First, the worker was

identified as holding either a full-time or part-time job,

based on the establishment’s definition of those terms.

Then the worker was classified as having a time versus

incentive job and also identified as being in a union or a

nonunion job.

Generic leveling through point factor analysis

In the last step before wage data were collected, the

work level of each selected job was determined using a

“generic leveling” process. Generic leveling ranks and

compares all occupations randomly selected in an establishment using the same criteria. This is a major depar-
8

ture from the method used in the past in the Bureau’s Occupational Compensation Surveys which studied specifically defined occupations with leveling definitions unique

to each occupation.

For this survey, the level of each occupation in an establishment was determined by an analysis of each of 10

leveling factors. Nine of these factors are drawn from the

U.S. Government Office of Personnel Management’s

Factor Evaluation System, which is the underlying structure for evaluation of General Schedule Federal employees. The tenth factor, supervisory duties, attempts to account for the effect of supervisory duties. It is considered

experimental. The 10 factors are:

• Knowledge

• Supervision received

• Guidelines

• Complexity

• Scope and effect

• Personal contacts

• Purpose of contacts

• Physical demands

• Work environment

• Supervisory duties

Each factor contains a number of levels and each level

has an associated written description and point value. The

number and range of points differ among the factors. For

each factor, an occupation was assigned a level based on

which written description best matched the job. Within

each occupation, the points for 9 factors (supervisory duties were excluded) were recorded and totaled. The total

determines the overall level of the occupation.

Tabulations of levels of work for occupations in the

survey follow the Federal Government’s white-collar General Schedule. Point ranges for each of the 15 levels and a

guide to help data users evaluate jobs in their firm are

available from BLS.

Collection period

The survey was collected from October 1997 through

January 1998. The average payroll reference month was

October 1997. For each establishment in the survey, the

data reflect the establishment’s practices on the day of

collection.

Earnings

Earnings were defined as regular payments from the

employer to the employee as compensation for straighttime hourly work, or for any salaried work performed.

The following components were included as part of earnings:

• Incentive pay, including commissions, production

bonuses, and piece rates

• Cost-of-living allowances

• Hazard pay

• Payments of income deferred due to participation

in a salary reduction plan

• Deadhead pay, defined as pay given to transportation workers returning in a vehicle without freight

or passengers

• On-call pay

The following forms of payments were not considered

part of straight-time earnings:

• Shift differentials, defined as extra payment for

working a schedule that varies from the norm,

such as night or weekend work

• Premium pay for overtime, holidays, and weekends

• Bonuses not directly tied to production (e.g.,

Christmas bonuses, profit-sharing bonuses)

• Uniform and tool allowances

• Free room and board

• Payments made by third parties (e.g., tips, bonuses given by manufacturers to department store

salespeople, referral incentives in real estate)

In order to calculate earnings for various time periods

(hourly, weekly, and annual), data on work schedules were

also collected. For hourly workers, scheduled hours

worked per day and per week, exclusive of overtime, were

recorded. Annual weeks worked were determined. Because salaried workers, exempt from overtime provisions,

often work beyond the assigned work schedule, their typical number of hours actually worked was collected.

Weighting and nonresponse

Sample weights were calculated for each establishment/occupation in the survey. These weights reflected

the relative size of the occupation within the establishment

and of the establishment within the sample universe.

Weights were used to aggregate the individual establishment/occupations into the various data series.

Of the establishments surveyed, 13.3 percent (representing 194 employees) refused to supply information. If

data were not provided by a sample member, the weights

of responding sample members in the same or similar

“cells” were adjusted to account for the missing data. This

technique assumes that the mean value of the nonrespondents equals the mean value of the respondents at some

detailed “cell” level. Responding and nonresponding establishments were classified into these cells according to

industry and employment size. Responding and nonresponding occupations within responding establishments

were classified into cells which were additionally defined

by major occupation group and job level.

Establishments which were determined to be out of

business or outside the scope of the survey (6.7 percent of

the total sample) had their weights changed to zero.
9

Estimation

The wage series in the tables are computed by combining the wages for individual establishment/ occupations. Before being combined, individual wage rates are

weighted by: number of workers; the sample weight adjusted for nonresponding establishments and other factors;

and the occupation work schedule, varying depending on

whether hourly, weekly, or annual rates are being calculated. In Winston County, MS, the workers studied in all

occupations were weighted to represent 2,602 workers.

Not all series that were calculated met the criteria for

publication. Before any series was published, it was reviewed to make sure that the number of observations underlying it was sufficient. This review prevented publishing a series that could have revealed information about a

specific establishment.

Data reliability

The data in this summary are estimates from a scientifically selected probability sample. There are two types

of errors possible in an estimate based on a sample survey,

sampling and nonsampling.

Sampling errors occur because observations come only

from a sample and not from an entire population. The

sample used for this survey is one of a number of possible

samples of the same size that could have been selected

using the sample design. Estimates derived from the different samples would differ from each other.

A measure of variation among these differing estimates

is called the standard error or sampling error. It indicates

the precision with which an estimate from a particular

sample approximates the average result of all possible

samples. The relative standard error (RSE) is the standard

error divided by the estimate. The RSE for all occupations, all industries, all workers, in Winston, MS, could

not be reliably determined.

The standard error can be used to calculate a “confidence interval” around a sample estimate. As an example,

suppose table A-1 shows that mean hourly earnings for all

workers was $12.79 per hour, and the relative standard

error was 3.6 percent for this estimate. At the 90-percent

level, the confidence interval for the estimate is $13.55 to

$12.03 ($12.79 plus and minus 1.645 times 3.6 percent

times $12.79). If all possible samples were selected to

estimate the population value, the interval from each sample would include the true population value approximately

90 percent of the time.

Nonsampling errors also affect survey results. They

can stem from many sources, such as inability to obtain

information for some establishments, difficulties with survey definitions, inability of the respondents to provide

correct information, or mistakes in recording or coding the

data obtained. A Technical Reinterview Program done in

all survey areas will be used in the development of a formal quality assessment process to help compute nonsampling error. Although they were not specifically measured, the nonsampling errors were expected to be minimal

due to the extensive training of the filed economists who

gathered the survey data by personal visit, computer edits

of the data, and detailed data review.
Appendix table 1. Number of establishments studied by industry group and employment size, and number

represented by industry group, Winston County, MS, October, 1997

Industry Within scope

of survey

Number of establishments studied

Total studied 50 - 99

workers

100 workers or more

Total 100 - 499

workers

500 workers

or more

All industries ......................................................... 18 12 7 5 4 1

Private industry ................................................. 14 9 6 3 3 –

Goods-producing industries .......................... 3 1 – 1 1 –

Manufacturing ........................................... 3 1 – 1 1 –

Service-producing industries ........................ 11 8 6 2 2 –

Tranportation and public utilities ............... 2 1 – 1 1 –

Wholesale and retail trade ........................ 6 3 3 – – –

Services .................................................... 4 4 3 1 1 –

State and local government .............................. 4 3 1 2 1 1

NOTE: Dashes indicate that no data were reported. Overall industry and industry groups may include data for categories not shown separately.

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