April 2010 

Occupational Employment 

Statistics (OES) Highlights

How Jobseekers and Employers Can Use 

Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) 

Data during Wage and Salary Discussions 

The economic downturn has many individuals reevaluating their career paths or 

struggling to find a market for their skills. As they explore career options, individuals 

may be wondering how their skills, experience, and education might translate into 

compensation. Employers even in turbulent economic times have an incentive to 

attract or retain quality workers by making sure the wages they offer are fair and 

competitive. A wide variety of literature is available on career exploration and the 

techniques that help in attaining employment, but prospective employees and 

employers both could benefit by having reliable information available on wages and 

wage distributions in the pay-setting process. 

Chart 1: Occupations with similar medians, but differing wage variation

$10

$15

$20

$25

$30

$35

$40

$45

$50

$55

10th 25th Median 75th 90th

W a g e (i n $ / h r )

Arbitrators, mediators, and

conciliators

Dietitians and nutri tionists

Film and video editors

Editors

Forensic science technicians

Signal and track swi tch repai rers

(See page 8 to view these data in table format.)
The average wage for a prospective occupation is useful starting information. It is 

important to note, however, that wage averages reflect the outcome of many 

factors, such as how an individual’s experience compares with others in the 

occupation and how wages vary depending on the location and industry of the work. 

Information on average wages and wage distributions for occupations is available by 

industry and area on the OES Web site (www.bls.gov/oes). Familiarity with the full 

distribution of wages for an occupation can provide a more complete perspective on 

wage expectations.

Average wages and wage distributions 

A wage distribution, or wage range, can be useful in determining a base or target 

wage. Where an individual should expect to fall in a wage distribution is not always 

an easy judgment. Those who are just starting their careers may expect wages at 

the lower end of the distribution, near the 10th or 25th percentile, and those with 

more experience and education may expect wages near the 75th or 90th percentile. 

The wage distribution can also be used as an indicator of the variability in wages for 

an occupation and can be helpful in understanding potential wage growth as the 

worker gains more experience or education. Still, 10 percent of workers in the 

occupation earn more than the 90th percentile wage. 

Percentile wages are helpful to know during wage negotiations because occupations 

with similar average wages may have different distributions. For example, film and 

video editors typically face highly variable wages, whereas signal and track switch 

repairers have a much flatter pay distribution, as shown by chart 1. Although these 

two occupations may have similar median wages, hourly earnings for workers at the 

lower and upper ends of the distribution are quite different. Average and percentile 

wage data are available for these and nearly 800 other occupations. 

Industry 

Many occupations can be found in a variety of different industries, or types of 

businesses. An employer’s industry classification can have profound implications on 

pay. Some industries generally pay higher or lower wages for workers in the same 

occupations doing similar work. For example, accountants and auditors, who do 

similar work in a variety of industries, generally have higher average wages in 

2 
accounting services firms and lower wages in clothing stores. However, as illustrated 

in chart 2, the spread of wages in clothing stores is relatively wide, compared with 

the wage distribution of other industries. 

Chart 2: Distribution of wages for accountants and auditors in selected

industries

$0

$20,000

$40,000

$60,000

$80,000

$100,000

$120,000

$140,000

Traveler

Accommodation

Clothing Stores General M edical

and Surgical

Hospitals

Home

Furnishings

Stores

Accounting, Tax

Preparation,

Bookkeeping,

and Payroll

Services

Natural Gas

Distribution

Scientific

Research and

Development

Services

Securities and

Commodity

Contracts

Intermediation

and Brokerage

Industry

Annual wage

Median 

90th 

10th 

75th percentile 

25th percentile 

(See page 8 to view these data in table format.) 

The variability of wages by industry can depend on the occupation. As shown in chart 

3, wages for accountants and auditors are expected to vary considerably across 

industries, whereas wages for customer service representatives are more consistent. 

This may be because the responsibilities of workers in an occupation vary by 

industry, or it simply may be because different industries have different pay 

practices. 

It is also useful to know general pay practices in firms that are similar to the 

prospective employer. Industries with high profit margins are often able to provide 

higher wages and still remain competitive, whereas others find it necessary to keep 

wages low in order to remain competitive and charge lower prices. Nonprofit firms

may pay lower wages for most occupations, but pay above average wages for the 

very lowest paid occupations.1 Similarly, industries with higher levels of unionization 

 

1

 Warren, Zachary, “Occupational employment in the not-for-profit sector,” Monthly 

Labor Review, November 2008, pp. 11–43 on the Internet at 

www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2008/11/art2abs.htm

3 
tend to have flatter wage distributions across occupations.2 If the firm’s employees 

are unionized, individual workers may have little room for wage negotiation. The 

challenges or unique economic considerations facing industries can provide valuable 

insight when deciding on a target wage. 

Chart 3: Occupational wages in selected industries

$0

$5

$10

$15

$20

$25

$30

$35

$40

$45

Accountants and Audi tors Customer Service

Represtentatives

Industrial Engineers Executive Secretaries and

Administrative Assistants

Mean Wage (in $/hr)

Tobacco Manufacturing

Couriers and Express Delivery Services

Apparel Knitting Mills

Warehousing and Storage

(See page 8 to view these data in table format.) 

OES has wage and employment information for occupations in more than 300 

specific industries. 

Location 

The geographic location of the employer should also affect wages. Workers tend to 

have higher earnings in large metropolitan areas, where the high cost of living and 

other factors can drive wages higher. Chart 4 shows how wages vary by area for 

selected occupations and areas. 

 

2

 Jones, John Ichiro, “An Investigation of Industry and Size Effects on Wage 

Dispersion,” Occupational Employment and Wages, May 2003, Bureau of Labor 

Statistics; September 2004; pp. 22-23 Bulletin 2567 

www.bls.gov/oes/2003/may/dispersion.pdf

4 
Chart 4: Occupational wages in selected metropolitan areas

$0

$10

$20

$30

$40

$50

$60

Financial Analysts Dental Assistants Dishwashers Electricians Computer

Programmers

Mean W age (in $/hr)

San Francisco‐Oakland‐Fremont, CA

Denver‐Aurora, CO

Miami‐Fort Lauderdale‐Miami Beach, FL

Columbia, SC

San Antonio, TX

(See page 9 to view these data in table format.) 

For example, the average wage of electricians in San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, 

Calif., is $36.11 compared with $19.66 in Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Miami Beach, Fla., 

a difference of 84 percent. Area wage information can even be helpful when 

comparing specific areas within large metropolitan areas such as New York, Boston, 

and Los Angeles. These areas, among others, are broken down into divisions that 

may also contain significant differences in wage and employment patterns. For 

example, although sales managers in the larger New York City metropolitan area 

earned an average of $147,180 per year, those in the Nassau-Suffolk, N.Y., 

Metropolitan Division earned $158,910, and those in the Newark-Union, N.J.-Pa., 

Metropolitan Division earned $130,350. 

The OES program has wage data for all metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas in 

the United States. 

5 
Chart 5: Sales managers in the New York City metropolitan area

$0

$20,000

$40,000

$60,000

$80,000

$100,000

$120,000

$140,000

$160,000

$180,000

Edison, NJ Nassau‐Suffolk, NY New York‐White Plains‐

Wayne, NY‐NJ

Newark‐Union, NJ‐PA

Annual Mean Wage

(See page 9 to view these data in table format.) 

Employer benefits 

The OES wage estimates include only wages and salaries, but not all compensation is 

in the form of wages and salaries. Benefits such as training opportunities, health 

insurance, and paid time off are not included in an individual’s wages, but they add 

considerable value and are important to many prospective employees. Benefits are 

not always comparable between employers and should be considered along with 

wage compensation. Information on employee benefits is available from the BLS 

Employee Benefits Survey (www.bls.gov/ncs/ebs/home.htm). 

Success in wage negotiation depends in large part on the jobseeker’s and employer’s 

ability to objectively match the experience and skills of the worker with the needs of 

the employer. A number of factors play a role in the wage that an employer offers, 

including the employer’s industry and geographic location. These indicators can 

suggest where an employee’s wage should be on the distribution of incomes for the 

occupation. 

Complete OES data, including data for more than 450 industries and industry 

aggregations, are available on the OES home page (www.bls.gov/oes). Full wage 

6 
distribution data, including the 10th, 25th, 50th, 75th, and 90th percentiles, can be 

downloaded in Excel format from the OES home page, or by using the OES query 

tool. Wage data for May 2009 will be released on May 14, 2010. This highlight was 

prepared by Clayton Lindsay. For more information, please contact the OES program

by telephone at (202) 691–6569 or by e-mail at oesinfo@bls.gov. 

7 
Table 1. Occupations with similar medians, but differing wage variation, May 2008 

Occupation 10th 

percentile

25th 

percentile Median 75th percentile 

90th 

percentile

Arbitrators, mediators, and conciliators $14.68 $18.29 $24.36 $35.83 $49.91

Dietitians and nutritionists 15.13 19.74 24.32 29.71 35.29 

Film and video editors 11.85 15.90 24.31 37.36 54.04 

Editors 13.51 17.64 24.04 33.24 45.91 

Forensic science technicians 14.90 18.54 23.97 30.73 38.62 

Signal and track switch repairers 16.53 20.71 23.89 27.55 30.27 

Table 2. Distribution of wages for accountants and auditors in selected industries, 

May 2008 

Industry 10th 

percentile 

25th 

percentile Median 75th percentile 

90th 

percentile 

Traveler Accommodation $26,860 $35,030 $46,010 $60,020 $75,550

Clothing Stores 39,330 45,210 52,280 76,140 132,390

General Medical and Surgical 

Hospitals 

36,800 44,410 54,720 67,560 82,500

Home Furnishings Stores 42,090 48,180 57,740 68,240 90,800

Accounting, Tax Preparation, 

Bookkeeping, and Payroll Services 

35,990 45,860 61,480 84,510 122,830

Natural Gas Distribution 43,790 45,860 65,000 80,640 97,900

Scientific Research and Development 

Services 

43,680 54,790 68,610 85,920 107,690

Securities and Commodity Contracts 

Intermediation and Brokerage 

43,900 56,190 72,410 96,710 129,060

Table 3. Occupational wages in selected industries, May 2008 

Occupation 

Industry 

Accountants 

and auditors

Customer 

service 

representatives

Industrial 

engineers 

Executive 

secretaries 

and 

administrative 

assistants 

Tobacco Manufacturing $38.29 $15.69 $ 39.82 $ 26.10

Couriers and Express Delivery 

Services 

33.99 17.69 34.41 20.38 

Apparel Knitting Mills 27.36 13.83 39.27 16.89 

Warehousing and Storage 27.04 14.82 32.72 19.34 

8 
Table 4. Occupational wages in selected metropolitan areas, May 2008 

Metropolitan statistical area 

Occupation Columbia, 

SC 

San 

Antonio, 

TX 

San 

FranciscoOaklandFremont, 

CA 

Miami-Fort 

LauderdaleMiami 

Beach, FL 

DenverAurora, CO 

Financial Analysts $27.07 $ 25.58 $ 55.27 $ 36.65 $ 40.07 

Dental Assistants 15.12 13.99 19.59 15.99 18.54 

Dishwashers 8.25 7.76 9.74 8.29 8.67 

Electricians 17.57 17.56 36.11 19.66 22.51 

Computer Programmers 30.42 33.80 40.50 33.03 38.52 

Table 5. Sales managers in the New York City metropolitan area, May 2008 

Metropolitan division Annual mean wage 

Edison, NJ $ 120,490 

Nassau-Suffolk, NY 158,910 

New York-White Plains-Wayne, NY-NJ 156,750 

Newark-Union, NJ-PA 130,350 

9