Document ID: EPA-HQ-OW-2002-0049-0034
Agency: epa
Document Type: Supporting & Related Material
Title: 
Posted Date: 2003-03-19T05:00Z

Science
Applications
International
Corporation
An
Employee­
Owned
Company
MEMORANDUM
DATE:
October
20th,
2002
TO:
316b
Administrative
Record
FROM:
Todd
Doley,
SAIC
SUBJECT:
SAIC
Memorandum
to
the
316b
Record
regarding
Development
of
Power
Plant
Intake
Maintenance
Personnel
Hourly
Compensation
Rate.

This
memorandum
provides
estimates
of
the
fully
loaded
compensation
rates
for
power
plant
intake
maintenance
personnel,
along
with
a
description
of
the
methodology
used
to
derive
them.

Data
Sources
for
Wage
Rates
The
available
data
on
wage
and
compensation
data
provide
different
rates
by
location
and
by
source.
Two
major
sources
of
wage
rate
data
that
provide
national
scale
data
as
well
as
by
location
and
source
are:

Occupational
Employment
Survey,
an
annual
Bureau
of
Labor
Statistics
(
BLS)
survey
that
provides
hourly
wage
estimates
by
occupation
and
industry
(
BLS,
2001a);
and

National
Compensation
Survey,
an
annual
BLS
survey
that
provides
hourly
wage
and
nonwage
benefit
estimates
by
occupation,
region,
and
size
of
establishment
(
BLS,
2002a).

The
two
BLS
surveys
use
stratified
random
samples
of
employers
nationwide.
EPA
believes
that
the
rates
derived
from
the
BLS
surveys
are
most
likely
to
be
unbiased
estimates.

Occupational
Employment
Survey
The
BLS'
Occupational
Employment
Survey
(
OES)
is
an
annual
mail
survey
of
occupational
employment
and
wage
rates
for
nonfarm
establishments.
The
OES
reports
industry­
specific
occupational
employment
and
wages,
based
on
over
700
occupational
categories
classified
by
OMB's
Standard
Occupational
Classification
(
SOC),
and
over
400
industries
classified
by
Standard
Industrial
Classification
(
SIC)
2­
and
3­
digit
categories.

The
OES
contacts
400,000
establishments
each
year.
The
OES
is
designed
to
produce
wage
estimates
using
three
years
of
sample
data,
but
the
2000
OES
estimates
use
data
from
only
two
years
because
of
a
change
in
occupational
classifications
in
1999.
We
reviewed
the
SOC's
within
the
relevant
industry
classification,
(
SIC
491
­
Electric
Services)
to
identify
the
best
occupational
matches
for
two
labor
categories:
technical,
and
managerial.
We
assigned
the
following
SOC
classifications
to
these
labor
categories
based
on
SOC
descriptions
and
the
relative
proportions
of
SOC
occupations
within
SIC
491:

technical
labor:
SOC
49­
2095
Electrical
and
Electronics
Repairers,
Powerhouse,
Substation,
and
Relay,
which
comprises
persons
who
"
Inspect,
test,
repair,
or
maintain
electrical
equipment
in
generating
stations,
substations,
and
in­
service
relays.

managerial
labor:
SOC
11­
1021,
General
and
Operations
Managers,
which
is
employees
who
"
plan,
direct,
or
coordinate
the
operations
of
public
and
private
sector
operations."

Some
managerial
employees
in
the
industry
may
instead
be
classified
in
SOC
51­
1011,
First
Line
Supervisors
and
Managers
of
Production
and
Operating
Workers.
Persons
in
this
occupation
"
supervise
and
coordinate
the
activities
of
production
and
operating
workers,
such
as
...
plant
and
system
operators."
Nevertheless,
we
used
the
hourly
wage
estimate
for
General
and
Operations
Managers
because
they
are
a
larger
occupational
category
within
SIC
491.
Because
the
hourly
mean
wage
for
the
selected
occupation
is
greater
than
that
for
SOC
51­
1011.

Exhibit
1
shows
employment
and
wage
statistics
from
the
2000
OES
for
each
of
the
occupational
categories
we
considered
for
technical,
and
managerial
labor.
The
median
wages
are
consistently
close
to
the
mean
wages,
with
a
lower
median
value
than
the
mean
value
which
indicates
that
more
than
50%
of
the
people
in
the
Managerial
sector
earn
wages
that
are
less
than
the
mean
wage
and
the
opposite
is
true
for
the
service
technical
maintenance
sector
where
the
median
is
higher
than
the
mean.
Nevertheless,
we
used
the
mean
hourly
wage
over
the
median
for
analytical
purposes
because
it
is
directly
comparable
to
the
other
major
BLS
data
source
(
the
National
Compensation
Survey,
which
reports
mean
wages
but
not
median
or
other
quantiles).
Using
means
is
also
methodologically
consistent
with
the
intent
of
regulatory
cost
analysis,
which
is
to
project
an
expected
mean
cost
of
compliance.

Exhibit
­
1.
Employment
and
Wages
by
Occupation
and
Industry
Labor
Category
SOC
Code
Occupation
SIC
491
­
Electric
Services
Employment
(
percent
of
total
SIC
employment)
Mean
Hourly
Wage
Median
Hourly
Wage
Technical
49­
2095
Electrical
and
Electronics
Repairers,
Powerhouse,
Substation,
and
Relay
10,880
(
3%)
$
23.29
$
23.86
Managerial
11­
1021
General
and
Operations
Managers
4,880
(
1.35%)
$
39.69
$
38.73
Source:
BLS,
2001a.

Using
the
quantiles
of
occupational
wage
rates,
we
attempted
to
make
conclusions
about
wages
by
establishment
size.
However,
the
variation
in
quantiles
may
depend
on
differences
not
only
in
size
of
establishment,
but
also
by
other
industry
factors
such
as
fuel
type,
security
needs,
geography,
or
some
other
factor.
Therefore,
it
is
impossible
to
determine
from
the
OES
alone
which
factors
explain
the
most
variation.
However,
if
deemed
necessary,
we
can
make
assumptions
based
on
the
distribution
presented
below.
This
distribution
coupled
with
other
information
that
might
provide
evidence
of
variation
in
wage
rates
across
the
criteria
by
which
power
facilities
differ
(
e.
g.,
system
size,
fuel
type
etc.).
Exhibit
­
2.
Presents
employment
and
percentile
wages
by
occupation.

Exhibit
­
2.
Employment
and
Percentile
Wages
by
Occupation
Labor
Category
SOC
Code
Occupation
Employment
(
across
all
industries)
Hourly
Wage
Rate
10th
25th
50th
75th
90th
Technical
49­
2095
Electrical
and
Electronics
Repairers,
Powerhouse,
Substation,
and
Relay
19,300
$
14.79
$
19.07
$
23.34
$
26.21
$
29.00
Managerial
11­
1021
General
and
Operations
Managers
2,221,590
$
14.16
$
19.65
$
29.41
$
45.01
>$
70.00
Source:
BLS,
2001b.

Fringe
Benefit
Rates
Fringe
benefits
are
employee
benefits
paid
by
employers
that
include
paid
leave,
health
insurance,
retirement
savings,
and
other
legally
required
benefits.
EPA's
labor
rates
need
to
include
the
costs
of
fringe
benefits
because
these
represent
real
costs
when
employee
labor
is
increased.
Other
costs
often
associated
with
employees
are
"
overhead
costs."
These
include
expenses
for
office
space,
furniture,
equipment
and
computers,
and
supplies.
Such
costs
are
usually
included
in
other
analyses
of
direct
and
indirect
labor
costs,
therefore
we
limit
our
labor
costs
to
a
consideration
of
the
fringe
benefits
mentioned
above.

The
BLS
Employer
Costs
for
Employee
Compensation
(
ECEC)
report,
which
is
part
of
the
National
Compensation
Survey,
contains
employer
costs
per
hour
worked
for
wages,
fringe
benefits,
and
total
employee
compensation,
which
is
the
sum
of
wages
and
fringe
benefits.
Some
fringe
benefit
obligations,
such
as
payroll
taxes,
accrue
on
an
hourly
basis;
others,
such
as
health
insurance
premiums,
are
converted
to
an
average
cost
per
hour.
We
divide
total
compensation
estimates
by
mean
hourly
wage
to
obtain
"
load
factors,"
which
differ
by
employer
status
(
public
or
private
sector),
occupation,
and
industry.

Exhibit
3
summarizes
load
factors
by
the
occupation
and
industry
classifications
that
most
closely
match
those
discussed
above.
BLS
provides
relatively
little
industry
resolution,
and
the
best
match
is
a
load
factor
for
white
collar
occupations
and
all
blue
collar
workers.
BLS
private
sector
results
are
available
for
SIC
49
(
Electric,
Gas,
and
Sanitary
Services),
which
includes
electric
services.
Load
factors
are
available
separately
for
white
and
blue
collar
workers
within
this
industry.

Exhibit
3.
Load
Factor
by
Employee
Type,
Occupation,
and
Industry
Employee
Category
Wage
Rate
Total
Compensation
Load
Factor
Electric,
gas,
and
sanitary
services
(
SIC
49)
White
collar
Blue
collar
24.72
22.31
37.52
34.32
1.52
1.54
Source:
BLS,
2002.

Conclusion
Based
on
the
above,
the
hourly
rate
burden
for
maintaining
fish
screens
and
pertinant
equipment
and
structures
are
presented
in
Exhibit
4.
The
BLS
Employment
Cost
Index
(
ECI)
was
used
to
derive
inflation
factors
for
updating
the
hourly
rate
to
June
of
2002
(
BLS,
2002b).
We
believe
that
these
wage
estimates
are
valid
for
use
in
national
cost
analyses.

Exhibit
4.
Summary
of
Average
Wage
Rates
Labor
Category
OES1
SIC
491
Benefits
Factor
Mean
Hourly
Rate
Inflation
Factor
Adjusted
Hourly
Rate2
Technical/
Blue
collar
$
23.29
1.54
$
35.87
1.074
$
38.52
Managerial/
white
collar
$
39.69
1.52
$
60.33
1.074
$
64.79
1.
The
OES
estimates
are
mean
wage
rates
reported
in
Exhibit
1
for
the
electric
service
industry
(
SIC
491).
2.
The
adjusted
hourly
rate
is
based
on
ECI
estimates
for
the
Electric,
Gas
and
Sanitary
Services
from
the
end
of
2000
to
the
second
quarter
of
2002
(
BLS,
2002b).

References:

­­­­­­­­­
U.
S.
Bureau
of
Labor
Statistics
(
BLS).
2002a.
Employer
Costs
for
Employee
Compensation,
March
2002.
Washington,
D.
C.:
U.
S.
Department
of
Labor.
Online
at
http://
www.
bls.
gov/
ncs/
ect/
home.
htm.

­­­­­­­­­
U.
S.
Bureau
of
Labor
Statistics
(
BLS).
2002b.
Employer
Costs
Index,
June
2002.
Washington,
D.
C.:
U.
S.
Department
of
Labor.
Online
at
ftp:/
ftp.
bls.
gov/
pub/
suppl/
ECI.
ECIHISTRY.
TXT
­­­­­­­­­
U.
S.
Bureau
of
Labor
Statistics
(
BLS).
2001a.
National
Compensation
Survey:
Occupational
Wages
in
the
United
States,
2000.
Washington,
D.
C.:
U.
S.
Department
of
Labor.
Bulletin
2548.

­­­­­­­­­
U.
S.
Bureau
of
Labor
Statistics
(
BLS).
2001b.
Occupational
Employment
Statistics:
2000
National
Industry­
Specific
Occupational
Employment
and
Wage
Estimates.
Washington,
D.
C.:
U.
S.
Department
of
Labor.
Online
at
http://
www.
bls.
gov/
oes.