The OES Wage Survey is an annual mail survey measuring occupational employment and occupational wage rates for wage and salary workers in nonfarm establishments, by industry. An establishment is an economic unit, such as a factory, mine or store, which produces goods or provides services. It is generally at a single location and engaged predominantly in one economic activity. Employees are reported in the occupation in which they are working, not necessarily for which they were trained. The mean wage is the estimated total wages in an occupation divided by its estimated employment.
Employers report the number of employees in an occupation per each pay range.
The pay ranges are defined in terms of both an hourly wage and yearly salary. The exceptions to this are certain occupations that do not generally work 2,080 hours per year. Establishments in this universe were stratified by metropolitan area, industry code, and the establishment's employment size. The sample is designed to collect data over a three-year period. It is important to note that the employment estimates for all occupations were developed using the 1999 data alone.