For release 10:00 a.m. (EDT) Tuesday, March 31, 2020 USDL-20-0520 Technical information: oesinfo@bls.gov * www.bls.gov/oes Media contact: (202) 691-5902 * PressOffice@bls.gov OCCUPATIONAL EMPLOYMENT AND WAGES -- MAY 2019 Installation, maintenance, and repair occupations had employment of 5.7 million in May 2019, representing 3.9 percent of total national employment, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. The largest installation, maintenance, and repair occupation was general maintenance and repair workers (1.4 million) and the highest paying installation, maintenance, and repair occupation was powerhouse, substation, and relay electrical and electronics repairers ($81,280). The annual mean wage across all installation, maintenance, and repair occupations was $50,130, compared with the U.S. average wage of $53,490. (See table 1.) The Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) program provides employment and wage estimates for nearly 800 occupations in the nation, states, and approximately 530 areas. National data are available by industry for approximately 415 industry classifications and by ownership across all industries, schools, and hospitals. This news release features installation, maintenance, and repair; sales and related; and community and social service occupations, in addition to STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) occupations and employment and wages by typical entry- level educational requirement. National employment and wage information for all occupations is shown in table 1. ________________________________________________________________________________ | | | Changes to the Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) Data | | | | With the May 2019 estimates, the OES program has begun implementing the 2018 | | Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) system. See the box note at the | | end of this news release for more information on changes to the OES data. | |________________________________________________________________________________| Installation, maintenance, and repair occupations --The largest installation, maintenance, and repair occupations were general maintenance and repair workers (1.4 million); automotive service technicians and mechanics (655,330); and first-line supervisors of mechanics, installers, and repairers (485,700). (See table 1.) --The highest paying installation, maintenance, and repair occupations included powerhouse, substation, and relay electrical and electronics repairers ($81,280), which typically require a postsecondary nondegree award, such as a certificate, for entry; and signal and track switch repairers ($72,690) and electrical power- line installers and repairers ($71,960), which typically require a high school diploma or equivalent. (See table 1.) --The lowest paying installation, maintenance, and repair occupations were tire repairers and changers ($30,350) and bicycle repairers ($31,360). (See table 1.) --Industries with the largest employment of installation, maintenance, and repair occupations were automotive repair and maintenance (454,220), building equipment contractors (437,470), and real estate (352,350). --States with the highest employment shares of installation, maintenance, and repair occupations included Wyoming (6.6 percent of state employment), Alaska (5.7 percent), and North Dakota (5.3 percent). --Alaska ($61,260), the District of Columbia ($60,630), and Connecticut ($58,110) were among the states with the highest wages for installation, maintenance, and repair occupations. State data are available at www.bls.gov/oes/current/oessrcst.htm. National industry-specific data are available at www.bls.gov/oes/current/oessrci.htm. Sales and related occupations --Sales and related occupations had employment of 14.4 million, representing 9.8 percent of U.S. employment, and an annual mean wage of $43,060. This was the second-largest occupational group, after office and administrative support occupations. (See table 1.) --The largest sales and related occupations were retail salespersons (4.3 million); cashiers (3.6 million); and wholesale and manufacturing sales representatives, except technical and scientific products (1.3 million). (See table 1.) --Metropolitan areas with the highest employment of wholesale and manufacturing sales representatives, except technical and scientific products were New York- Newark-Jersey City, N.Y.-N.J.-PA. (84,870); Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA. (63,550); and Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL.-IN.-WI. (57,050). --The highest paying sales and related occupations were sales engineers ($112,780); securities, commodities, and financial services sales agents ($93,090); and wholesale and manufacturing sales representatives of technical and scientific products ($92,980). These occupations typically require a bachelor's degree for entry. (See table 1.) --The lowest paying sales and related occupations were cashiers ($24,370) and gambling change persons and booth cashiers ($28,010). (See table 1.) --Wholesale and manufacturing sales representatives, except technical and scientific products had an annual mean wage of $71,110 nationally. (See table 1.) The highest paying states for this occupation included New Jersey ($84,170), Massachusetts ($82,220), and Colorado ($81,670). Metropolitan area data are available at www.bls.gov/oes/current/oessrcma.htm. Community and social service occupations --Community and social service occupations had total employment of 2.2 million and an annual mean wage of $50,480. (See table 1.) --The largest community and social service occupations were social and human service assistants (404,450) and child, family, and school social workers (327,710). (See table 1.) --The highest paying community and social service occupations included all other social workers ($61,750); educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors ($61,000); and health education specialists ($60,500). Educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors typically require a master's degree for entry; health education specialists and all other social workers typically require a bachelor's degree. (See table 1.) --The lowest paying occupation in this group was social and human service assistants ($37,050). (See table 1.) --Child, family, and school social workers had an annual mean wage of $51,030 nationally. (See table 1.) The states with the highest wages for this occupation included New Jersey ($68,830) and the District of Columbia ($71,590). The lowest paying states for this occupation included Mississippi ($37,190) and Oklahoma ($37,610). Typical entry-level education --Occupations typically requiring postsecondary education for entry made up 38 percent of employment. The largest postsecondary category, occupations typically requiring a bachelor's degree for entry, made up 22 percent of employment. This educational category includes registered nurses; teachers at the kindergarten through secondary levels; and many management, business and financial operations, computer, and engineering occupations. --Occupations typically requiring a high school diploma or the equivalent for entry made up 38 percent of employment, and occupations typically requiring no formal educational credential for entry made up 24 percent of employment. These two educational categories include most production and construction occupations, as well as large occupations such as retail salespersons, fast food and counter workers, and cashiers. --Average wages were generally higher for occupations requiring more education. Annual mean wages were $29,190 for occupations typically requiring no formal educational credential for entry, $44,190 for occupations typically requiring a high school diploma or the equivalent, $58,430 for occupations typically requiring an associate's degree, and $88,260 for occupations typically requiring a bachelor's degree. --The highest paying occupations typically requiring less than a bachelor's degree for entry included air traffic controllers ($120,140), which typically require an associate's degree for entry, and transportation, storage, and distribution managers ($103,320), which typically require a high school diploma or the equivalent. The typical education level required to enter an occupation is based on education and training categories from the BLS Employment Projections program. More information about the system of education and training categories is available at www.bls.gov/emp/documentation/education/tech.htm. Typical entry-level educational requirements assigned to each occupation in the May 2019 OES estimates are available at www.bls.gov/oes/educ_list_2019.xlsx. Additional charts are available at www.bls.gov/oes/current/overview_2019.htm. Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) occupations --There were over 9.3 million STEM jobs representing 6.4 percent of total U.S. employment. --Six of the 10 largest STEM occupations were related to computers and included software developers and software quality assurance analysts and testers (1.4 million) and computer user support specialists (647,330). (See table 1.) --Areas with the highest employment shares of STEM occupations were California-Lexington Park, MD. (28.1 percent), and San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA. (21.0 percent). --STEM occupations had an annual mean wage of $95,350, compared with $50,600 for non-STEM occupations. Ninety-one of the 98 STEM occupations had mean wages significantly above the all-occupations average of $53,490. (See table 1.) --The highest paying STEM occupations were petroleum engineers ($156,780) and the three STEM-related management occupations: computer and information systems managers ($156,390), architectural and engineering managers ($152,930), and natural sciences managers ($145,450). (See table 1.) --The lowest paying STEM occupations were agricultural and food science technicians ($44,440) and forest and conservation technicians ($45,860). (See table 1.) Occupations included in the STEM definition used for this news release are available at www.bls.gov/oes/stem_list_2019.xlsx. Additional STEM charts are available at www.bls.gov/oes/current/overview_2019.htm. Largest occupations --The largest occupations overall were retail salespersons (4.3 million) and fast food and counter workers (4.0 million). (See table 1.) --Eight of the 10 largest occupations had below-average wages. Retail salespersons ($29,360) and fast food and counter workers ($23,250) had annual mean wages significantly below the all-occupations average of $53,490. (See table 1.) --Of the 10 largest occupations, registered nurses ($77,460) and general and operations managers ($123,030) were the only occupations with above-average wages. (See table 1.) Public sector occupations --The public sector made up 15 percent of employment and had a different occupational mix from the private sector. --Many of the largest public sector occupations were related to education. These occupations included elementary school teachers, except special education (public sector employment of 1.3 million); teaching assistants, except postsecondary (1.1 million); secondary school teachers, except special and career/technical education (904,570); and middle school teachers, except special and career/technical education (553,620). --Outside of the educational instruction and library group, the occupations with the highest public sector employment included police and sheriff's patrol officers (658,300); general office clerks (511,040); and secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive (500,330). ____________________________________________________________________________________________ | | | Changes to the Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) Data | | | | With the May 2019 estimates, the OES program has begun implementing the 2018 Standard | | Occupational Classification (SOC) system. Each set of OES estimates is calculated from | | six panels of survey data collected over three years. Because the May 2019 estimates | | are based on a combination of survey data collected using the 2010 SOC and survey data | | collected using the 2018 SOC, these estimates use a hybrid of the two classification | | systems that contains some combinations of occupations that are not found in either | | the 2010 or 2018 SOC. These combinations may include occupations from more than one | | 2018 SOC minor group or broad occupation. Therefore, OES will not publish data for some | | 2018 SOC minor groups and broad occupations in the May 2019 estimates. The May 2021 | | estimates, to be published in Spring 2022, will be the first OES estimates based | | entirely on survey data collected using the 2018 SOC. | | | | In addition, the OES program has replaced some 2018 SOC detailed occupations with SOC | | broad occupations or OES-specific aggregations. These include home health aides and | | personal care aides, for which OES will publish only the 2018 SOC broad occupation | | 31-1120 Home Health and Personal Care Aides. | | | | For more information on the occupational classification system used in the May 2019 OES | | estimates, please see www.bls.gov/oes/soc_2018.htm and www.bls.gov/oes/oes_ques.htm#qf10.| | | | The May 2019 OES estimates use the metropolitan area definitions delineated in Office | | of Management and Budget (OMB) Bulletin 17-01, which add a new Metropolitan Statistical | | Area (MSA) for Twin Falls, Idaho. For more information on the area definitions used in | | the May 2019 estimates, please see www.bls.gov/oes/current/msa_def.htm. | |____________________________________________________________________________________________|