Author: Nicole Kennedy
This week, the Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) program released estimates of employment and wages for about 800 nonfarm occupations. The OES survey is a federal-state cooperative program between the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and State Workforce Agencies, which is the Labor & Economic Analysis Division (LEAD) for North Carolina.
The program conducts a mail survey to produce occupational estimates for the nation as a whole, and in North Carolina we produce estimates by industry and for the state, counties, Metropolitan Statistical Areas, Prosperity Zones, and Workforce Development Boards. The most recent wage data are for May 2014.
Some highlights of the May 2014 data, compared to the May 2013 data, are:
- Overall, North Carolina employment and average wages increased by a little more than 2 percent.
- The largest increase in North Carolina employment by occupation group was in:
- Farming, Fishing, and Forestry Occupations (8.4%)
- Personal Care and Service Occupations (6.0%)
- Business and Financial Operations Occupations (5.8%).
- The largest increase in North Carolina wages by occupation group was in:
- Sales and Related Occupations (4.0%)
- Legal Occupations (3.9%)
- Farming, Fishing and Forestry (3.7%)
Estimated employment and wage information for specific occupations can be found using our Demand Driven Data Delivery System (D4), NCWorks, or the BLS website. Please note that, due to the OES program’s estimation methodology, new federal geographic designations (e.g., Metropolitan Statistical Areas) will not be introduced until the release of year 2015 data in the Spring of 2016.