Occupational Employment and Wages in Cleveland-Elyria — May 2021

Workers in the Cleveland-Elyria, OH Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $26.86 in May 2021, 4 percent below the nationwide average of $28.01, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Jason Palmer noted that, after testing for statistical significance, wages in the local area were lower than their respective national averages in 17 of the 22 major occupational groups, including legal, computer and mathematical, and healthcare practitioners and technical. Two groups had significantly higher wages than their respective national averages: educational instruction and library and also construction and extraction.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, Cleveland area employment was more highly concentrated in 6 of the 22 occupational groups, including production, healthcare practitioners and technical, and office and administrative support. Thirteen groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including construction and extraction, management, and sales and related. (See table A.)

One occupational group-healthcare practitioners and technical-was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Cleveland had 77,000 jobs in healthcare practitioners and technical, accounting for 8.0 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 6.2-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $39.31, significantly below the national wage of $43.80.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the healthcare practitioners and technical group included registered nurses (28,510) and licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses (6,340). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were cardiologists and general internal medicine physicians, with mean hourly wages of $175.91 and $148.66, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were emergency medical technicians ($16.79) and dietetic technicians ($16.91). (Detailed data for the healthcare practitioners and technical occupations are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_17460.htm.)

Location quotients allow us to explore the occupational make-up of a metropolitan area by comparing the composition of jobs in an area relative to the national average. (See table 1.) For example, a location quotient of 2.0 indicates that an occupation accounts for twice the share of employment in the area than it does nationally. In the Cleveland area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in some of the occupations within the healthcare practitioners and technical group. For instance, cardiovascular technologists and technicians were employed at 1.7 times the national rate in Cleveland, and respiratory therapists, at 1.6 times the U.S. average. Surgical technologists had a location quotient of 1.0 in Cleveland, indicating that this particular occupation's local and national employment shares were similar.

These statistics are from the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey, a federal-state cooperative program between BLS and State Workforce Agencies, in this case, the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.

Technical Note

The Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey is a semiannual survey measuring occupational employment and wage rates for wage and salary workers in nonfarm establishments in the United States. The OEWS data available from BLS include cross-industry occupational employment and wage estimates for the nation; over 580 areas, including states and the District of Columbia, metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs), nonmetropolitan areas, and territories; national industry-specific estimates at the NAICS sector, 3-digit, most 4-digit, and selected 5- and 6-digit industry levels, and national estimates by ownership across all industries and for schools and hospitals. OEWS data are available at www.bls.gov/oes/tables.htm.

The OEWS survey is a cooperative effort between BLS and the State Workforce Agencies (SWAs). BLS funds the survey and provides the procedures and technical support, while the State Workforce Agencies collect most of the data. OEWS estimates are constructed from a sample of about 1.1 million establishments. Each year, two semiannual panels of approximately 179,000 to 187,000 sampled establishments are contacted, one panel in May and the other in November. Responses are obtained by Internet or other electronic means, mail, email, telephone, or personal visit. The May 2021 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2021, November 2020, May 2020, November 2019, May 2019, and November 2018. The unweighted sampled employment of 82 million across all six semiannual panels represents approximately 62 percent of total national employment. The overall national response rate for the six panels, based on the 50 states and the District of Columbia, is 67.2 percent based on establishments and 64.5 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The sample in the Cleveland-Elyria, OH Metropolitan Statistical Area included 4,957 establishments with a response rate of 65 percent. For more information about OEWS concepts and methodology, go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_tec.htm.

A value that is statistically different from another does not necessarily mean that the difference has economic or practical significance. Statistical significance is concerned with the ability to make confident statements about a universe based on a sample. It is entirely possible that a large difference between two values is not significantly different statistically, while a small difference is, since both the size and heterogeneity of the sample affect the relative error of the data being tested.

Metropolitan area definitions

The substate area data published in this release reflect the standards and definitions established by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget.

The Cleveland-Elyria, OH Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake, Lorain, and Medina Counties.

For more information

Answers to frequently asked questions about the OEWS data are available at www.bls.gov/oes/oes_ques.htm. Detailed information about the OEWS program is available at www.bls.gov/oes/oes_doc.htm.

Information in this release will be made available to individuals with sensory impairments upon request. Voice phone: (202) 691-5200; Telecommunications Relay Service: 7-1-1.

Occupation	Employment		Mean wages
	Level	Location quotient	Hourly	Annual
Healthcare practitioners and technical occupations	77,000	1.3	$39.31	$81,760
Chiropractors			46.87	97,500
Dentists, general	560	0.8	72.80	151,430
Orthodontists	290	8.1
Dietitians and nutritionists	620	1.4	30.22	62,850
Optometrists	250	1.0	55.10	114,610
Pharmacists	2,700	1.3	60.80	126,470
Physician assistants	540	0.6	56.56	117,640
Podiatrists	70	1.2	64.88	134,940
Occupational therapists	1,160	1.3	42.31	88,000
Physical therapists	1,720	1.1	45.57	94,780
Radiation therapists	70	0.7	41.16	85,610
Recreational therapists	140	1.2	24.76	51,490
Respiratory therapists	1,450	1.6	32.13	66,830
Speech-language pathologists	1,290	1.3	42.43	88,250
Exercise physiologists	40	0.8	28.94	60,200
Therapists, all other	70	0.7	31.97	66,500
Veterinarians	580	1.1	48.58	101,050
Registered nurses	28,510	1.4	36.01	74,900
Nurse anesthetists	340	1.1	101.10	210,280
Nurse midwives			58.48	121,640
Nurse practitioners	2,330	1.5	56.85	118,250
Audiologists	150	1.6	33.92	70,550
Anesthesiologists	260	1.2	130.43	271,300
Cardiologists	30	0.2	175.91	365,880
Dermatologists	90	1.5
Family medicine physicians	890	1.3	91.59	190,510
General internal medicine physicians			148.66	309,220
Obstetricians and gynecologists	70	0.5	140.75	292,760
Pediatricians, general			114.66	238,480
Psychiatrists	110	0.6	129.26	268,850
Physicians, all other	3,560	2.0	77.71	161,630
Ophthalmologists, except pediatric			139.09	289,300
Orthopedic surgeons, except pediatric	80	0.8
Dental hygienists	1,720	1.2	34.41	71,570
Healthcare diagnosing or treating practitioners, all other	150	0.9	39.18	81,490
Clinical laboratory technologists and technicians	2,680	1.2	27.98	58,190
Cardiovascular technologists and technicians	630	1.7	30.38	63,180
Diagnostic medical sonographers	810	1.5	35.13	73,070
Nuclear medicine technologists	180	1.6	38.69	80,470
Radiologic technologists and technicians	1,910	1.3	30.39	63,210
Magnetic resonance imaging technologists	310	1.2	35.57	73,980
Emergency medical technicians	850	0.8	16.79	34,910
Paramedics	900	1.4	21.64	45,020
Dietetic technicians	270	1.8	16.91	35,170
Pharmacy technicians	3,320	1.1	17.25	35,880
Psychiatric technicians	270	0.4	19.43	40,410
Surgical technologists	730	1.0	25.61	53,280
Veterinary technologists and technicians	920	1.1	18.13	37,710
Ophthalmic medical technicians	580	1.3	20.37	42,380
Licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses	6,340	1.4	24.48	50,920
Medical records specialists	1,930	1.6	24.15	50,220
Opticians, dispensing	480	1.0	20.65	42,940
Orthotists and prosthetists	90	1.3	35.98	74,830
Hearing aid specialists	50	0.6	25.49	53,020
Health technologists and technicians, all other	1,560	1.6	22.40	46,580
Health information technologists and medical registrars	450	1.7	31.47	65,450
Athletic trainers	340	1.9		54,560
Surgical assistants	120	1.0	35.32	73,460
Healthcare practitioners and technical workers, all other	520	1.7	22.54	46,870

Public link

Please use the above public link if you want to share this noodl on another website.