Occupational Employment and Wages in Raleigh — May 2021

Workers in the Raleigh, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $28.15 in May 2021, compared to the nationwide average of $28.01, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Janet S. Rankin noted that, after testing for statistical significance, wages in the local area were lower than their respective national averages in 16 of the 22 major occupational groups, including legal, transportation and material moving, and healthcare practitioners and technical. Four groups had significantly higher wages than their respective national averages, including sales and related and management.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, Raleigh area employment was more highly concentrated in 7 of the 22 occupational groups, including computer and mathematical, sales and related, and business and financial operations. Seven groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including production, healthcare support, and transportation and material moving. (See table A.)

One occupational group-computer and mathematical-was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Raleigh had 37,020 jobs in computer and mathematical, accounting for 5.8 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 3.3-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $49.34, significantly above the national wage of $48.01.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the computer and mathematical group included software developers (13,110), computer systems analysts (5,130), and computer user support specialists (4,800). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were statisticians and software developers, with mean hourly wages of $58.65 and $58.36, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were computer user support specialists ($28.78). (Detailed data for the computer and mathematical occupations are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available, go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_39580.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 Raleigh area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the computer and mathematical group. For instance, software quality assurance analysts and testers were employed at 2.7 times the national rate in Raleigh, and computer systems analysts, at 2.3 times the U.S. average. Information security analysts had a location quotient of 1.1 in Raleigh, 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 North Carolina Department of Commerce.

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 Raleigh, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area included 3,773 establishments with a response rate of 73 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 Raleigh, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Franklin County, Johnston County, and Wake County.

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
Computer and mathematical occupations	37,020	1.8	$49.34	$102,640
Computer systems analysts	5,130	2.3	48.56	101,010
Information security analysts	780	1.1	54.19	112,710
Computer and information research scientists			57.62	119,840
Computer network support specialists	1,240	1.6	37.56	78,120
Computer user support specialists	4,800	1.6	28.78	59,860
Computer network architects	1,300	1.7	55.38	115,190
Database administrators	480	1.2	49.74	103,470
Database architects	330	1.5	52.06	108,280
Network and computer systems administrators	2,020	1.4	44.45	92,460
Computer programmers	1,090	1.6	48.15	100,160
Software developers	13,110	2.1	58.36	121,400
Software quality assurance analysts and testers	2,320	2.7	51.79	107,720
Web developers	690	1.8	40.77	84,800
Web and digital interface designers	640	1.7	36.94	76,840
Computer occupations, all other	1,150	0.7	45.48	94,590
Actuaries	110	1.1	51.19	106,470
Operations research analysts	220	0.5	43.08	89,610
Statisticians	420	3.0	58.65	122,000
Data scientists			55.47	115,380

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