Occupational Employment and Wages in Rapid City — May 2021

Workers in the Rapid City, SD Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $22.47 in May 2021, 20 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 21 of the 22 major occupational groups, including legal; arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media; and computer and mathematical.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, Rapid City area employment was more highly concentrated in 10 of the 22 occupational groups, including food preparation and serving related, construction and extraction, and healthcare practitioners and technical. Twelve groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including management, production, and transportation and material moving. (See table A.)

One occupational group-food preparation and serving related-was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Rapid City had 7,110 jobs in food preparation and serving related, accounting for 10.7 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 8.0-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $12.78, significantly below the national wage of $14.16.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the food preparation and serving related group included fast food and counter workers (2,430) and waiters and waitresses (1,240). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were chefs and head cooks and first-line supervisors of food preparation and serving workers, with mean hourly wages of $21.10 and $18.06, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were dishwashers ($11.59) and dining room and cafeteria attendants and bartender helpers ($11.84). (Detailed data for the food preparation and serving related occupations are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_39660.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 Rapid City area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the food preparation and serving related group. For instance, bartenders were employed at 2.2 times the national rate in Rapid City, and fast food and counter workers, at 1.7 times the U.S. average. Fast food cooks had a location quotient of 1.2 in Rapid City, 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 South Dakota Department of Labor and Regulation.

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 Rapid City, SD Metropolitan Statistical Area included 1,235 establishments with a response rate of 83 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 Rapid City, SD Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Custer County, Meade County, and Pennington 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
Food preparation and serving related occupations	7,110	1.3	$12.78	$26,580
Chefs and head cooks	40	0.7	21.10	43,880
First-line supervisors of food preparation and serving workers	400	0.8	18.06	37,560
Cooks, fast food	430	1.2	12.33	25,640
Cooks, institution and cafeteria	260	1.4	15.02	31,230
Cooks, restaurant	330	0.6	14.23	29,590
Cooks, short order	270	4.6	13.47	28,020
Food preparation workers	510	1.4	12.66	26,330
Bartenders	490	2.2	12.42	25,830
Fast food and counter workers	2,430	1.7	12.05	25,060
Waiters and waitresses	1,240	1.5	12.07	25,110
Dining room and cafeteria attendants and bartender helpers	320	2.0	11.84	24,630
Dishwashers	260	1.5	11.59	24,110
Hosts and hostesses, restaurant, lounge, and coffee shop	100	0.7	12.21	25,390

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