Occupational
Data:
The Occupational Employment
Statistics Program
MERIC
produces a wide variety of career information products, and the data for
many of these publications comes either directly or indirectly from
the Occupational Employment Statistics Program. The Occupational
Employment Statistics (OES) program produces estimates of the number
of people employed in over 800 occupations in Missouri and estimates of the wages
paid to them. This data can be
categorized by both geographic area and industry.
The OES survey is a Federal-State cooperative program between the
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and State Workforce Agencies (SWAs).
BLS provides the procedures and technical support, draws the sample,
and produces the survey materials for the program, while the SWAs
collect the data. SWAs from all fifty States, plus the District of
Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Virgin Islands participate in
the survey. MERIC administers this program for Missouri.
In the program, a semi-annual mail survey is used to produce estimates of employment and wages for specific occupations using the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) system. Approximately 5,000 establishments are surveyed per panel (every six months), taking three years to fully collect the sample of 30,456 establishments. Using the SOC system enables OES to gather information on 821 detailed occupations, grouped into 449 broad occupations, 96 minor groups, and 23 major groups. The survey covers all full-time and part-time wage and salary workers in non-farm industries. It does not cover the self-employed, owners and partners in unincorporated firms, household workers, or unpaid family workers.
The OES survey uses the North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS) to produce estimates of occupational employment and wages for most sector, 3-, 4-, and 5-digit industrial groups in: Forestry and Logging; Mining; Utilities; Construction; Manufacturing; Wholesale Trade; Retail Trade; Transportation and Warehousing; Information; Finance and Insurance; Real Estate and Rental and Leasing; Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services; Management of Companies and Enterprises; Administrative and Support and Waste Management and Remediation Services; Educational Services; Health Care and Social Assistance; Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation; Accommodation and Food Services; Other Services (except Public Administration); and Government.
While
it is not mandatory for employers to participate in this vital
study, MERIC encourages employers to respond to the state's requests
to participate in the survey so that these estimates are not only
possible, but also valid. The employers are asked to report data on
the reference months of May and November. To reduce respondent
burden, the OES survey collection is on a three-year cycle that
ensures that establishments are surveyed no more than once every
three years.
Prior to 1996, the OES program collected only occupational employment data for selected industries in each year of the three-year survey cycle, and produced only industry-specific estimates of occupational employment. The 1996 survey round was the first year that the OES program began collecting occupational employment and wage data in every State. In addition, the program's three-year survey cycle was modified to collect data from all covered industries each year. 1997 is the earliest year available for which the OES program produced estimates of cross-industry as well as industry-specific occupational employment and wages.
Data produced by the OES program is valuable and has many uses. Nationwide estimates are produced using data provided by the states and can be found on the BLS website. In Missouri, occupational employment and wage estimate data for the state can be found on the MERIC website. Examples of reports using this data include Missouri's Top 30 Employing Occupations and The Highest and Lowest Paid Occupations. In addition, OES data is a major factor in the production of Missouri's occupational projections. Additional occupational studies can be found on the MERIC website.
