OES SURVEY "TECHNICAL NOTES"

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The following is a summary of the OES Survey methodology as provided by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Click here for the more detailed set of "technical notes" available on the BLS web site.

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Survey Definitions and Concepts
The OES Wage Survey is an annual mail survey measuring occupational employment and occupational wage rates for wage and salary workers in nonfarm establishments, by industry. The results provided here are from the May 2006, November 2005, May 2005, November 2004, May 2004, and November 2003 surveys. The November surveys collect data from November of that year through June of the following year. The May surveys collect data from May through December (see Development of Wage and Employment Estimates section below).
The OES wage survey is conducted in all 50 states and the District of Columbia in conjunction with the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The survey samples nearly 12,000 establishments per year in New Jersey, sampling from a different portion of the "universe" of employer establishments each survey. BLS provides the procedures and technical support, while the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development and other State Employment Security Agencies (SESAs) collect and disseminate the data. Key definitions are as follows:

An establishment is an economic unit, such as a factory, mine or store, which produces goods or provides services. It is generally at a single location and engaged predominantly in one economic activity.

Employment in the OES survey includes both full-time or part-time employees; workers on paid vacations or other types of leave; workers on unpaid or short-term absences; salaried officers; executives; staff members of incorporated firms; employees temporarily assigned to other units; and employees for whom the reporting unit is their permanent duty station regardless of whether that unit prepares their paycheck. The survey excludes the self-employed, owners/partners of unincorporated firms and unpaid family workers. Employees are reported in the occupation in which they are working, not necessarily for which they were trained.

Wages, as defined in the OES survey, are straight time (i.e., no overtime), base pay. In addition to base pay, also included are tips, cost-of-living allowances, guaranteed pay, hazardous-duty pay, on-call pay, and incentive pay (including commissions and production bonuses). Excluded from the wage are back pay, shift differentials, jury duty pay, overtime pay, severance pay, non-production (i.e., year-end) bonuses and tuition reimbursements.

The mean wage is the estimated total wages in an occupation divided by its estimated employment. The 25th percentile equals the wage that 25% of those employees reported in the occupation made less than while 75% made more than that figure.  Similarly the 50th percentile or median wage equals the estimated single midpoint of all reported wages for the occupation -- half made less and half made more.  The 75th percentile equals the wage that 75% of the reported employees made less than while 25% made more. 

The OES survey collects wage data in 12 pay ranges (i.e., Under $7.50 per hour, $7.50 to $9.49 per hour, etc.). Employers report the number of employees in an occupation per each pay range. The pay ranges are defined in terms of both an hourly wage and yearly salary. The two wage scales are "equivalent" based on a work year of 2,080 hours per year (40 hours per week times 52 weeks per year).  The exceptions to this are certain occupations that do not generally work 2,080 hours per year. The wages for these occupations (such as teachers, musicians, producers-directors-actors, etc.) are in terms of a yearly salary and are denoted by a double asterisk ( ** ) in the data tables.

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Development of Wage and Employment Estimates
The OES survey sample was drawn from the file of employers covered by the state's unemployment insurance (UI) system by BLS. Establishments in this universe were stratified by metropolitan area, industry code, and the establishment's employment size. The sample is designed to collect data over a three-year period with the objective of publishing wage data aggregated from the prior three years of survey data. 
Beginning with the 1999 survey, OES began using an occupational coding structure based on the Office of Management & Budget's (OMB) new Standard Occupational Classification system (SOC).  For more information about the SOC system, see the SOC page of the BLS website.
In 2002, the OES survey switched from using the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) system to using the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) for the purpose of assigning industry classification codes to New Jersey's employers. Due to differences in NAICS and SIC structures, OES data by specific industry are not comparable with the SIC-based data for earlier years. For more information about NAICS, see the NAICS page of the BLS Web site.
This August, 2007 release of the OES survey estimates publishes area estimates using the Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) configurations based on the 2000 Census. This MSA configuration, first published with the release of the May 2005 survey data in July of 2006, provides data for ten substate areas within New Jersey. Prior to the May 2005 survey data, the OES estimates were published for the nine substate areas based on the 1999 MSA configurations. Many of the "new" MSA configurations are "cross-state" areas comprised of counties from two or more states. In those instances, the data presented here is representative of only the New Jersey portion of the MSA. For example, the entire "Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ Metropolitan Statistical Area" is comprised of Warren County, NJ and three Pennsylvania counties. The data for the "Warren County Area" that is available on this site covers only the New Jersey portion of that MSA. For more information on Metroploitan Statistical Areas visit the U.S. Census Bureau website.
The estimated employment column will be blank in instances where the employment's  relative standard error is greater than 50%.  Similarly, there will be no wage data in instances where the mean's  relative standard error is greater than 30%. Confidentiality requirements dictate that a minimum number of employers have reported employees in an occupation in order to be published in a given area and / or industry. The BLS "Technical Notes" includes a more detailed explanation of the relative standard error.
A wage updating methodology for "aging" data collected in prior years has been developed by BLS . The methodology uses changes in the BLS Employer Cost Index (ECI) to adjust data from the prior surveys to a May, 2006 basis. The ECI measures the national percentage change in wages by occupational group over the previous year. As such, aging based on the ECI is biased to the degree that state and area wage growth differs from national wage growth and to the extent that wage growth for a specific occupation differs from the growth for the occupational group in which that occupation is found.

The OES wage data for the nation and other states are also available on the Internet. The current data is listed as May 2006 data (the month and year in which data collection began).

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Additional Information

Click on the link below to download a "printer-friendly" version of the New Jersey Statewide wage data for "All Industries Combined." This file is in "pdf" format, which can be viewed and/or printed with Adobe Reader software. If you do not have Adobe Reader on your computer, the "Get Adobe Reader" link below will take you to the Adobe webpage that allows you to download a free version of this software. First download/save the New Jersey wage data to your computer, then access the Adobe site and choose from the selections in the box entitled "Step 1 of 2." Step 2 will then appear - choose your options and hit "download." Save the file to a folder of your choice on your computer's hard drive. Clicking on that file will then begin the downloading of 2 installation files. When these two files are downloaded, you will be asked if you want to install Adobe now or later; click the "download now" button to install Adobe Reader. Use the installed Adobe Reader software to open and print the New Jersey wage data file that you already downloaded (nj_all_pdf.pdf).

Comments or questions? Call 609-292-2661 or e-mail jdougher@dol.state.nj.us .