SAN FRANCISCO -- Workers in the Bend Metro Area (Deschutes County) had an average hourly wage of $19.29 during May 2009, roughly 8 percent below the nationwide average of $20.90, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Wednesday.

Regional Commissioner Richard J. Holden noted that, after testing for statistical significance, wages in the local area were significantly higher than their respective national averages in five of the 22 major occupational groups, including healthcare practitioner and technical; protective service; and healthcare support.

Nine groups had significantly lower wages than their respective national averages, including legal; management; and computer and mathematical science.

(Keep in mind that the Bend MSA actually includes all of Deschutes County.)

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in six of the 22 occupational groups, including food preparation and serving related; sales and related; and construction and extraction.

Conversely, eight groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including production; business and financial operations; and transportation and material moving.

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.

With employment of 6,950, food preparation and serving related occupations accounted for 11.2 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the occupational group’s 8.6 percent share nationally.

The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $10.89, compared to the national wage of $10.04.

With employment of 1,610, combined food preparation and serving workers, including fast food, were the largest occupation within the food preparation and serving related group, followed by waiters and waitresses (1,300). Chefs and head cooks had the highest average wages ($20.09), followed by first-line supervisors/managers of food preparation and serving workers ($15.27).

At the lower end of the wage scale were hosts and hostesses, restaurant, lounge, and coffee shop ($9.18) and combined food preparation and serving workers, including fast food ($9.26).

These statistics are from the Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) survey, a federal-state cooperative program between BLS and State Workforce Agencies, in this case, the Oregon Employment Department.

The OES survey provides estimates of employment and hourly and annual wages for wage and salary workers in 22 major occupational groups and up to 801 non-military detailed occupations for the nation, states, metropolitan statistical areas, metropolitan divisions, and nonmetropolitan areas.

Read the full news release, with tables, here (Adobe Acrobat Reader required): Federal Report on Bend Wages