In May 2016, workers in the Providence-Warwick Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average hourly wage of $24.57, roughly 3 percent higher than the national average of $23.86, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported this week. According to the BLS, wages in the local area were higher than their respective national averages in 12 of the 22 major occupational groups, including health care practitioners and technical; management; and education, training and library.
Four groups had significantly lower wages than their respective national averages: legal; arts, design, entertainment, sports and media; computer and mathematical; and transportation and moving.
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Local employment was highly concentrated in four of the 22 occupational groups when compared to national statistics, including health care support; community and social service; and education, training and library. In addition, 12 groups maintained employment shares significantly below the national figures, including transportation and material moving; installation, maintenance and repair; and construction and extraction.
One of the highest percent differences in mean hourly wages locally and nationally was seen in the health care practitioners and technical occupational group. Locally, the hourly wage for this group was $42.28 compared to the national average of $38.06. The only occupational group with a higher percentage different in hourly wages was farming, fishing and forestry, which makes up less than 0.05 percent of the state’s workforce. The average local hourly wage in this sector was $17.52, compared to $13.37 nationally.
In the health care support occupational group, Providence-Warwick boasted higher numbers of employees than the average reported nationally. Providence-Warwick had 23,810 health care support jobs, accounting for 4.2 percent of local employment, significantly higher than the national 2.9 percent share. In Rhode Island, the hourly wage for these jobs was $15.47, compared to the national wage of $14.65.
Rhode Island’s hourly wages for several occupational groups fell below the national average last May, most notably in the legal group and the arts, design, entertainment, sports and media group. The average hourly wage in the Providence metro for legal jobs was $46.16 compared to $50.95 nationally. Locally, arts, design, entertainment, sports and media jobs saw a mean hourly wage of $25.49 compared to $28.07 nationally.
Among the 22 major occupational groups, office and administrative support held the largest percentage in the Providence metro at 15.8 percent (compared to a national average of 15.7). Life, physical and social science saw the lowest number of jobs locally at 0.5 percent (compared to a national average of 0.8).
Nicole Dotzenrod is a PBN staff writer.
