An examination of the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Occupational Employment Statistics 2015 release using Software Engineers as an example of of local wage premiums and other wage, occupation and location phenomenons.

1. savills-studley.com
How Much is That Software Engineer?
An examination of the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Occupational
Employment Statistics release
By Heidi Learner

2. BLS’s Occupational Employment Statistics release
 Based on Bureau of Labor Statistics releases data on 22 major
occupational groups, highlighting employment by job classification
and industry in addition to data on wages.
o This report can provide a helpful assessment of average and median pay
by industry, occupation and area—all important variables for those
employers evaluating multiple location options.
 From the data, we can determine trends in wages (which include
commissions, production bonuses as well as other forms of incentive
pay) on both a national and regional basis, since the data are also
parsed by Metropolitan Statistical Area.

3. How have total wages changed between 2013 and 2014 by
occupation?
• Most occupations
experienced an increase in
average annual wages.
• The average increase in
wages was 1.7%—in line
with the increase in the
Consumer Price Index and
Personal Consumption
Expenditure Index
• This is consistent with the
notion that cash wages
have failed to outpace
inflation
Wages by Occupation, National

4. How have wages changed between 2013 and 2014 regionally?
 Regional wages are a function of
occupation composition
 States (and regions) with a greater
share of higher-wage jobs will have
higher average wages in aggregate
 Using computer programmers as
an example, the ten regions with
the highest number of employees
in 2014 offered average salaries of
$91,368; for the U.S. as a whole,
this figure was $82,690.
 The areas in the table, while
having the most programmers on
an absolute basis, were not
necessarily those locations where
wages were the highest or where
the concentration of computer
programmers was the greatest.
Wage Data for Computer Programmers, by Metropolitan
Statistical Areas, May 2014 (areas with the greatest
number of computer programmers)

5. How have wages changed between 2013 and 2014 regionally?
 The map:
o Plots the relative number and
median wage for a “software
applications developer” for
major metro regions
o Shows a wide range of median
wages
 The industry that employed the
highest percentage of software
applications developers was
software publishing, but this wasn’t
the highest-paying industry.
 The software publishing industry
paid applications developers an
average of $109,030, but other
industries paid more for employees
with the exact same job
Median Wage and Employment Data for Software
Applications Developers, May 2014

6. Relative Local Wage Premiums
 More information can be gleaned by
comparing the median wages for software
applications developers with median wages
for all jobs within the area as a whole
 The difference in the table’s two figures
provides a measure of the relative local wage
premium, in this case, for software developer
jobs
 Ex: median wages across all occupations
and industries is roughly the same in
Miami as Tampa however, median wages
for software application developers are
twice as great in Miami and 2.8 times as
great as in Tampa
 This suggests a relatively higher premium for
the occupation in Tampa than in Miami.
Median Wages by Region: Software
Applications Developers and All Jobs, May 2014

7. Thank you
Heidi Learner
Chief Economist
Savills Studley
hlearner@savills-studley.com
Twitter.com/heidilearner