BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS)
What It Is
A federal survey program producing employment counts and wage distributions for approximately 830 occupations. Published annually with a May reference date.
Geographic Coverage
- National
- All 50 states + D.C. + territories
- Approximately 530 metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas
- National industry-specific estimates (approximately 410 industry classifications)
Temporal Coverage
Data available from 1997 to present. Historical archives back to 1988 for national industry-specific estimates.
Key Characteristics
Sample: Approximately 1.1 million establishments over a rolling 3-year, 6-panel cycle. Each panel contains approximately 186,000-189,000 establishments surveyed in May or November.
Classification systems: Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) for occupations, NAICS for industries.
Wage measures: Straight-time gross pay including base rate, COLA, incentive pay, commissions, and tips. Excludes premium pay. Annual wages calculated as hourly rate × 2,080 hours.
What It Excludes
Self-employed workers, owners/partners in unincorporated firms, household workers, unpaid family workers, military occupations, and most agricultural sector employment.
Use Cases
- Occupation-level wage benchmarking
- Geographic wage comparisons
- Industry staffing pattern analysis
- Labor market research baseline data
Methodological Notes
The rolling 3-year sample means estimates don’t capture rapid labor market changes (e.g., May 2020 estimates didn’t fully reflect early pandemic effects). Classification system updates every 8-10 years complicate long-term trend analysis.
Access
- Interactive query tools: https://data.bls.gov/oes/
- Downloadable Excel files by year: https://www.bls.gov/oes/tables.htm
- API access via BLS Public Data API
Related Sources
- 00-source—bls-oews - establishment-level employment counts
- 00-source—bls-cps - household-based employment and demographics
- 00-source—bls-oews - compensation trends over time